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Michigan’s Cam McGrone on Alabama’s late TD: ‘It was kind of a smack in the face’
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Losing the Citrus Bowl and finishing the season short of a double-digit win total isn’t exactly the way Michigan wanted to conclude this year. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Alabama rubbed a little salt in the wound late in the game to make matters even worse.
With 26 second left in the game and Alabama owning a 28-16 advantage, the Crimson Tide had the opportunity to take a knee, run the clock out and leave Orlando with a win. Instead, Nick Saban wanted to try to punch the football across the goal line one last time to send a message.
It worked.
Najee Harris scored on a two-yard touchdown run with under 30 seconds, giving Alabama a 35-16 lead late in the fourth quarter. That ended up being the final score.
After the game, Michigan linebacker Cam McGrone was asked about that late touchdown. He made it pretty clear that he wasn’t too happy about Alabama’s decision to run up the score in the final minute of the game.
“It was kind of a smack in the face,” McGrone told Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News.
“It was kind of a smack in the face” — Cam McGrone on Bama’s last score
— angelique (@chengelis) January 1, 2020
Michigan probably won’t get too much sympathy, as it has been known to run its offense until the very end in similar situations. Still, you can understand McGrone’s frustration after a hard-fought game against Alabama.
The Wolverines owned a 16-14 halftime lead over the Crimson Tide, but settling for three first half field goals proved to be costly. Michigan was held scoreless in the final 30 minutes, while Alabama was able to put up 21 points to create the separation.
Michigan finished the season 9-4 and has now lost four-straight bowl games.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB