5 predictions for Michigan football vs. Alabama

The Rose Bowl game is so close you can practically taste it. Michigan football and Alabama for a berth in the national championship game. As Jim Harbaugh says, who has it better than us?

Nobody.

We'll see if that sentiment holds after the Rose Bowl. It's been a heartbreaking place for Michigan football the last three times with blowout losses to USC, as well as a buzzer-beating defeat at the hands of Vince Young and Texas.

Many Michigan football fans have brought up Young this week in reference to Jalen Milroe. There are some similarities. The Wolverines faced Young one year before he won the Heisman and Milroe could have a great chance to do that next year.

Can Michigan slow him down? Can Milroe do what he did against Georgia? Can J.J. McCarthy deliver the greatest QB performance in Michigan football history? That might be what it takes to slay the Crimson Tide and here are five predictions (and a score) for Michigan vs. Alabama.

McCarthy impacts the game with his arm and legs

If Michigan is going to win this game, McCarthy has to be an option in the running game. He just has to be. The coaching staff has played it close to the vest all season with McCarthy and guys like Donovan Edwards. It's been a bit frustrating, but it's time to let those guys loose.

McCarthy is dynamic as a runner and I just don't see the offensive line being able to line up and run right at Alabama. Giving Blake Corum time to get fresh helped. Every day that he gets farther away from surgery the closer he will be to truly being 100 percent, which hasn't been -- nobody really is until year two.

So McCarthy has to pick up the slack. If he does, Michigan will have a much better chance of winning this game and I have a feeling he runs for 50 yards, couple of first downs and a touchdown.