Alabama will play in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
After missing out on the College Football Playoff, it was announced Sunday afternoon that the Alabama Crimson Tide will be playing in the ReliaQuest Bowl to conclude the 2024 season against a familiar opponent.
Alabama’s opponent in that game? The Michigan Wolverines, who knocked the Crimson Tide out of the College Football Playoff a year ago in the Rose Bowl on their way to winning the national championship.
Here are a few things to know about Alabama’s matchup with Michigan, such as the date, time, location, and more:
Who will Alabama football play in ReliaQuest Bowl?
Alabama will be matched up against the Michigan Wolverines out of the Big Ten in the ReliaQuest Bowl. The Wolverines are coming off a 7-5 season in which they owned a 5-4 record in Big Ten play.
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Michigan Wolverines predictions
While still weeks away, it feels like this game is Alabama’s to lose. If I had to make a pick now, I’d go with Alabama to avenge last seasons CFP loss.
Prediction: Alabama 33, Michigan 20
When does Alabama play Michigan in ReliaQuest Bowl?
Alabama and Michigan will play on New Year’s Eve, which is Tuesday, Dec. 31, at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN. The game will be played from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.
The expansion comes following the most controversial field of the four-team era in which an undefeated, ACC champion Florida State was left out of the field. Now, the new system essentially guarantees that will never happen again with five spots reserved for conference champions and seven more going to the highest-ranked at-large teams.
Who gets those spots (and where they’re seeded) ultimately comes down to the College Football Playoff committee, a 13-member body. At the head of that body is the chair, and in 2024, Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel is serving in that position.
Manuel brings both playing and administrative experience to the table. A defensive tackle for the Wolverines from 1986-89, he was named athletics director at Michigan in 2016 after holding the same title at Connecticut and Buffalo.
Now entering his third season as a member of the committee after watching his school capture the trophy last year, Manuel was tabbed committee chair in February and will lead the group tasked with determining the teams that have a chance to compete for a national championship.
The defeat kept Ohio State out of the Big Ten Championship Game and lowered its projected College Football Playoff seeding as well. It was difficult game to watch as defense dominated, and the final score ended 13-10.
Given the importance of the rivalry throughout the country, the players take pride in this game, and the Wolverines seemed to take it a little too far by planting their flag on the Ohio State logo at midfield, to which Buckeyes players took offense.
There was a postgame skirmish that included police using pepper spray on players. On top of the obvious issues that come with skirmishes, the Big Ten announced $100,000 fines to both programs.
Let’s just say ESPN analyst and legendary head coach Nick Saban was not a fan of this punishment.
“To fine these schools $100,000 is like worrying about mouse manure when you’re up to ears in elephant (expletive).” – Nick Saban. pic.twitter.com/qGqUqh1MVs
The Big Ten issued a statement on its decision to fine the programs as well.
“Not only did the actions of both teams violate fundamental elements of sportsmanship such as respect and civility, the nature of the incident also jeopardized the safety of participants and bystanders,” it said via ESPN’s Mark Schlabach.
It isn’t shocking to see the fine, bur Saban certainly didn’t love the decision given the other current issues the conference and the NCAA at large are facing.
Ojabo has not even made the stat sheet since the Oct. 6 win at Cincinnati, when he recorded one solo tackle.
David Ojabo got off to a great start this season, recording a sack in the season opener at Super Bowl champion Kansas City. However, things quickly went downhill for him since he’s had a few healthy scratches from the gameday roster this season.
Even with all the pass-rushing woes that the Ravens have had this season, he’s still not getting opportunities. Ojabo has not even made the stat sheet since the Oct. 6 win at Cincinnati, when he recorded one solo tackle.
For the season, he has just five tackles (three solo) and the one aforementioned sack. Right now, it looks like he doesn’t fit into defensive coordinator Zach Orr’s plans. His current contract expires at the end of next season but given how far down the depth chart he is, one has to wonder if he’ll even be back for 2025.
His days with the Ravens may ultimately be numbered, and that’s rather unfortunate, given all the terrible misfortune that has dominated his career thus far.
Ojabo tore his Achilles at his Michigan Wolverines Pro Day, a few weeks before the 2022 draft. For the 2022 season, he played just two games, totaling one tack, a sack, and one forced fumble.
A serious injury struck him again in 2023, as he required surgery to repair a partially torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament. The Nigerian finished the 2023 season with six tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble in three games. He is one of two Michigan Men on the Ravens roster, Practice Squad DL Chris Wormley being the other.
Michigan Wolverines-Baltimore Ravens connections have been very prevalent in recent years. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh’s brother Jim was the head coach in Ann Arbor from 2015 up until last season.
He was a star quarterback for the program in the 1980s, finishing third in Heisman voting and winning Big Ten Player of the Year in 1986. Mike MacDonald was on the defensive coaching staff in Baltimore from 2014 to 2020 before taking the Defensive Coordinator job at Michigan in 2021.
After one season, he returned to Baltimore and assumed the same position with the Ravens for the next two seasons, ahead of his move into the Seattle Seahawks head coaching vacancy this past offseason. His successor at the Michigan DC position was Jesse Minter, a former Ravens defensive backs coach.
Michigan-NFL ties run deep on various levels, and according to a report in RG, the program is now pushing to move one of its road games next season to an NFL venue. The Wolverines’ current DC, Don “Wink” Martindale, held the same position in Baltimore from 2018-21. So that now makes it three straight Michigan D. Coordinators who had, or would later have, the same gig with the Ravens.
So even if Ojabo and the Ravens are to part ways (according to Spotrac, his salary cap hit for 2025 would be about $2.5 million), the Michigan-Ravens pipeline will persist. With all the defensive coaching connections between the two teams, plus all the top NFL Draft prospects currently in Ann Arbor, you’ll see more guys who once wore maize and blue don the purple and black.
Former Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield was asked about all of the college football Rivalry Week flag plants.
Week 14 of the 2024 college football season, also known as “Rivalry Week” wrapped up with another chaotic set of results that turned the postseason picture upside down.
One trend that fans couldn’t help but notice was the amount of bad blood and outright brawls centered around the winning team planting the flag on the losing team’s home field immediately after the game was over.
It happened in Michigan-Ohio State, Florida-Florida State, N.C. State-North Carolina and Arizona State-Arizona. In each of those games, the road team won and planted a flag (or pitchfork in ASU’s case) at the home team’s midfield logo, inciting a scuffle.
Of course, it all started with former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback [autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag], the original flag-planter. Mayfield famously planted the OU flag midfield after the Sooners went on the road and defeated Ohio State in 2017. The eventual Heisman Trophy winner had a performance (and celebration) for the ages that night in Columbus.
Saturday’s events were a fun reminder, at least for Sooner fans of that fateful evening in The Shoe. Mayfield was asked about his thoughts on Sunday after his Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Carolina Panthers 26-23 in overtime.
“I’ll say this,” Mayfield said after a chuckle. “OU-Texas does it every time they play. It’s nothing special. You take your L, and you move on. College football is meant to have rivalries. It’s like the Big 12 banning the ‘Horns Down’ signal. Just let the boys play.”
The incident between the Wolverines and the Buckeyes is getting the most attention this week. It resulted in pepper spray being deployed by police to break up the brawl between the two team’s players. The Big Ten fined both schools $100,000 for their roles in the melee.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate it.
Folks, I want us to decide if we like college football rivalry weekend or not right now.
Because, after the kerfuffle that broke out at The Game over the weekend, I’m seeing a lot of hand-wringing and finger-wagging that makes me think people don’t actually like the sport’s best weekend at all.
Look, I get it. Nobody likes to see fighting. Seeing Michigan and Ohio State’s players get tangled up like that certainly isn’t the best look. Violence is never encouraged, so when it happens, it’s a bit jarring.
But, folks, this is rivalry weekend! This is the thing. This is how it goes.
“College football is meant to have rivalries. That’s like the Big 12 banning the ‘horns down’ signal. Just let the boys play,” Mayfield said.
You see that? That’s a guy who gets it. That’s somebody who understands what rivalry weekend is all about.
It’s OK to wave goodbye to fans. It’s OK to plant a flag or two in the middle of your opponent’s field after you gave them the business. It’s OK to be petty! That’s what makes this weekend special.
The money is so intertwined in college football these days that it’s easy to forget that. Conference realignment has changed things. These days, the simple crosstown rivalries don’t matter. Not like they used to.
But when college football is at its best, we’re watching a game that is literally being played to accomplish one thing: Ruining someone’s year. It doesn’t matter what happened before that game. It doesn’t matter what happens after. Ryan Day and Ohio State could win a national championship and Michigan fans won’t care. They’ll still have that win over the Buckeyes. And they’ll still have planted that big blue flag with the M on it in the middle of the Buckeye’s field. For that team, that’s just as good as any national championship. It’ll probably please some boosters, too.
So, folks, all I ask is this: Before you reprimand players for getting feisty and call for a ban on flag planting, please remember what sport you are watching. Don’t ruin this for the rest of us.
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Let me be clear: I have no idea what the GM does for a college football team. I imagine it’s some mixture of collecting cash from boosters for the program, scrounging up NIL collective money and convincing the best recruits to come to the school.
