Alabama football and its fans felt slighted after not making the College Football Playoff as a 9-3 SEC team, despite ugly losses to Oklahoma and Vanderbilt during the season. They were

TAMPA, Fla. — No one expected Michigan football to come into Raymond James Stadium and upset the vaunted Alabama Crimson Tide. However, the Wolverines took the Jan. 1 game against Alabama and returned the favor again on Dec. 31 to close out the bookended calendar year.

Although DeBoer’s season wasn’t the worst first year for a Crimson Tide coach, it snapped a streak of 10-win seasons. Alabama had won at least 10 games for 16 straight seasons. The last time the Crimson Tide didn’t win 10 games was in 2007, Saban’s first year.