Takeaways from Michigan's CFP semifinal win over Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide shutout the Michigan Wolverines for 28 minutes and 26 seconds of the second half of Monday’s College Football Playoff semifinals.

But on its next-to-last drive of regulation, Michigan rallied for an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that tied the game at 20 and forced overtime, where the Wolverines stopped the Alabama offense on fourth-and-goal to punch its ticket to the national championship game.

Here are the key takeaways from Michigan’s CFP semifinal win:

J.J. McCarthy needs another year before he’s NFL ready: While McCarthy had another solid and efficient game (221 yards passing, three touchdowns, no interceptions), he didn’t really take the game over like some of the other top QBs in the country like USC’s Caleb Williams or LSU’s Jayden Daniels would have.

McCarthy stayed composed and showed good mobility escaping the pocket, but he’s not the kind of game-changing signal caller most QB-needy NFL teams are looking for. He would be better served staying at Michigan for one more year and truly proving he can be more than an efficient game manager. If he does, he could be a sure-fire first-round pick in 2025.

The rest of college football has caught up with Nick Saban: Alabama played in four of the first five CFP national championship games and six of the first nine. But this year will mark the second straight year the national title game won’t feature the Tide.

Saban used to be the most-feared coach and Alabama the most-feared team in the country from 2009 up through 2020 with six national championships over that span, but the rest of the college football world has clearly figured out how to chip away at his armor as evidenced by Monday’s Rose Bowl loss and his three national championship losses and since 2016.

Blake Corum has a strong case to be RB1 in the 2024 draft: Of the top 2024 running backs who played in bowl games, Corum had arguably the best showing of them all. He finished with 19 carries for 83 yards and a touchdown, and he added two receptions for 35 yards and another score.

Both of his touchdowns against Alabama came in key situations — his first on Michigan’s second possession that answered an Alabama touchdown drive minutes before, and his second in overtime to put the pressure on the Alabama offense. 

Between Corum, Trey Benson, TreVeyon Henderson and Will Shipley, Corum did the most to boost his draft stock during bowl season.

Michigan needs to stop being conservative with its second-half play calling: After two long touchdown drives and 199 yards of total offense (115 passing, 84 rushing) in the first half, the Wolverines mustered just 119 yards in the second half, with 75 coming on one drive. 

The balance of runs (16) versus pass (13) was about as equal to what it was in the first two quarters, but Michigan had half as many rushing yards as it did in the first half and the team took the game out of McCarthy’s hands. 

The Wolverines have played with a sizeable second-half lead in most of their games this year, so keeping their foot on the gas isn’t something they’ve had to do often. They won’t get away with being gun-shy against whichever team they face in the national championship game.

Alabama needs to take the reins off Jalen Milroe: In the Tide’s biggest game of the year, Milroe rushed a season-high 21 times but only attempted 23 passes and threw for a season-low 116 yards. 

Milroe’s 69.6 completion percentage was admirable, but he only averaged 7.25 yards per completion and he was held without a touchdown pass for the third time in 13 games.

Milroe is obviously talented and has game-breaking ability, but during several games this season it’s seemed like he’s been held back by some overly cautious play calling. Milroe has a similar skillset and has shown flashes of the kind of offensive upside that some of the top QBs like Jayden Daniels, Michael Penix Jr., Cameron Ward and Dillon Gabriel have. 

The Tide need to finally unleash him and let him carry the team on his back.