Michigan-Alabama preview: Why I'm taking the Wolverines

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This is the part of my preview newsletter where I usually hype up Michigan’s upcoming game. But if you’re not already equal parts fired up, nervous and antsy for today’s Rose Bowl matchup between Michigan and Alabama where a trip to the National Championship Game is on the line, then I don’t know what to tell you.

Games like today are why we go through all the ups and downs that come with fandom. It’s why players like J.J. McCarthy and Jalen Milroe decided to play for programs like Michigan and Alabama, where everything they do is under a microscope and the lows can be so much lower than other places because the weight of expectations can be so heavy. But all the pressure that comes with playing at programs like this make the highs so much higher, too — and you can’t get much higher than earning a berth into a National Championship Game (OK, actually it can get higher … but you need to win today’s game to get to that point). It’s why college bowl season can largely be a dud and most games can lose whatever bit of relevancy still remained, because power brokers are willing to trade all of that tradition in exchange for a few big moments each year where everyone’s attention is on a handful of marquee games. This is one of those marquee games. And these two teams will have the nation’s full attention this afternoon at The Granddaddy Of Them All.

There’s no grander setting in college football than the Rose Bowl. And there are very few brands on par with Michigan and Alabama. If it seems like this was a matchup that was script — well, there’s probably some truth to that: just ask Florida State fans.

But everything that happened to get us to this point is moot now. And all the storylines heading into kickoff, as juicy as they may be, mean next to nothing once that ball is actually kicked off. Jim Harbaugh’s last game as a Wolverine head coach? J.J. McCarthy’s Maize and Blue swan song? We don’t know the answer to either of those questions right now. But a win makes both of those questions moot, and pushes that narrative a week down the line and saves it for the National Championship Game.

Let’s get to the preview of the game, which includes my keys to the game and my prediction. But also some guest predictions from people at The Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, MLive, Barstool Sports, MGoBlog, The Michigan Daily and a bunch of other publications.