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