Alabama’s last play was broken from the start in College Football Playoff

For much of the second half, it looked like a traditional Alabama game.

The University of Michigan should have gone for the head when they were winning 13-7 in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. They made too many mistakes and forced Bama back into the game.

Despite the great play the Crimson Tide put up after the loss to Texas, one belief that stuck with this particular Alabama team this year was the struggles on the offensive line, with the Crimson Tide losing on the final play of the game. The Tide game is over. season. For most of the second half, Alabama's offense condensed the game and regained control. More Pony personnel (2 backs in the game), more fullback/TE Robbie Utu on the field, more duos and gap schemes being run. Alabama's offensive line is large and suited for phone booth attacks, and the Tide took control in the second half, briefly taking the lead.

However, in overtime, when the season and the national championship were at stake, the problems of the offensive line reared their heads once again. Let's set the scene. Fourth and goal from the Michigan 3-yard line. After a series of timeouts and essentially playing chess with each other, Alabama sent out 11 and tripped the tight end on the line of scrimmage, giving a different look to its success in the second half. From there, RB Roydell Williams was introduced, and things began to unravel from there.

First of all, let me say this. At first I thought the play calling was poor. However, looking back at the play, I think the call itself was good. This is an RPO that combines QB power with a swing to the back. QB He has the numbers advantage on the swing pass if he thinks Jalen Milroe doesn't have the box count to run it. Michigan had beaten Alabama multiple times by blitzing and sending pressure throughout the game, so this was an easy way to force their hand. However, the execution up front doomed the play from the jump.

Let's start with the snap. The Alabama center has struggled with snaps all season, but things got really ugly on Monday. Milroe was thrown off by snaps that never made it on target, and the passing game was derailed. The low snap here forces Milroe to completely abort this RPO of his and try to steal the ball himself. A better snap would probably allow Milroe to read his RPO more accurately.

Another factor confusing this play is that Alabama is getting beat up up front. From the end zone view, right tackle J.C. Latham was brought down with a scoop block, forcing Milroe and effectively tripping him up, slowing the momentum after an already terrible snap. Michigan tilted its front line wide to take advantage of its speed, and on the left side of the line, his EDGE was slanted toward his TE's face, muddying the look. But this play probably scored on a good snap. Milroe follows the puller and the puller enters the end zone.

What's interesting here is the widest guy on the field. Michigan recognized his quick movement and instead of stripping endmen on the line of scrimmage, they sent him wide of the field where he could disrupt potential swing passes. As you can see, the Tide has an advantage on the outside. Could it have been a more difficult throw? Probably, but could have been created with RPO.

However, the play failed on the jump due to issues that have plagued the Tide all year.