Michigan Football's National Championship

 

On January 8, 2024, the University of Michigan Wolverines beat the University of Washington Huskies 34-13 to secure the College Football Playoff National Championship.  It was 12^th National Championship and the first since 1997.

I should have written about it that evening or maybe the day.  After a big win like this the would-be sports reporter in me should have jumped right at it acting as if a gruff cigar chomping editor from a black and white movie is barking at me for the copy.  This time, for some reason, I did not jump on it.  I savored the moment and thought I would get some perspective on it before I put finger to keyboard.  The need to savor the moment was because I was sensing we are on the cusp of a new era in college football.  In the almost three weeks since the National Championship game a lot has happened from regarding Michigan.  Here is a short list from my perspective:

 

• Right after the National Championship, Nick Saban announced his retirement from Alabama.  Washington's coach Kalen DeBoer was named as his replacement.
  
• A number of Michigan starters, including JJ McCarthy, opted for the NFL draft.
• Jim Harbaugh did his annual flirtation with the NFL causing nonstop speculative chatter on the social media fan pages about what might or might happen.
• Ohio State when shopping in NIL portal and signed four talented quarterbacks in the hopes that, in competing for the starting job, they would find someone who could beat Michigan and take them to the National Championship.
• They are so serious about the above point, they also got a new offensive coordinator from New England Patriots and Alabama before that.
• This year Harbaugh actually pulled the trigger and was announced as the head coach of the San Diego.
• Michigan just announced that they were promoting Sherrone Moore to replace Harbaugh.
• Shortly after that, Michigan’s defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter, announced that he would be following Harbaugh to the Chargers.
• Now it looks like Mike Hart, Michigan's newly named offensive coordinator, is about to leave because he didn't get the head coaching job.
  

 

Whatever happened after, the 2023 Michigan Football season was a wonderful, a perfect 15-0.  The defense was tough, hard-nosed, and stingy in the number of yards and points they allowed.  The offense really turned it on in the last four games of Big 10 play.  They beat Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State, and Iowa at the end of the regular season to win the third Big Ten Championship in a row and secure a #1 ranking heading into the National Championship Playoffs.

In the playoffs, we had to face a one loss Alabama in the Rose Bowl.  Alabama was coming off a 27-24 win over Georgia in the SEC Championship.  Their only loss in 2023 was a 34-24 loss against Texas who was pitted against Washington in the playoffs.  The fan base, including me, was a bit apprehensive about playing Alabama because they had just beat Georgia, Saban was arguably the GOAT, our record against SEC teams was not the best, and simply it was Alabama.  I covered this game and the overtime Michigan 27-20 win in a January 2^nd post:  The Rose Bowl.

In the other half of the College Football Playoff Bracket.  The University of Washington and the University of Texas squared off against each other in the Sugar Bowl.  I watched it, after the nerve-wracking Rose Bowl.  While I thought Washington would win, I was not particularly in favor of either team.  I was much calmer watching that game.  It was an exciting game which I enjoyed watching.  Texas kicked a field goal with 1:09 left in the game to make it 37-31 in favor of Washington.  Texas tried an onside kick which Washington recovered and after a taking a few knees, the game was over.

Michigan was to play Washington on January 8^th in Houston.  Michigan was favored by a few.  There was a lot of hype about Washington’s powerhouse offense led by quarterback Michael Penix.  He was a great passer, accurate and with a quick release.  He first played at Indiana from 2018-21.  I remember watching him when Michigan played Indiana.  I thought he was a very good quarterback and he impressed me when he was there. He transferred to Washington for the 2022-23 seasons and took his game to another level under head coach Kalen DeBoar.   The Washington offensive line was something special too.  They received the Joe Moore Award for being the best offensive line in the country.  They only allowed 11 sacks for the entire season.  Michigan’s offensive line won the award the previous two seasons.

Leading up to the game, I was more confident we would beat Washington than I was about beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl.  I was certain Michigan would score on Washington.  Our offense was pretty high-powered, and their defense was good but did give up points relying more on their offense to score a lot more points e.g. Texas scored 31 on them.  The key to the game, in my mind, would come down to Michigan’s defense versus the vaunted Washington passing attack.  Michigan had an awesome defense.  I believed we would stop their running game and pressure Penix and disrupt his flow.  We might not sack him a lot but we he would get hit and knocked down further disrupting his flow.

