Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy threw three touchdown passes and Blake Corum ran for the winning overtime touchdown as the Wolverines beat Alabama 27-20 in Monday’s College Football Playoff semi-finals.
Undefeated Michigan’s victory in the Rose Bowl at Pasadena, California, booked a berth in next Monday’s championship game at Houston, Texas.
“We were going to overcome anything that was inside this stadium,” said Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
The Wolverines will face the winner of a later Sugar Bowl semi-final in New Orleans between unbeatens Texas and Washington, which entered on a 20-game win streak over two seasons.
Both Rose Bowl rivals were controversial entries into the gridiron final four, Alabama after being chosen despite a loss while an unbeaten Florida State squad was denied a place in the title fight.
Michigan suffered through a signal-stealing scandal that brought a three-game suspension on Harbaugh.
“Everything we’ve been through, all the adversity, we just did a tremendous job of responding through all of that and pushing through it,” McCarthy said.
“We’ve got one more game left so the job is not finished yet.”
McCarthy completed 17-of-27 tosses for 221 yards without an interception while Corum rushed 19 times for 83 yards, including the game-winning 17-yard touchdown run on the second play of overtime.
“We had some adversity today, a little sloppy, but we came together as one,” Corum said. “My brothers have my back and I told them, ‘If we tie this up and go to overtime, we’re going to win.’
“We came out tough and I’ll see you in Houston.”
Jase McClellan’s 3-yard touchdown run 30 seconds into the fourth quarter gave Alabama the lead and Will Reichard kicked a 52-yard field goal with 4:41 remaining to give the Crimson Tide a 20-13 edge.
But the Wolverines responded with an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive to equalize at 20-20, McCarthy hitting Roman Wilson with a 4-yard touchdown pass with 94 seconds remaining to set up overtime.
“It was everything we were battling all year,” McCarthy said. “It was waiting to come out in moments like these where we just perfect all the little details and we’re ready to go execute.”
After Corum put Michigan ahead, the Wolverines’ defensive unit, the nation’s top-ranked defenders, stopped Alabama on downs to secure the triumph.
Alabama grabbed an early lead on a 34-yard McClellan touchdown run but the Wolverines responded as McCarthy threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Corum and a 38-yarder to Tyler Morris.
A missed conversion kick on the second touchdown left Michigan ahead by only six points and a 50-yard Reichard field goal lifted Alabama within 13-10 at half-time.