Whatever, though. That’s not what I’m here to tell you.
I come with the glorious news that, at the behest of the esteemed Cardinal, General Andrew Luck has indeed returned to the battlefield, as rumor would have it. After nearly a year in solitude and sporadic communication, he has broken his silence to announce that, henceforth, he shall lead the next generation into battle. We are most fortunate for this development.
Oh, captain. My captain. What a joy it is to see your return.
Kim Mulkey is back at it again
There will never be another like Kim Mulkey. What I mean by that is that there will never be another coach who wears outfits so egregiously bad that they somehow work.
“On Sunday, as LSU marched to a resounding victory, Kim Mulkey was wearing tigers — neon pink tigers striped like candy canes. We’re not kidding. As Kim earned her 100th win with the program, she was fittingly wearing a wild exotic tiger sweater, and it’s so on-brand (and so awful) that it’s glorious.”
Kenneth Grant proving he’s a viable first-round talent in the 2025 NFL Draft on his own and more than Mason Graham’s sidekick at Michigan
Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham has been a staple in the first half of the first round of 2025 NFL mock drafts since the college season started. And deservedly so; Graham is a menacing, technically proficient and disruptive headache for opposing offenses.
Graham isn’t the only premium prospect along that Wolverines defensive front, however. In Saturday’s upset win in Columbus, Kenneth Grant showed Ohio State and the scouting world that he is more than just a beneficiary of playing next to a star like Graham.
Grant was the best player on the field for either team in Michigan’s suffocating defensive performance in a game where it’s feasible that as many as 17 of the defensive starters between the two teams will be drafted into the NFL at some point. Ohio State couldn’t block Grant, period.
OSU’s opening drive of the second half.
They runs continued to do nothing while the passes picked up 3 first downs.
Then, after an incompletion, a short pass, and a tipped ball by Rashawn Benny,
Kenneth Grant storms the castle and forces an errant throw by Howard.
OSU has to punt pic.twitter.com/DOi7yHpeu2
Grant finished the game with five QB pressures per PFF, which the stats service notes is the most QB pressures by any defensive interior player for the entire week. He’s been doing it all season, however.
Kenneth Grant doesn’t get enough credit for being the freakishly good athlete he is 🔥
The 339-pound Grant consistently uses his freakish (for his size) burst and long speed to disrupt screens and outside runs. When he doesn’t get home as a pass rusher, there might not be a better DT in the draft at getting his hands into the passing lane. Against USC, a game I attended, Grant got his hands on one Miller Moss attempt and forced a high throw on another that stopped a drive.
Grant is a viable first-round talent in his own right. That’s no shot at Graham, who belongs in the top-15 rankings. Both can be great individually, and they are. They were the bright spot for Michigan in an overall disappointing campaign for the defending national champs and the biggest reason why that 7-5 season ended with the most important win the Wolverines could dream about.
ROSEMONT, ILL. – The Big Ten Conference has determined that the actions of both teams following the Michigan-Ohio State football game on Saturday, November 30, 2024, violated the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy. Not only did the actions of both teams violate fundamental elements of sportsmanship such as respect and civility, the nature of the incident also jeopardized the safety of participants and bystanders.
As a result of these violations, the Big Ten Conference has issued an institutional fine to both the University of Michigan and The Ohio State University in the amount of $100,000 each.
The Big Ten Conference considers this matter concluded and will have no further comment.
First half highlights and analysis: Seahawks trail Jets 21-16
The Seattle Seahawks have literally never played in a normal game, and this adage continues into Week 13 against the New York Jets. It has been a bizarre, sloppy, and explosive affair between these two teams. What started to look like another defensive battle quickly devolved.
New York found the end zone first, but Leonard Williams blocked the PAT. Little would we know, it was only the start of horrendous special teams play.
On the ensuing kick off, Seattle’s return man Dee Williams fumbled the ball. Williams has been a liability in the return game all season long, and it reared its ugly head once more, as his muffed return was recovered by New York at Seattle’s 27-yard line. The Jets quickly found the end zone for the second time today four plays later to extend their lead to 14-0 thanks to a successful two-point conversion.
The Seahawks were finally able to answer, as they engineered a 10-play, 83 yard touchdown drive. Seattle was backed up further than they should, as Laviska Shenault fumbled the kick off, but was able to recover it. Geno Smith found rookie AJ Barner for the touchdown.
Well, Seattle’s momentum was quickly robbed as Jets running back Kene Nwangwu returned the ball 99-yards for a touchdown to go up 21-7. Unfortunately, the special teams disasterclass would continue…. as after the touchdown, Laviska Shenault fumbled again. Only this time, New York would recover at Seattle’s 38-yard line.