Just before the game started, I saw a graphic online that said “Defense wins games:  Michigan is #2.”  They listed the ranking of every Washington opponent.  Oregon was the highest ranked defense they face at #65.  This bit of data solidified my view and dang if it is not exactly what the Michigan defense went out and did.  By the end of the game, Penix was visibly hurting, holding his side after every play.  We held them to one touchdown and two field goals, 301 total yards (225 passing and 46 rushing), and we intercepted Penix twice.

Michigan’s offense saw something in their defensive scheme that they thought Donovan Edwards could exploit be bouncing outside and using his speed.  He did that twice for 43 and 41 yards to give Michigan a 14-3 lead in the first quarter.  Of Michigan’s 303 yards of rushing, 229 were in the first quarter.  Washington adjusted and held Michigan to one field goal in each of the 2^nd and 3^rd quarters.  Michigan scored two more touchdowns in the 4^th quarter to seal the victory. 

What an amazing season with some memorable players on both sides of the ball:  Blake Corum, JJ McCarthy, Mike Sainristil, Zak Zinter, Will Johnson, Junior Colson, Roman Wilson, Colson Loveland, Kenneth Grant, and Mason Graham to name a few. 

It was a season to remember.

Go Blue!

 

 

 

 

 

Art: Part 2 - AI

Frank Zappa smashing an oud
on a speaker

 

So, it was well established in Part1 that I cannot draw, sculpt, turn a pot, weave, or anything beyond doodling that might be considered fine art.  The last art class I actually remember taking was maybe in fifth grade.  We were just beginning to dabble in perspective.  On second thought, dabble may be too strong a word.  Given how good I would be at plane geometry just a few years later, I was that bad at the application of perspective using paper, pencil, and a straightedge.

Fast forward to today and the amazing possibilities of artificial intelligence in the field of fine and graphic arts.  Artists are upset over the ease their work can be emulated in much less time it would take them and, I am guessing, at a fraction of the cost.  All the news on this seems to have peaked and then stopped in October 2023 when lawsuits were filed by artists to get some control of a trend that that could dramatically change their livelihoods.  Per Popular Science, “A caricaturist on the sidewalk of a busy city can whip up a cheeky portrait within a few minutes and a couple dozen drawings a day. Compare that to popular image generators like DALL-E, which can make millions of unique images daily.”

 

AI Generated Image from Popular Science Article

Whether we know it or not, we are seeing more and more AI generated images and videos.  They abound in social media and advertising.  The more realistic they become and the easier they become to create, there will be less need to for actors and models as well as photographers and film crews.  This has already happened in the music industry with one composer with sophisticated software can score an entire movie and make it sound like a lush orchestra performing the soundtrack. 

This is progress.  And while everyone may not agree, and for the record, I am not sure I do. It happens or has happened in all fields.  Technological advances and automation have been replacing jobs and entire professions for centuries.  Historically, this has happened mostly in the realm of laborers, hourly unskilled labor.  More recently, the advent of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and now AI is hitting the white collar and professional ranks.  The basic principle these days is that the ERP or AI does a bulk of the routine transactions and human expertise is needed only for the exceptions.   Thus, less human expertise is needed.  Basically, a lot less people are needed.   This may now be impacting artists and graphic artists.  It will no doubt impact doctors, lawyers, and accountants.   How many radiologists and diagnosticians will be needed when AI can analyze MRIs, CT scans, and x-rays faster, cheaper, and more reliably than the humans can?

When it comes to business, it is cut and dry.  Firms will choose the most productive solution.  If quality and service levels are maintained or improved, they will choose the more productive option every time. It is the way of commerce.  If one firm chooses not to take the more productive option, their competitors will do so and gain an advantage.

Will artists go away?  Did musicians and composers go away?  No.  They still write, perform, more indy, local, and perhaps more part-time than before. Some of the best musicians I know are part timers.  Success in the field is a steep pyramid that is getting more steep.  So, I expect fine and graphic artists will still express themselves find other channels to show and sell their work. 

When it comes to music and fine art, here are a few examples of the oud and AI generated graphics.  It is incredible how quickly and easily these incredible graphics are generated given a subscription to the right AI app and some simple experimentation.  

 

We sometimes refer to a master player
as a "monster" on the oud.

