Michigan beats Alabama in OT at Rose Bowl to reach CFP title game

PASADENA, Calif. -- For the better part of the last 15 years, Nick Saban's Alabama teams have represented not only college football's paragon, but also the sport's most physically dominant entity. But during a season where the Tide were forced to constantly survive rather than impose their will, Michigan proved to be their end game, outmatching Alabama en route to a 27-20 Rose Bowl win in overtime that clinched the Wolverines' first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

After a back-and-forth affair that saw both teams lose and regain leads during regulation, the 20-20 game spilled over into only the second-ever overtime game in Rose Bowl history.

In overtime, Michigan running Blake Corum made quick work of things by running for 8 yards on the first play, only to follow it up with a 17-yard dash for a touchdown to put the Wolverines up 27-20 and give Corum a school-record-tying 26th touchdown of the season.

All Michigan needed then was a stop and -- as they had done for most of the game -- the Wolverines' front sealed the result by swarming the Tide's backfield and stopping quarterback Jalen Milroe short of the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line.

The walk-off stop sent the Michigan-heavy Rose Bowl crowd into pandemonium and the team below rushing onto the field.

The stop was emblematic of Michigan's physical dominance throughout the game, which showed itself over the course of the first half. The Wolverines' defensive line turned Alabama's backfield into their playground, limiting the Tide's running game to 43 yards in the first half (116 passing yards in the entire game), suffocating their offensive line and sacking Milroe five times.

But after Milroe and Alabama's offense awakened and took a 20-13 lead in the second half, the Wolverines' offense stepped up. With 1:38 left in the game, quarterback J.J. McCarthy found wide receiver Roman Wilson in the end zone to tie the game after an eight-play, 75-yard drive.

In what was a throwback game that featured 13 punts, eight fumbles (only two of them lost), a missed extra point and plenty of special teams blunders, every point, every snap and every mistake was magnified. And in the end, it was Jim Harbaugh's team -- following back-to-back seasons of losing in the CFP semifinals that did enough to keep their undefeated season alive and give themselves a chance to win the program's first title since the 1997 season.