8 - Friday, January 8, 2010 0 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom 'Bama rolls to Nat'l Title 0 SAID ALSALAH/Dai y Senior Steve Kampfer and the rest of the Wolverines need a second half run to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Wolverines look to turn around dismal first half against Broncos With McCoy injured early, freshman's comeback effort falls short for Texas PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The sure thing was looking shaky for Alabama. Hanging onto a precarious three-point lead and with momen- tum on the other side, linebacker Eryk Anders was determined not to let the championship slip away. Anders forced a fumble on his blindside sack of Texas backup quarterback Garrett Gilbert with 3:02 left Thursday night to help the top-ranked Crimson Tide hold on for a 37-21 victory in the BCS title game - a win that figured to be much easier when Alabama knocked out Colt McCoy early in the first quarter. "I would have given anything to be out there because it would have been different," McCoy said. With McCoy on the sideline nursing a shoulder injury, the Tide (14-0) rolled to a 24-6 lead at half- time, the final touchdown coming when lineman Marcell Dareus picked off a shovel pass and returned it 28 yards for the score late in the second quarter. "I was thinking about grabbing the guy with the ball, but then I said, 'Let me just grab this foot- ball.' I wasn't even thinking about the highlight. I was so excited. My legs were weak, my muscles were crazy, and I made it," Dareus said. The second half figured to be a laugher with Gilbert in the game - a freshman who was Texas' "quarterback of the future" but had thrown only 26 college pass- es. The kid almost did it, though. He threwtwotouchdown passes to All-American Jordan Shipley to trim the deficit to 24-21 with 6:15 left, and after an Alabama punt, he had the ball at the 7-yard line, 93 yards away from one of the most improbable comeback stories in the history of the game. But after an Alabama holding penalty moved the ball to the 17, Gilbert dropped back to pass and got rockedby Anders, a senior who plays in the shadow of All-Ameri- cans Terrence Cody and Rolando McClain. The ball went flying and Courtney Upshaw recovered. Three plays later, Heisman Tro- phy winner Mark Ingram surged into the end zone from theeI for the 10-point lead. A few minutes later, after Gilbert's third interception of the night, Trent Richardson scored . his second touchdown to make it 37-21. Then the party began. Glory came back to one of the country's most storied programs, the foot- ball factory that Bear Bryant built,, courtesy of Nick Saban, who resur- rected this team in the short span of three seasons. "We back," Ingram said. Back for the first time since 1992, when Bryant's protege, Gene Stallings, led the Crimson Tide to its last national title. This one gives Alabama eightsince the polls began in the 1930s. Its seventh Associated Press championship should be a shoo-in when the votes are tabulated. Ingram finished with 116 yards and two touchdowns and Rich- ardson had 109 yards and two scores. Anders will go down with them in Crimson Tide lore, as will Dareus, who before his touchdown knocked McCoy - the winningest quarterback in college football history - down and out with an injury to his throwing shoulder on Texas' fifth offensive play. "I just heard a thump when I hit him," Dareus said. "I did lay it down pretty hard. I didn't try to, but it felt great." Dareus finished with one tackle, one interception and one touchdown, but all were game- changers. Seeking its second national title in five years, Texas (13-1) got to the game on the back of its All-American quarterback, who often looked like a one-man show in leading the Longhorns to 13 straight wins. After the injury, McCoy was begging to go back in to finish his last college game. His dad, inter- viewed on TV, said the injury wasn't that bad. But Texas coaches decided to err on the side of caution, and McCoy spent the second half wearing a headset on the sideline, trying to encourage his teammates. 0 MICHAEL FLOREK Daily Sports Writer At 5-7 in the CCHA and 10-10-0 overall, the Michigan hockey team has had a forgettable first half But if the Wolverines continue their inconsis- tent play, they . will be always Michigan be remem- at Westen bered. They M will be the teamthatfailed Matchup: to make the Western 6-10-4; NCAA tourna- Michigan 10-10 ment for the When: Friday, first time in 20 7:35 P.M. years, break- Where: Lawson ing the longest Ice Arena active streak in the nation. Last time the Wolverines watched their peers in late March, their season was stunningly simi- lar. The 1989 team got off to a mediocre start, 10-9-3immediately after the Great Lakes Invitational. Michigan went on to win 11 of its last 15 games butstill missed out on the postseason. With almost no room for error, Michigan's home-and-home matchup with Western Michi- gan means more than most games against the Broncos - especially after the Broncos came into Yost and left with a victory a year ago. "We've got to go into every game thinking this is the biggest game of the year," senior defensemen Steve Kampfer said. "It starts tomor- row, that's the biggest game of our year. And then Saturday's the big- gest game of our year and we got to translate that into every game." The Wolverines' special teams will play a big part in the series as their fourth-ranked penalty kill will face a Bronco power play that is last in the conference. Perhaps more important is the other side of the special teams battle. Michigan's power play has continued to improve from adismal start. It goes up against a penalty kill sliding in the opposite direction - out of the last seven goals given up by the Broncos, six have them have come when theyare short-handed. But despite what appears to be a special teams advantage, the Wolverines' success depends on improvement in five-on-five play. Through twenty games they have the same amount of goals scored as goals against, 36, when both teams are playing at full strength. "We're a .500 team, five-on-five. That's not good enough," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "We can talk all we want about how we have to play better and we have to work on this and that, but wove got to do' it. We've got to do it in the games. This is the time." As time continues to tick down on the season, Michigan has no choice but to make a significant turnaround if it wants to see its usual postseason appearance. "We'll turn it around," Berenson said after getting swept by rival Michigan State for their fourth straight loss on November 14. "It's just a matter of when." Since that time, Michigan has remained inconsistent, splitting three of its four series. Nearly two months later, Berenson continues. to wait for his team to consistently find the right direction. How will he know when the Wolverines are back to performing at their potential? "It'sgoingtobe aconvincing(l0- game) segment," Berenson said. "We need more than one game or one period obviously. ... I wouldn't be surprised if this team went on a run, but we haven't proven that we can." SJUNCAJ From page 7 This team needs a third scorer. Anybody. Anytime. In any game. Harris and Sims will continue to score half this team's points. And because Michigan has no other offensively skilled postmen or aggressive slashers, the Wolver- ines' tournament hopes - how- ever slim they still are - will hinge on how often someone else can chip in three or four triples to keep defenses honest (and hesitant to throw extra defenders at Harris and Sims). We're long past the point of expecting one player to assume that role, and the team under- stands that. Lucas-Perry had not hit a shot in four of his past six games entering Thursday. Novak (eight points yesterday) has just four games with four-plus field goals this season. Stu Douglass has shown marked improvement at the point since taking the starting job Dec. 19, but was held to one basket last night. Between those three, Michi- gan will need some respectable combination of perimeter offense. Beilein said he doesn't care who gets hot as long as someone does. Entering last night, the Wolver- ines' RPI ranking was 176. They now have just one true road win this season, and still have major problems with interior defense. Looking toward March Madness, they are absolutely on the outside looking in at the moment. But if yesterday was any indica- tion, people should probably-bold off on an obituary. a A