 

From a recent post of a true
monster on the oud
Doç.Dr. Hakan Emre Ziyagil

 

Art: Part 1 - Learning to Appreciate

 

Over the years, I developed an appreciation for art.  I was always impressed with people that could draw, paint, and sculpt.  It was something I was never good at.  I did try, but it never clicked.  In my early days, I loved drawings and paintings that looked realistic.  The more realistic the better.  Clearly, I was not really fond of the abstract.  The more abstract, the less fond I was.  I leaned toward, the point of view that most abstract and modern art was nothing but scribbles, something anyone could do.  In college, I did take some music and film appreciation classes.  I wrote a term paper on classical Chinese painting and calligraphy.  It fascinated me more than I had ever imagined.  I had to admit at that point, I had a burgeoning interest in art.

When I worked in Manhattan, I bought a membership to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).  I specifically chose MOMA for four reasons.  I had a desire to develop and refine my own perspective on fine arts which was sorely lacking.  Secondly, I was in New York City, arguably, the art capital of the US if not the world and I wanted to be able to hold my own in a conversation.  Modern art seemed the place to focus since the abstract nature of it was the very reason I scoffed at art.  Lastly, MOMA was within walking distance of my office at Colgate-Palmolive and thus It was easily visited during lunch or after work.

The membership paid the exact dividend I expect.  The first exhibits I went to was a retrospective of Jaspar Johns and a second was of Robert Ryman.  They were both born in May of 1930.  Johns was born in Augusta, GA and Ryman in Nashville, TN.  Ryman died in 2019 and Johns, 93, is still with us.  Johns painted variations on motifs especially flags and targets.  It was interesting to see variations on these themes differentiated by different colors and textures of the same image.  It is a great glimpse into his focus on these themes, his exploration of various treatments which you don’t get from a few photos of paintings in an art book, and, most importantly, seeing the works, full-sized and up-close, where the textures and meld of colors could really be experienced.

The Robert Ryman exhibit really secured a quantum leap in understanding and appreciation of the fine arts.  Ryman was a master of white.  White? Yes, his paintings were all very shades of white and the off-whites of various hues.  Like Johns, I walked into Ryman’s exhibit knowing nothing about him.  I looked at the first room and saw all the canvases of white.  My first thought was predictable “What the…?”  This was exactly the kind of art I believed anyone, at any age, with no experience could easily slap together.  By the end of the exhibit, I had totally changed my mind.  I saw, realized, and appreciated the same lessons learned in the Johns exhibit.  Ryman dedicated his life to the study of white, near whites of every variety, in a kaleidoscope of textures.  What all looked the same and totally boring at the beginning of the exhibit were subtlety and richly different by the end.

I was happier that I learned this on my own without ever having read a book, taken a class, or watched a YouTube (which didn’t even exist then).  I learned it experientially; observation fueled by curiosity.  I love this method.  In my travels, I was able to spend an afternoon here and there at various museums of art.  My favorites were the Musee des Beaux Arts in Brussels and the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico. 

My education in appreciation continues to this day.  The Art Institute of Chicago is a fantastic place.  My only regret is that I only visited The Metropolitan Museum of Arts in Manhattan once and that was well after I had moved to Chicago.

I will close with a quote Professor Vladmir Peter Goss who was an Art History Professor when I was at the University of Michigan Dearborn.  I never had him in a class, but he was a guest lecturer in a music appreciation class I took.  He closed his presentation with words I will never forget, “Always remember, art is nothing.  So, when you have nothing to do, do art.”

 

===

 

images from Jaspar Johns

 

 

 

 

Robert Ryman images

 

ChiBeria

 

What it feels like to many people

We are in a good old fashioned cold spell in Chicago.  We had a good old fashioned snowstorm two days ago, with temperatures in the 20s and 30s.  The forecast after the snow was for the cold spell we are currently experiencing.  At 6:30 pm, the temperature here is -7^o F.  The high today was a mere 2 ^o.  The low over night is predicted to be -7^o!  I will stay this cold for three more days when we reach a balmy 15 ^o.

My friend Ruth referred to our cold spell as ChiBeria.  Oddly, I have never heard that term.  It is a perfect description for our blowing snow and brutal cold.  It so Pasternakian.

