A.J. McCarron passes two yards to Michael Williams for a touchdown. A.J. McCarron passes 51 yards to DeAndrew White for a touchdown. Eddie Lacy rushes nine yards for a touchdown. And just like that, Alabama was ahead, 21-0, over Michigan. And there still were two minutes left … in the first quarter.

AJ McCarron threw two touchdown passes and Alabama’s retooled defense showed it could still dominate as the second-ranked Crimson Tide pounded No. 8 Michigan 41-14 on Saturday night. Even after sending three starting defenders from last year’s national championship team to the NFL as first-round draft picks, the Crimson Tide threw around the Wolverines while stifling and pounding dual-threat quarterback Denard Robinson.

Devin Gardner had a productive quarter for Michigan. He caught a 44-yard touchdown pass, but the Wolverines have closed the gap to 34-14. Alabama expanded its lead to 34-7 thanks to a five-play, 21-yard drive that ended when Cade Foster kicked a 50-yard field goal. Michigan polished off an 86-yard drive when Denard Robinson and Gardner combined for a 44-yard touchdown to make the score 34-14. Vincent Smith’s 22-yard run from the 30-yard line pushed the Wolverines into enemy territory.

Alabama’s high-powered offense resulted in 10 points in the second quarter, and the Crimson Tide now lead Michigan 31-7. Alabama racked up 61 passing yards and 66 rushing yards in the quarter. The Crimson Tide opened up the lead, 24-0, after marching down the field for a seven-play, 61-yard drive that ended when Jeremy Shelley kicked a 22-yard field goal. Alabama made the score 31-0 when C.J. Mosley intercepted Denard Robinson’s pass and returned it for a touchdown.

No. 2 Alabama put up 21 points in the first, and the Crimson Tide lead 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. Alabama executed a balanced offensive attack in the quarter, finishing with 79 yards passing and 73 yards rushing.

NCAA Football ’13 is a sweet game on any screen. Imagine what it’s like on a 2,100-inch high-definition display. The co-hosts of “ESPNU Road Trip” found out Thursday when they played the game on the gaudy video board at Cowboys Stadium, where Michigan and Alabama meet Saturday afternoon. The hosts, Oliver Ali Nejad and Niki Noto, naturally played as Michigan and Alabama.

Michigan coach Brady Hoke announced that running back Fitzgerald Toussaint and defensive linemen Frank Clark won’t make the trip to Arlington, Texas, for the Alabama game to be played on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

The last thing we need is another reason to get excited about Michigan’s season-opening test against reigning national champ Alabama on Saturday. But we have it, and it comes in the form of a terrific pump-up YouTube video. Watch the full video in this post.

This is the first edition of a new weekly post where I will look at one key question for each team in a piece called: 12 Teams, 12 Questions. I’ll roll these out every Tuesday and look forward to hearing what you think about your team and your team’s games.

Michigan opens the 2012 football season in grand fashion, playing reigning national champ Alabama at Jerry World in Dallas. To commemorate the highly anticipated game, the Wolverines will don a new alternate uniform, designed by adidas, which the school released Monday night. According to MGoBlue.com, the uniform is a one-time thing, meaning Michigan will wear its traditional home and away uniforms the rest of the regular season. See MGoBlue.com’s picture of the uniform in this post.