Alabama Football ended its 2024 season Tuesday afternoon, losing to a five-loss Michigan team. The Wolverines are not a bad team, but they are not a particularly good one either. Neither is Alabama.
The Alabama Crimson Tide was seeking a defining win. Finishing with a 10th win for the 17th straight season would have been good enough to talk about progress and optimism for the 2025 season. Instead, Alabama Football proved its many naysayers understood Alabama better than the Crimson Tide understood itself.
The Alabama Crimson Tide played better than good enough to win the ReliaQuest Bowl. The culprit in the losing effort was the anemic Alabama offense. There is plenty of blame to be shared; the offensive line; Jalen Milroe; Nick Sheridan and Kalen DeBoer are the most culpable.
Alabama's offensive system in the 2024 system was not DeBoer's Washington or Indiana's when he was the Hoosiers Offensive Coordinator in 2019. It was a hybrid because DeBoer did not have all the personnel needed to run the same offense he ran with Michael Penix Jr. at QB.
In January, Jalen Milroe's leadership was sorely needed in the transition from Nick Saban to DeBoer. Milroe and a few others helped hold the Crimson Tide roster together just enough for the 2024 season not to become a disaster. Sincere respect Alabama players had for Milroe was likely key to the coaching decision to build the hybrid offense around him. It might have worked if the offensive line had been better. It might have worked anyway if Milroe had performed better as the season progressed.
Milroe regressed as a passer, and the Alabama rushing attack was too often ineffective. Because of its weaknesses, the Alabama offense became overly dependent on Jalen Milroe to make explosive plays. The Crimson Tide offense became feast or famine.
Beat Alabama Football: Stuff the run and play deep zone
Michigan, though missing many key players, had a defense well-structured to beat Alabama. The Wolverines were able to neutralize the Alabama rushing game except for one reverse and one long run by Milroe. Michigan was able to do the run-stuffing and also play a two-deep. Milroe was unable to connect passes to Alabama receivers in the gaps of Michigan's zone. For Alabama, none of the problems in the ReliaQuest Bowl were new.
Mark me down as one of many Alabama football fans surprised the Crimson Tide played so poorly against Michigan. Alabama got its defining performance and sadly, it must be admitted that our expectations for the game and for the season were unrealistically high.