I have certainly written about blizzards and cold spells like this over the years.

January 2005: Winter Survival

January 2009: It Began with an Air Bath

January 2014: Brutalmente Frio!

For the Love of a Good Winter Blast

The Vortex Cometh

A Walk in the Frigid Cold

A Walk in the Snow

Not only do I write about blizzards and cold spells, I also make videos about them.  I only make these videos for my five grandkids.  I make one almost everytime it snows.  Of the dozens Of the dozens of short videos I send them, the snow videos have to be the most common theme.

It is no secret that I love these blizzards and cold spells.  It is not really winter with a few blizzards and a week-long cold spell.  Without blizzards, cold spells, and a few of the accompanying snow days, we would have dreary grayish winters with temperatures in that nowhere zone of the 30s and 40s.  Of course, not everyone agrees with me.  On a FB book “ A good winter snow,” displaying some photos of our recent snowstorm, my friend Rich from Massachusetts commented, “That’s an oxymoron. ‘Good’ does not go with ‘Snow’.”  Another friend, Peter, noted, “New fallen snow. So beautiful.”  Clearly, I side with Peter.

Hard to photograph 2 ^o F

There is, however, a nonzero probability that we could end up living in Southern California at some point.  Everyone I know that has moved there from the Midwest loves the weather.  Very few lament about the loss of fall and the almost non-existent winters.  Very few ever talk about moving back and the weather is always listed as a primary reason.  I wonder, if I were to ever live there, if I would ever adopt that perspective?  I certainly understand the lure and have witnessed the complaints of California transplants from the Midwest who visit “home” during the winter.

I have written twice about walks in the cold and snow.  So. did I take a walk in the cold today?  I did not.  I did go outside, clearly to make a video, but I did not dress for it and it was really cold.  I needed another layer of fleece, better gloves, and a balaclava. 

Here are some quotes on Winter from Xavier University:

 

"What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness."
- John Steinbeck, "Travels with Charley: In Search of America"

"Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius."
- Pietro Aretino

"The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination."
- Terri Guillemets

"One kind word can warm three winter months."
- A Japanese Proverb

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy."
- William Blake

 

"Spring, summer, and fall fill us with hope; winter alone reminds us of the human condition."
- Mignon McLaughlin

Chidem Inch: The Enemy's Oud

 

I have a good friend who is Palestinian.  He is a very talented musician, plays several instruments very well, and has a deep understanding of music of the Arab world and other cultures in the Middle East.  We are in the same orchestra along 40 other musicians.  We perform three concerts a year and practice eight times for each concert. 

I have a number of ouds.   One that I favor most these days is my most recent one I purchased during the pandemic.  It is a carbon fiber, all black, oud made in Israel.  Because of the color and material, many of my musician friends consider it unconventional.  They also are not particularly fond the sound.  Me?  I love the color and the durability of the carbon fiber.   I really do like the sound.  To me it is deep and rich.  This oud fits, in my view, my style of play. 

With the Hamas brutal attack on Israel on October 7 and the even more brutal response in Gaza, my friend has been very despondent and for good reason.  The Armenians lost Artsakh a mere nine days earlier on September 28 after a horrible one year siege by Azerbaijan.  Armenians, me included, have been increasingly despondent since the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. 

At a practice in November, I was tuning my oud before practice.  My friend who was walking by and said, “I see you brought the enemy’s oud.”  I was not sure what to say.  In that instant I understood his pain, but it amplified my pain of the total lack of interest in our three-year plight leading to the fall of Artsakh.  All I could think of saying was, “You know the maker of this oud was an Israeli aerospace engineer named Meir Yaakov Efergen.  He stopped making weapons to make instruments.”  It was all I could really think of.

I understand the feeling of my friend.  He could not believe or accept what was happening to his people in Gaza.  He felt helpless.  All he could do was post on social media, protest, and participate in concerts to raise money for aid.  It is exactly how I have felt for three years regarding Artsakh. 

A few weeks later, I was still thinking about this exchange my friend; the enemy’s oud indeed.  As a result, I left the carbon fiber oud at home and was using a very traditional, classic, instrument made by arguably the most famous oud maker, Emaniolis, who was a Greek living in Istanbul at the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  At another rehearsal, I asked my friend, “Do you recall calling my carbon fiber oud ‘the enemy’s oud?’”  He really didn’t and I understood that given the swirl of emotions the war on Gaza was causing in so many people.  I went on to say, “You went to Istanbul and had an oud made to your exact specifications by the most talented living maker in Istanbul.  I have never even thought of that beautiful  instrument as ‘the enemy’s oud.’” 

