ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – It’s rare to play a team twice in the same calendar year, but Michigan will see Alabama for the second time in 2024. The rematch will be from the 2024 College Football Playoff semi-final on January 1 when the Wolverines won in overtime, 27-20, to advance to the national championship.

This will be the seventh meeting between the two programs, and the series is tied at three wins each. Michigan has played in 53 bowl games, has a 23-29 record, and is in the ReliaQuest (formerly Outback) Bowl for the seventh time.

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Michigan brings a 7-5 record and the biggest upset of all time in THE GAME against Ohio State. Head Coach Sherrone Moore’s first season hasn’t been ideal, but the win over Ohio State has carried momentum and excitement into the bowl game. He says this about what it would mean to get a bowl win in his first year: “This means everything. It means a lot. I just want to do right by our kids and be in the right position to win and go win the game.”

Linebacker Ernest Hausmann leads the team with 82 tackles and seven tackles for loss. His excitement of playing Alabama shows, saying, “This is awesome. You live for these days and these big games. This is why you play college football and why you come to the University of Michigan. These two blue-blood programs facing off is very important and means a lot to us.”

Michigan’s offense struggled in 2024, but Kalel Mullings is 52 yards shy of 1,000 yards rushing and has 12 touchdowns. Lineman Giovanni El-Hadi, a Sterling Heights, Mich., native, has helped lead Mullings’s ground game. He says this about playing an SEC program, “It’s crazy that this is the second time, technically, we will face them this year. We always love a good match up especially when it comes to the SEC. It should be fun.”

This will be the 19th time that Michigan will take on an SEC program in a bowl game, and it holds a 9-9 record in those meetings. This will also be the 41st time the Wolverines have played an SEC team. They are 26-13-1 all-time vs. the SEC.

Brandyn Hillman, a defensive back, had one of the best quotes on Monday before the bowl game: “I look at it as the best two programs, as you have the ‘A’ and the ‘BLOCK M’, as it doesn’t get much better than that. We are preparing for a good game.”

Michigan and Alabama square off at noon on Tuesday, December 31, in Tampa, Fla., for the right to be the ReliaQuest Bowl champions.