The plan was simple heading into Alabama’s showdown with Michigan on Saturday: contain Michigan QB Denard Robinson and make him beat you through the air. Alabama did that and more, shutting down the Wolverines’ dynamic quarterback in a Texas-sized, 41-14 route in Dallas.
“We set the tone early, it’s an Alabama standard to play great defense, and we did a great job of bottling up the middle and stopping Robinson from spreading the field,” safety Vinnie Sunseri said. “[Head coach Nick Saban] had a great game plan, and it was a team effort … We have to give the coaching staff a lot of credit because we knew what to expect on every play.”
Robinson made a few big plays, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with the offensive onslaught Alabama put on in the first half, a 31-point performance that was a Cowboys Classic record for points in the first half.
But the biggest surprise was how Michigan head coach Brady Hoke deployed Robinson, keeping him in the pocket for the most part, which almost played right into Saban and the Alabama defense’s hands.
“Our main thing was just to keep him contained,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said. “So if it was him running more or throwing more, our job was just to try to contain him, and that’s what we did.”
Mosley was on the receiving end — literally — of one of Robinson’s glaring gaffes. He returned an interception 16 yards for a touchdown late in the first half that put Alabama ahead 31-0, all but eradicating any remaining hope the Wolverines had of staying close.
Robinson rushed ten times for just 37 yards, well below his 90.46 average in 2011. He completed 11 of 26 passes for 200 yards and one touchdown but two interceptions. However, 145 of those yards came on two completions.
After Mosley’s interception, Robinson completed a 71-yard pass to Jeremy Gallon, who beat junior cornerback Deion Belue in one-on-one coverage. In the third quarter, Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner slipped, and Robinson floated a 44-yard touchdown to Devin Gardner.
Both plays were double moves by the receivers that beat their respective defenders. Saban said part of the problem, however, was the pass rush that never got to Robinson on routes that take longer to develop than others.
“There’s not one person that’s responsible,” Saban said. “Those guys can play better. Had we played better as a whole, we probably would not have had the same results.”
But other than those two plays, which will undoubtedly be the only ones Saban will have on repeat in the film room this week, Alabama’s defense smothered a quarterback who tormented Big Ten defenses last season. And in the process, it showed that — early on, at least — there will be no lack of motivation coming off a national championship.
On Monday, when Saban stepped up to the podium for his weekly news conference, he did so with a wry smile on his face. After all, this was the defense that was supposed to flounder like it did two years ago.
“Everyone thought we were too young, too inexperienced, couldn’t handle success. Everybody was saying all those things about our team,” he said. “Now, people are saying something different. But my question is, what’s different? Nothing.”