This all made me reflect, again, on a quote from the great troubadour Aram Tigran (1934-2009) was going through my head since the start of the Artaskh War:  “If I come to the world again, I will melt all of the tanks, rifles and weapons, and make sazes, cümbüşes, and zurnas.”  I would love to see that happen.

 

This piece was first published in The Armenian Weekly.

What Came First?

These days, I try to include at least one photo with every blog post.  For the most part, the blog content comes first, and the photo is chosen to enhance the content.  Every once in awhile, I see an image or photo and it inspires me to write a post around the photo.  The most recent example of that was on December 22^nd of last year:  We Still have Dreams.  It was inspired by a photo of John Travolta on the cover of Star magazine with the teaser, “Starting Over at 70: ‘I still have dreams.’”

This blog is inspired by a photo I recently took.

I have gotten into photography in the past decade.  When I take just a few photos, I use my phone like just about everyone else.  When I take lots of photos like dozens and even hundreds, I tend to use my Sony mirrorless camera.  Between shooting sessions, I take out the memory card, download the photos to my PC, erase the photos form the memory card, and take a random photo to ensure only the random photo is on the card and the camera is ready for the next shoot.  When I am at home, this is all done in my home office and the random photo is usually of something in the office e.g. a chair, a lamp, my keyboard, books, just about anything in that room.  Up until a few days ago that first random photo was always a trashed.  Not with the photo shown here.  This photo struck me in a most positive way.  I decided to keep it.  Beyond that, I liked it so much, I dedicated this bloggy bit on it. 

I used my big, all-purpose zoom lens, basically got a nice shot of pencil holder full of some of my favorite pens.  The foreground is crisp and clear.  The background is blurred.  The pencil holder is a gift from the Anhui University of Finance and Economics when I taught there in the Summer of 2016.  It is centered in the photo but askew like the famous leaning tower.  There is a corner of the banner of The Gavoor Coat of Arms created by the Washington, DC Gavoors.  There is glimpse of bracelet my granddaughter made me with the red, blue, and orange colors of the Armenian flag with the “DEDE”, what the grandkids call me, on it. 

As noted, the pencil holder is full of writing instruments:  13 pens and 1 pencil.  The pencil is a Sanford PhD mechanical pencil.  The Sanford Brand disappeared as it is fully integrated into Newell Brands.  It is now known as Paper Mate PhD.  There are two Caran D’Ache ballpoints, one an entry level and the other a fine writing ox blood lacquered beauty.  There are four Parkers, a chrome Jotter, a Duo-Fold ballpoint, a white and gold fountain pen, and black rollerball. There are two Cross ballpoints, one a chrome Classic Century with my Dad’s nickname on it and the other a lapiz lazuli Century II.  There is a black Mont Blanc roller ball, a Waterman Carene blue and gold fountain pen, and a black Rotring ballpoint.  The last two are standard refill (meaning Parker style refill) ball points.  One is chrome North Park logo pen and the other is souvenir from Washington DC with a bust of Thomas Jefferson on it.

 What came first, the content or the photo?  In this case the photo, most definitely.

The Thomas Jefferson

 

Chidem Inch: Old Banquet Photos

Banquet at the Sheraton Towers in Chicago on June 25, 1960,
in honor of the visit of Catholicos Vazken I, of blessed memory

     I was recently at St. Gregory the Illuminator Church in Chicago for a concert. I noticed a photo, black and white, taken at a banquet at the Sheraton Towers on June 25, 1960, in honor of the visit of Catholicos Vazken I, of blessed memory. The photo was taken from a balcony and showed the head table and at least 30 tables of 10 people that could fit in the shot. Everyone was dressed up—to the nines as they used to say. My guess is there were 350-500 people in attendance.

