Offensive miscues cost Alabama a Rose Bowl win over Michigan

Alabama was held under 300 yards in total offense and quarterback Jalen Milroe was sacked six times for negative 49 yards, but the two biggest plays of the game with hindsight were a pair of low snaps that stopped a third-quarter drive and led to a Bama punt when the Tide had Michigan on their heels.

The Crimson Tide football team ended the day with five fumbles including a big one by Milroe in the fourth quarter that resulted in a missed Michigan field goal attempt.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban said that the six sacks were caused by a variety of issues including a lack of protection adjustments pre-snap.

"There were a couple of times where we could have redirected the protection, which we kind of put on the O-line to a large degree, and we didn't do it. A couple of times the shot clock was running down and we didn't get a chance to do it, and a couple of times we didn't fan and miss-executed up front in terms of getting the right guys blocked when we were in the right protection. It was a combination of several things. I thought we did a better job in the second half, but we didn't give Jalen an opportunity to make some plays, nor our receivers to make some plays down the field, which was a big part of this game."

The passing attack for the Tide yielded 116 yards on 23 passes and 16 completions or a woeful 5 yards per pass attempt.

The last play of the game and call by first-year Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees will be a subject of debate for fans and pundits for many years as the Tide called a QB-power after a timeout by each team and the Tide standing at the three-yard line needing a touchdown and a PAT to send the game in overtime. Saban said the call was something that Rees cooked up for a two-point conversion play if needed. Saban indicated it was the third different play called during that same 4th and goal sequence.

"We called three plays. One they called a time-out, one we called a time-out, and the last one that didn't work. The fact that it didn't work made it a really bad call. You know what I mean? But we called time-out because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one. They must have known it," Saban said. "But Tommy just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run, which was kind of our two-point play, one of our two-point plays for this game. The ball was on the 3-yard line, which is just like a two-point play, but we didn't get it blocked so it didn't work. We didn't execute it very well and it didn't work. They pressured and we thought they would pressure, but we thought we could gap them and block them and make it work, and it didn't."

Milroe took the blame for not getting into the end zone on the final play of the game.

"First thing, I'm appreciative of my coaching staff for believing in me to have the ball in my hands on that last play. You win some, you lose some. That's all part of the game," he said. "With anything, all it came down to was to fall back to your level of training, and we just failed on that play. That's all it was. At the end of the day I just trusted the guys up front for believing in me on the last play to have the ball, and unfortunately, we just missed and we just didn't get in the end zone."

On the final play, Milroe also fielded another low snap from center Seth McLaughlin complicating the execution of the play. Milroe was quick to have his center's back after the game.

"With anything it takes preparation, whether it's pass protection, whether it's the running game, the passing game. The quarterback and the center have to have a great relationship and that's something that we tried to build throughout the whole season," Milroe said of the snap issues. "There's a multitude of things that me and Seth talk about in that regard. That's something that we do talk about."

Alabama finished the game 3-13 on third downs and 0-1 on third downs.