The 2024 ReliaQuest Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

played on December 31, 2024, at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. The 39th annual

ReliaQuest Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

(previously played as the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022) featured the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC), and the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

; a rematch of the previous season's 2024 Rose Bowl (CFP semifinal). The game began at approximately 12:00 p.m. EST and aired on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. It was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season. The game's title sponsor was the

ReliaQuest ReliaQuest, LLC is an American cybersecurity technology company. As of 2022, they are the title sponsor of the ReliaQuest Bowl in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. History ReliaQuest was founded in 2007 by CEO Brian Murphy in Tampa, ...

cybersecurity company.

Teams

The game featured the (7–5)

of the

, versus the (9–3)

of the

(SEC). The bowl game was a rematch of the previous season's 2024 Rose Bowl (CFP semifinal), where the Michigan Wolverines won 27–20 in overtime. In the 2024 CFP National Championship Game, Michigan defeated Alabama's head coach Kalen DeBoer at his previous post with the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) N ...

. Both DeBoer and Michigan's Sherrone Moore were in their first season as head coach with each program. It was the seventh all-time meeting between the Crimson Tide and Wolverines, with the series tied 3–3 entering the game. Michigan made its seventh appearance in the

(previously played as the Outback Bowl and Hall of Fame Bowl), and Alabama made its third.

Michigan Wolverines

On December 3, Kirk Campbell was fired by Michigan as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

, and

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

s coach Steve Casula replaced him as the interim offensive coordinator for the ReliaQuest Bowl. In the following weeks,

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

juniors Mason Graham, Will Johnson, Kenneth Grant, and Colston Loveland, each declared for the 2025 NFL draft, opting to sit out the bowl game as projected first-round picks. They were joined as opt-outs by Donovan Edwards, Kalel Mullings, Josaiah Stewart, Makari Paige, Tyler Morris and Myles Hinton. With the opt-outs and the graduating class in 2023, Michigan returned zero starters on offense or defense from the two teams previous meeting in the 2024 Rose Bowl.

Alabama Crimson Tide

The Crimson Tide were the first team left out in the inaugural 12 team

2024–25 College Football Playoff The 2024–25 College Football Playoff was a single-elimination postseason tournament that determined the national champion of the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 11th edition of the College Football Playoff (CFP). Followi ...

(CFP), despite being the No. 11 ranked team in the country. Alabama was not selected into the playoff as both the automatic qualifying

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) and

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

champions were ranked lower, pushing Alabama to No. 13 in the seeding. All-SEC

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

Malachi Moore did not play in the bowl game with an injury.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

* Game statistics a
statbroadcast.com
{{Michigan Wolverines bowl game navbox

ReliaQuest Bowl Alabama Crimson Tide football bowl games Michigan Wolverines football bowl games

Teams

Michigan Wolverines

Alabama Crimson Tide

Game summary

Statistics

See also

References

External links