     The photo was impressive, not only because it captured a celebration of a Pontifical visit, or coincidently, that it was taken on the evening of my seventh birthday. It was something more—something nostalgic. There have been photos like this in every Armenian church, agoump or getron, in commemorative and souvenir booklets. These photos, always in black and white and from an aerial vantage point, keep us rooted to the past. They are always taken from an aerial vantage point, in the grand ballroom of a swanky downtown hotel. They capture the gatherings of Armenians in the U.S. honoring or commemorating something—a convention, the founding of a church, the burning of a mortgage, or perhaps the 25th anniversary of this or the 30th anniversary of that.

     I am sure these photos are not unique to the Armenian community. Every ethnic group, church, civic or professional organization likely has similar photos.

     From my perspective, I have seen more Armenian banquet photos than any others. These panoramic photos have impressed me for years, especially those from the 1930s and 1940s. These photos of hundreds of Armenians, dressed in their finest gathered in luxurious ballrooms, were taken just 15-30 years after the Genocide. It is hard to distinguish faces pictured beyond the front two rows of tables, and if the photo is not from Detroit, where I grew up, there is almost zero chance I will recognize anyone. Yet, I am mesmerized by these photos. I look at and study them much longer than I would a masterpiece in an art museum. It is a window to the first generation, the survivors of the Genocide. Who is the baker, the butcher, the storekeeper, the rug merchant? Who are the factory workers and common laborers? To me, they all seem to say, “Look at us. We not only survived but are thriving. We miss our homeland, but look at us.”

     Why don’t we see more banquet photos these days? We certainly have photos of participants and delegates of various conventions, Armenian and Sunday School students, and gatherings on the steps of churches or other venues. We took photos like these then and certainly today. Yet, we almost never see these kinds of banquet photos anymore.

     The answer is probably quite simple. These days we rarely use the grand city center hotels. Most of our banquets and dinners are held in suburban hotels and banquet halls. These venues were probably built after 1960. They all have something in common—none of them have balconies. It is almost impossible to get these kinds of photos without a very tall ladder or perhaps a drone. It seems these kinds of photos just faded away with the change in architecture and interior design of the newer, more “modern” venues.

      There are a few modern versions of this genre of nostalgic photos. Maybe, given how many images are created these days, we should leave these panoramic banquet photos to the black and white era of that first generation.

      Note:  This piece was first published in The Armenian Weekly.

      Here are some more photos of this genre:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few more recent photos in color.
Nice, but just not the same feel as the black and white ones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rose Bowl

 

It has been a magical season for the University of Michigan Wolverines.  They beat Ohio State in the last game of the regular season on November 25^th to advance to the Big Ten Championship.  While we beat Ohio State, it was a hard-fought game.  In fact, they were driving at the end of the game for a field goal to tie and send the game to overtime or to score a touchdown and outright win the game.  Our defense pressured their quarterback into an errant throw that was intercepted and sealed a Michigan win, the third in a row against them.  The following Saturday, December 2, Michigan took on Iowa in the Big Ten Championship game.  Iowa was all defense and little offense.  It was a good test for us as we prevailed 26-0. 

After we won the Big Ten Championship, we were ranked #1 in the College Championship Playoffs, and we were pitted against Alabama in the Rose Bowl.  The winner of the Rose Bowl would face the winner of the Sugar Bowl, Texas vs. Washington, in the Championship game on January 8^th in Houston.  Both the Rose and Sugar Bowls were played today, New Year’s Day.

When the Michigan fan base learned we would be playing Alabama in the semi-finals, our optimism became a bit more cautious.  Frankly, we have not done well in Bowl games and we have done even worse against SEC teams in bowl games.  I kept telling myself that was old thinking and that this team was different and different in a very good way.  There was that magic one sees in championship seasons when things just seem to go your way.  I define magic as a wee bit of luck on top of a well-coached, superbly talented team, that executes at a high level. 

OK, but this was still Alabama, and they are still coached by Nick Saban.   Clearly, it was going to be a hard-fought game that would be won in the trenches.  Some of my friends thought it would be a shoot-out.  Others, including myself, thought the defenses would dominate making it a lower scoring game that would, per my buddy and football guru Jack, “go down to the final drive of the game.”  Jack certainly called that correctly.

