I don't think this bowl says anything about either team's regular season. And I'm gonna go out on a short limb and guess that most of Alabama's highly vaunted five star roster didn't sign to play for Nick Saban and championships thinking they'd end up being coached by a staff they aren't sure about in the Reliaquest Bowl. That first quarter looked like the college football equivalent of "oh come on, do we really have to?"
Doesn't excuse or justify losing, either. Alabama losing makes my day. But Michigan had all the motivation in this game, coming in to beat "big bad Alabama" after upsetting Ohio State. Alabama's got nothing to play for. Their pride finally kicked in after that first quarter. It may be enough to get them through the game. Maybe not. We'll know in a few hours.