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Michigan vs Alabama – Looking Back – 2000

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins Highlighting Key Rivalry Games

The third installment of the series looking back at football games between Michigan and Alabama takes us to the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 2000. It’s difficult to fathom, but there was a time when people didn’t recognize Tom Brady’s excellence.

Brady spent the first half of 2000 platooning with Drew Henson. Henson was the more recruited quarterback, having been rated as a five-star recruit in high school. Brady gradually seized full-time control of the quarterback position as the season went along, and Michigan’s play improved with Brady at the helm.

Twice, Michigan fell behind by 14 points, but each time Brady calmly rallied the Wolverines, honing his reputation as the master of comeback victories.

Trailing 14-0, Brady connected with David Terrell for a pair of touchdown passes in the second quarter, one for 27 yards and one for 57 yards. By halftime, the game was tied at 14 apiece, and fans realized they were watching a classic.

Alabama reclaimed the lead and the momentum in the third quarter when Shaun Alexander scored on a 50-yard run and Freddie Milons added a 62-yard punt return to extend Alabama’s lead to 28-14.

Undeterred, the Wolverines came roaring back again. Brady found Terrell again for a 20-yard scoring strike and Anthony Thomas added a 3-yard touchdown run to tie the score and send the game to overtime. Brady wasted no time in overtime, throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Shawn Thompson. Hayden Epstein added the extra point, and the Wolverines had the lead for the first time. Alabama responded promptly as Andrew Zow threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Carter. A mere extra point by Ryan Pflugner would now tie the score.

Except, Pflugner’s kick sailed wide, and the Wolverines claimed the Orange Bowl championship with a 35-34 overtime victory. It’s always tempting to wonder how Michigan’s season might have turned out had Brady been the sole quarterback since the first game, but that was useless to consider now. Michigan had won the Orange Bowl and concluded the decade of the ’90s with a bang.

We thank YouTube and ABC Sports for the attached broadcast.

About Jeff Cummins

Jeff Cummins has written about football since 1998, including nine years with The Record of Hackensack, N.J. He frequently contributes feature stories to Touchdown Illustrated, an insert in the national college football game program, published by University Sports Publications, and he has also written the official pregame stories for the game programs of the Rose Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Gator Bowl, and the BCS National Championship game. He has written the preview story for the official program for the NHL Winter Classic at MIchigan Stadium, and numerous college basketball feature stories for College Hoops Illustrated, another game program insert published by University Sports Publications. In addition, he has written stories about theater, music, physical therapy, and newsletter marketing. He’s an avid Michigan football fan and long-time New York Jets season ticket holder, and he can be reached at jeffcummins@optonline.net.