It was a hard-fought defense dominated game.  There were mistakes on both sides, the kind that comes from playing a high-stake game like this when everyone is over excited and on edge.  Michigan made the first error.  They fumbled a punt early in the first quarter which Alabama recovered.  Bama scored a TD on a knife through butter 4 play 44-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead.  Michigan answered with a 7 play 75-yard drive to tie the game.  After five back and forth series all of which ended in punts, Michigan mounted an 8 play 83-yard drive to score another TD.  Due to an errant snap, we were not able to kick the extra point.  The score was 13-7.  Alabama then drove for 52 yards in 10 plays and kicked a 50 yard field goal to make it 13-10 Michigan at the end of the first half.  Michigan sacked Alabama QB, Jalen Milroe, five times in the first half and held Bama to under 100 yards rushing.  Michigan looked like the stronger team. 

Both teams were strong 3^rd quarter teams, outscoring their opponents by a very large margin.  The third quarter of the Rose Bowl was surprisingly scoreless.  Both defenses were on point.  But it was apparent that Alabama made better adjustments during half-time as they seemed to be moving the ball better and they held Michigan to a dismal 32 yards of offense in the third quarter and won the field position battle.

Alabama mounted a beautiful 8 play 55-yard drive that started late in the third quarter and ended with a TD in the first minute of the fourth quarter.  With Alabama leading 17-13 and looked dominating doing it.  Things were looking gloomy for Michigan.  Michigan still could not move the ball.  Alabama looked like they were driving for another touchdown.  A penalty and another sack stalled their drive.  They kicked a 50-yard field goal to extend their lead to 20-13.

With only 4:41 left in the game Michigan had to score a touchdown.  I was texting my son on other friends saying that JJ and Corum, as leaders of the offense and both of whom had came back vowing to win a national championship, had to produce.  And they did just.  With 4^th and 2 on the Alabama 40, JJ hit Corum on a swing pass for 27 yards.  JJ ran for a first down.   JJ then connected with Roman Wilson for another 29 yards.  A few plays later, JJ threw a short pass in the flat to Wilson for a TD.   The score was tied at 20-20.

Alabama got the ball with 1:34 left, ran 5 plays, and were forced to punt.  Michigan fumbled the punt but recovered it on their own 1 yard line.  They ran one play and took a knee twice to end regulation time and sending the game into overtime.

In the overtime, Michigan had the ball and scored a touchdown in two plays.  Corum ran both plays with great determination.  We had a 27-20 lead.  Alabama had their chance and now they had to score a touchdown.  The ran five plays it was 4^th down and goal to go on the Michigan 3 yard line.  After a Bama timeout followed by a Michigan timeout and then, OMG, another Bama time out, they finally ran a play.  It was a quarterback keeper which Michigan snuffed stopped to end the game:  Michigan 27 – Alabama 20.

It was an amazing game.  Both teams came to play. 

This was the first time I felt that an SEC team was not faster and more agile than us.  We were as tough or tougher than their linemen on both sides and as fast or faster than their skill players.   I believe one of the best assets of Michigan is the strength and conditioning coach. I am not the first to note this. 

It was a nail biter, edge of the seat, heart pounding game for us watching.  Here is a sampling of what texts with my favorite Michigan fans.

I’m a bundle of nerves.

Me too.

 

How’s your heart?

Pounding.

 

Nerves are fried.

Mine too.

 

Congrats! You may now breathe!!!

I’m on oxygen!

 

I. Can’t. Believe. We. Did. It.

 

Was it all just some wonderful dream?

We weren’t alone.  Here is a thread from a Michigan FB groups.

Damn . I had a heart attack with the OT!!! Go blue!!

You ain’t the only one.

Me too i was praying the whole time.

This game was nerve racking!

And from another.  Apparently the reaction and nervousness was universal:

This game aged me by about 20yrs. Who else about had a heart attack.

I may have used a few special words more than normal?

Yes, I consider this game a personal survival story and will tell the grandkids one day.

Yep. Have to go have my hair colored tomorrow.

I had to take both my heart meds for blood pressure and rate and I’m 45. 

Defibrillator was on standby

I'm glad I'm not a big drinker. I would have been plastered by half time, lol.

 I cannot imagine the National Championhip against Washington will be any easier.  

No matter what I might imagine, I do remember this.  After Michigan lost to Georgia 34-11 in the 2021 National Semifinal, JJ McCarthy and Blake Corum came back out onto the field to watch Georgia celebrate and hoist the Orange Bowl trophy.  You could sense their resolve to get back and win the whole shebang.  Go Blue!  Beat Washington!