It is Michigan’s first title since 1997 and under coach Jim Harbaugh.
By Lauren Merola, Max Olson, Austin Meek, Jim Trotter and Nicole Auerbach
It’s been 26 years, but finally, no one has it better than Michigan.
The Wolverines, who ranked second in passing yards allowed per game with 150.0 heading into title town, faced their toughest task yet in taming the flamethrower that is Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Michigan answered the bell, subduing Penix to 255 yards and one touchdown — the only Washington TD on the night — against two interceptions on 27-of-51 passing, a vast divergence from the usual performance of the nation’s leader in passing yards per game (332.0) and passing yards (4,648).
Couple that with the Wolverines’ run game and they downed the Huskies 34-13 to emerge as the 2023 College Football Playoff national champion on Monday night at NRG Stadium in Houston. It is Michigan’s first title since 1997 and under coach Jim Harbaugh.
Down 27-13 with less than five minutes to play, Penix tried to throw a pass to wide receiver Jalen McMillan but was picked off in double coverage. Michigan defensive back Mike Sainristil ran it back 80 yards before running back Blake Corum punched it in for the solidifier.
Corum finished with 134 rushing yards and two touchdowns while his counterpart Donovan Edwards added 104 yards and another two scores on the ground.
Coming out of the half down 17-10, Penix was swallowed by the Wolverines’ defensive line on the first play. He threw an interception to Michigan defensive back Will Johnson, giving up the ball on Washington’s 32 while Penix hobbled to the sideline after a teammate stepped on his ankle during the play. The Huskies defense then came up big, with the help of two Michigan penalties, to only surrender a field goal and keep the game at bay, 20-10. It wasn’t enough, and Michigan reclaimed the swaying momentum to hold the wire-to-wire lead.
Michigan set the tone as early as possible, gaining five first downs on an eight-play drive with its first touches on ball to jump out to a 7-0 lead. By the time Michigan held a 14-3 advantage with 2:23 to go in the first quarter, it had 115 rushing yards. By the end of the first, Edwards had 87 yards and two touchdowns after only having three TDs on the season entering the game. It was an off-brand job by Washington, which allowed only two rush plays of 40-plus yards all season before Monday, when it let up three such rushes in the first half.
