Sunday, January 2 Michigan offense only answer for Alexander
Associated Press
MIAMI -- Michigan's defense never really stopped Shaun
Alexander. It was the Wolverines' offense that finally slowed down
the Alabama star in the Orange Bowl.
Alexander rushed for 161 yards on 25 carries and scored three
touchdowns; however, the Southeastern Conference player of the year
wasn't much of a factor in the latter stages of the Crimson Tide's
35-34 overtime loss on Saturday night.
Tom Brady's passing helped Michigan overcome a 28-14
third-quarter deficit. And once the Wolverines caught up, Alabama
abandoned the running game that had helped it take control of the
game after a slow start.
One of the reasons was penalties. The Crimson Tide finished with
18 for 132 yards, constantly leaving themselves in long yardage
situations that forced Andrew Zow and Tyler Watts to throw more
than coach Mike DuBose would have liked.
"It was really frustrating," Alexander said. "We would make a
big play, then they would call it back. And (Michigan) would keep
making big plays. Whenever we did shoot ourselves in the foot, they
took advantage of it."
Alexander scored on second-quarter runs of 5 and 6 yards,
staking the Crimson Tide to a 14-0 lead that Brady wiped out with
two touchdown passes to David Terrell.
The SEC's leading rusher finished the first half with 84 yards
on 15 carries. He did most of his post-halftime damage on one run,
a 50-yard burst up the middle in which he broke three tackles
before outrunning Michigan's Whitley James to the end zone for a
21-14 Alabama lead.
Freddie Milons returned a punt 62 yards to put the Crimson Tide
up by 14 again. Alabama wouldn't score again until the overtime
when Zow faked a handoff to Alexander and threw to a wide-open
Antonio Carter for a TD that trimmed Michigan's lead to 35-34.
Ryan Pflugner missed the extra point, giving Michigan the game
and the MVP award to Terrell, who had 10 receptions for 150 yards
and three TDs.
"It's a game of inches," said Alexander, who embraced Pflugner
in support as the kicker left the field. "Sometimes it falls for
you, and sometimes it doesn't. We're still really proud of this
team. Life goes on, we'll be all right."
The senior tailback, just the second player in school history to
run for more than 3,000 in his career, set a Crimson Tide bowl
record for rushing TDs in a game. He fell 5 yards short of the
school's rushing mark of 166 set by Sherman Williams in the 1995
Citrus Bowl.
Alexander's 50-yard TD run is the longest against Michigan in a
bowl game, eclipsing the previous long of 46 yards by Alexander in
the Outback Bowl three years ago.
"Every team has big players they can count on," Terrell said.
"The big players for each team came to play and came through in
the clutch. Shaun did a great job for Alabama."