Just to quickly recap, here is what the Seahawks special teams situation has been in the first half alone.
Seahawks special teams disasterclass
-Dee Williams kick off fumble, Jets recover
-Laviska Shenault kick off fumble, Hawks recover but backed up deep in their own territory
-Jets 99 yard kick off return touchdown
-Laviska Shenault kick off fumble, Jets recover
However, I wonder if the Jets social media admin might regret tweeting out “Football is fun!” because six plays later, quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ pass was picked off by defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who promptly returned the ball 91-yards.
Leonard Williams scores the first touchdown of his career… and he does so against the team that selected him No. 6 overall in the 2015 NFL draft pic.twitter.com/fHQyEnsGrl
The Seahawks’ special teams woes continued, as the PAT attempt was blocked, keeping the score 21-13. However, Jason Myers did have redemption as he nailed a 54-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-16, which is where it lasted into halftime. Myers’ field goal was his seventh from 50+ yards in a single season, breaking his own Seahawks franchise record he set last year.
New York will get the ball to start the second half. Be sure to follow @TheSeahawksWire and @KoleMusgrove23 on Twitter for more live updates, analysis and highlights!
The legendary Fox broadcaster is starting to sound like a shell of himself.
At his best, Gus Johnson elevates any game he broadcasts.
His excitement is pure, his commentary is smooth and his joy at watching athletes make plays is palpable.
At his worst, the Fox play-by-play man is a caricature of himself. As much as Johnson’s fans tune in to his games ready for his signature emoting, the reality is that he sometimes comes off as someone so concerned about his next catchphrase or narrative that he misses what’s happening right in front of him. This is the cardinal sin of a play-by-play man, of course. The best broadcasters are merely role players. Gus Johnson is, often regrettably, the main character of his broadcasts.
Saturday in Columbus was a cursed combination of those flaws. Johnson was so quick to tie a cute ribbon on Michigan’s 13-10 upset at No. 2 Ohio State game that he missed the actual fracas unfolding on the field.
As soon as the game ended, Johnson got a little petty by saying Michigan “didn’t have to cheat this time” — a nod to the Connor Stallions scandal, which, aside from being a cheap shot, doesn’t even feel like the biggest part of this win.
This was a five-loss Michigan team upsetting a highly ranked Ohio State program that made clear all week how important it was to beat the defending national champions. Ryan Day compared losing to Michigan to the death of his father. The Buckeyes were 21-point favorites.
Which is not to say Johnson needed to bring up any of that, just that the Stallions drama was so far removed from this game.
But it got worse moments later when Michigan and Ohio State began to brawl. Wolverines players attempted to plant a block M flag at midfield only for a some Buckeyes to rush over and rip it down.
An altercation breaks out after Michigan's upset victory over Ohio State when Michigan players attempt to plant their team flag over the Buckeyes logo.
"Now there is some skirmishes on the field. An unsportsmanlike gesture by Michigan." -Gus Johnsonpic.twitter.com/vJdiggVp3E
Johnson’s view of the fight was that it resulted from “an unsportsmanlike gesture by Michigan.” Every bit of evidence we’ve seen since the scuffle makes that feel like a real stretch.
Michigan alone on the field at the 50 after winning
OSU players ran all the way across the field and began this fight
OSU could not beat Michigan, but they cheap-shotted Michigan after the game
If you can't win the game, you don't get to cry post game
For starters, flag planting after big wins has been around in college football for years. For another, Texas did it to Michigan earlier this year (in a game broadcast on Fox by Gus Johnson, no less). Michigan planted a flag at The Shoe in in 2022, as well.
But Johnson’s “unsportsmanlike” comment ignores the fact Ohio State was already halfway off the field before players ran back to confront Michigan.
That might not have been apparent to those watching at home, but Johnson was in the broadcast booth high up above the field with a clear view. It’s his job to explain what’s happening. His failure created a false narrative that wouldn’t be corrected until after the millions of fans watching at home had already flipped the channel.
It was not lost many that Johnson’s “unsportsmanlike” comment occurred mere moments after he made a Stallions joke as Michigan celebrated.
Gus Johnson talking about Michigan planting the flag being disrespectful when his game-winning call was literally "Michigan didn't cheat — this time!" is a choice.
Johnson is certainly divisive and, honestly, he’s just the latest in a very long line of A-list sports broadcasters to fall into that category. Yet it’s his self-inflicted errors that keep detracting from legitimately fun moments like when his voice broke during an Ohio State interception in the end zone.
That’s Gus Johnson at his best. Now he’s often his own biggest distraction, and what a shame it is.
