The Alabama Crimson Tide had one last chance to punch in a touchdown against the Michigan Wolverines during overtime of the Rose Bowl on Monday night, but they came up well short after a baffling play call from Nick Saban resulted in quarterback Jalen Milroe getting stuffed on a rush up the middle.
The play appeared to be a botched RPO, as a low snap prevented Milroe from looking toward running back Roydell Williams, who was running a route to his left. Without any other options at his disposal, Milroe was forced to tuck the ball in and rush it right up the gut, where he was met by the Wolverines’ defense.
After the game, Saban explained the decision behind the failed play call, saying it was a “really bad call” because it didn’t work.
“We called three plays,” said Saban, via The Next Round. “One they called timeout, one we called timeout, and the last one that didn’t work. So, the fact that it didn’t work made it a really bad call.”
"The fact that it didn't work made it a really bad call." - Nick Saban on the Jalen Milroe QB draw on the final play of Alabama's Rose Bowl loss to Michigan. #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/UnNYJHiBrT
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) January 2, 2024
“We called timeout because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one, they must’ve known it,” explained Saban. “Tommy [Rees] felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run... but we didn’t get a block so it didn’t work. We didn’t execute it very well, so it didn’t work.”
Had the snap been accurate, it’s certainly possible that a dump off to Williams could’ve resulted in a Crimson Tide touchdown, but as Saban pointed out, the execution simply was not there, thus making it a bad play call with the game on the line.
