When the College Football Playoff committee revealed Alabama would be the fourth seed and play Michigan in the semifinals, the world sat stunned that undefeated Florida State was not chosen.
The top-seeded Wolverines responded with what sounded like a different emotion. A groan rippled around the room as the Crimson Tide logo flashed up on the screen, captured through ESPN’s live feed at each potential team’s watch party.
Several Michigan players addressed the video during media sessions on Thursday, and the team insisted it wasn’t the emotion the internet thought it was. The Wolverines said they were simply just shocked undefeated Florida State would not be a playoff team.
Michigan's reaction to facing Alabama in the CFP semifinal đź‘€
(via @ESPNRittenberg) pic.twitter.com/OjNcHdTL8g
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 3, 2023
“It’s funny that I keep hearing everybody say we’re scared because we got ‘Bama,” linebacker Michael Barrett said. “It was more like the shock of not seeing an undefeated Power 5 team…It wasn’t really like fear, never that, of any team.”
Several of Barrett’s teammates echoed the statement, and linebacker Junior Colson suggested with a grin that maybe Alabama was the scared team after the Crimson Tide hired former Michigan assistant George Helow ahead of the Rose Bowl.
USA TODAY’s Dan Wolken wrote in a Friday column that he didn’t believe the new messaging.
“I’ve seen people get more excited opening letters from the IRS,” Wolken wrote about the video.
The Rose Bowl kicks off at 5:00 p.m. ET on January 1st.