'We'll be back': Michigan's comeback falls short as TCU wins wild College Football Playoff

Glendale, Ariz. — Michigan sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy didn’t say much after losing in the national semifinal game, but he did make a pledge.

The No. 2 Wolverines trailed by as many as 18 points to TCU and pulled within three at the start of the fourth quarter, but the third-ranked Horned Frogs, advanced to the national championship with a 51-45 win the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday. Michigan, which has lost in the semifinals the last two years, finishes the season 13-1.

“Fought our hearts out,” McCarthy said. “There's a lot of things that we could have done better. But we'll be back, and I promise that.”

McCarthy was 20-of-34 for 343 yards and two touchdowns but had two interceptions returned for scores, the first which gave TCU a 7-0 lead. The Horned Frogs led 21-6 at halftime, Michigan’s only scores coming from Jake Moody, who had three field goals, including a program- and Fiesta Bowl-record 59 yarder as time expired in the first half.

Two-time captain Ronnie Bell had six catches for 135 yards and a touchdown, and Roman Wilson had five catches for 104 yards and a score.

The Wolverines pride themselves on being a second-half team, and outscored TCU 39-30 in the second half, but overcoming the first half proved too difficult.

“We fell behind early, and I’m proud of the way we responded to the adversity,” right guard Zak Zinter said. “Some people say we’re a second-half team. We went in there with the mindset of, ‘This is our game.’ That scoreboard at halftime didn’t tell the full story of what the game was, so we had the mindset to go out there 0-0 and do what we do.”

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, 1-6 in bowl games in his eight seasons, praised his team for fighting back in the second half.

“Talked to our guys about you don't quit, you don't give up, you never let up,” Harbaugh said. “You never give in, you just keep playing one play at a time. One less big play, one more big play by us, one more opportunistic play by us, one less opportunistic play by them, and it would be a different situation.”

But that’s not how it works, of course.

There’s always the game of what-ifs, like, what if Michigan had converted touchdowns on three opportunities inside the TCU 5-yard line, starting with the first possession of the game. Michigan, sparked by a 54-yard run by Donovan Edwards on the first play, reached the TCU 2-yard line, and facing fourth down, tried to be cute and failed. The Wolverines lost eight yards and turned the ball over on downs.

“I take full responsibility for it not working, and should have had something different called," Harbaugh said. “Put that one on me. They had it wired, and they had it well-defended. Sitting here now, definitely wish I would have called a different one.”

Wilson’s 51-yard touchdown was reviewed early in the second quarter and ball was spotted at about the half-yard line. Kalel Mullings, the linebacker who moved to running back late in the season after leading rusher Blake Corum was injured, fumbled. Michigan was at the 4-yard line in the third quarter and settled for a field goal.

It wasn’t just offensive mistakes. Michigan entered the game ranked third nationally in total defense, yielding an average 277.1 yards as game and tied-third in scoring defense, allowing an average 13.4 points a game. The Wolverines knew TCU was an explosive team with dynamic quarterback Max Duggan, the Heisman Trophy runner-up and for the game allowed 488 yards and three rushing and two passing touchdowns.

In the first half, while the offense seemed out of whack, so did the defense.

“First half was too many miscommunications, just not doing our jobs,” edge rusher Jaylen Harrell said. “It wasn’t about their explosiveness, it wasn’t about their speed, it was about us doing what we had to do to execute at a high level. They got a couple plays on us, but we didn’t flinch. We came back and we fought back, but ultimately, we didn’t get the job, so that’s all that matters. We took the L today.”

Defensive tackle Kris Jenkins said the Wolverines missed assignments and tackling but was pleased how the defense fought back in the second half and “got better and better.”

“This one hurts. This one stings a lot,” Jenkins said. “We made a lot of mistakes, and we really let those mistakes get in the way of our success.”

A highlight for Michigan’s defense was Rod Moore, who led the team with 12 tackles and had an interception, his fourth to lead the team this season. Mike Sainristil, who also had an interception, said most disappointing was allowing TCU 263 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Michigan entered the game ranked No. 3 nationally, allowing an average 85.2 yards rushing.

“There were no surprises,” Sainristil said. “They didn’t throw no curveballs at us. We knew the game plan well. Just a couple mistakes here and there, a couple big plays that we gave up. We didn't stop the run game the way we wanted to. To be the defense we are, giving up 51 points isn't up to our standard. I think that's just the summary of the game. We didn't play at our level.”

As Harbaugh evaluated the game, he couldn’t stop from heaping praise on McCarthy, who led Michigan to a 13-1 season in his first season as starter. McCarthy was 12-of-19 for 217 yards in the second half as he tried to orchestrate the comeback.

“It was a titanic effort,” Harbaugh said of McCarthy. “Just a phenomenal effort by J.J.”

Michigan had talked confidently all week about being the team that had been here before on this national semifinal stage. The players had learned from last year’s manhandling by eventual national champion Georgia, they said, and knew how to approach it this time around.

This time, though, TCU, a first-timer in the College Football Playoff, played like a team that had been here before. Now, Michigan heads home to think about what could have been and what they plan to work toward in 2023.

“We want to be back here again,” defensive tackle Kris Jenkins said. “We have to be back here. That’s the mentality we have.”