PASADENA, Calif. — The Rose Bowl on Monday evening defied axioms of life and college football alike.
The primary: that cheaters never win.
The second: that Alabama all the time wins.
Michigan laid waste to those because it advanced to the national title game amid the cloud of a sign-stealing scandal, defeating the Crimson Tide 27-20 in additional time — this system’s biggest victory because it last won a national championship in 1997.
The Wolverines will face the winner of Texas and Washington within the title game next Monday in Houston.
Where Michigan had lost a shootout of a semifinal last 12 months within the Fiesta Bowl, it succeeded this time around in dramatic fashion, with J.J. McCarthy leading a late scoring drive to tie the sport before the Wolverines won in additional time on a dramatic stand from the three-yard line.