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Roman Harper reveals how Michigan surprised Alabama in the Rose Bowl
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Roman Harper didn’t hold back on what went wrong for Alabama on the latest edition of “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on WJOX in Birmingham, Alabama.
The outside runs got Alabama in trouble at first in Harper’s eyes, but then the Crimson Tide adjusted in the 2nd half. This allowed for them to get back into the game.
“I thought they were caught off guard in that 1st half. I think like you said, they were prepared to stop runs up the middle and then Michigan did a really good job of some new design stuff and trying to get to the edge. A lot of pulling guys getting to the edges,” said Harper. “I don’t think Alabama anticipated that. Then in the 2nd half, they changed some things up and started some plays, getting in gaps, attacking guys more downhill. But at the end of the day, you give Michigan credit for that.”
Harper said that the loss was inexcusable even though he wanted to say that Michigan simply game planned better. The team didn’t play well for all 4 quarters, and it cost them.
“For Alabama, I wanna say they got out-schemed, but there’s no real excuse. You didn’t play good in the biggest game and the big situations,” said Harper. “Nobody wins those games, this is not basketball, this is football. It’s 1 day. The team that plays the best for 60 minutes is the one that’s gonna win the game. That’s what happened. Alabama played well in the 2nd half, except for the last 4 minutes of the game and that cost you.”
The former Alabama player pointed to all of the small errors Alabama made for part of the reason why Michigan hung around in the game and ultimately Jalen Milroe being stopped short on 4th and goal.
“All of the little mistakes compounding over and over and over allowed Michigan to stay in the lead, get back in the game,” said Harper. “It allowed Alabama not to pick that 4th and 3 on the last play of the game as well.”
The Crimson Tide end the year at 12-2 following the Rose Bowl loss.
Grant Bricker was a former freelancer for The News TN in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. He now freelances for Saturday Football. Follow on Twitter @GrantBricker.
