Michigan dominate to win the CFB National Championship title
The Michigan Wolverines have had the best defence all year long and this carried over into the National Championship game against the Washington Huskies. Jim Harbaugh’s team lifted their first CFB title thanks to a dominant defensive performance and four rushing touchdowns to run out 34-13 winners.
Michigan started off the game strongly, using their exceptional run game to their advantage. After a poor kickoff return, J.J. McCarthy and the offense drove 84 yards down the field, rushing five times and the last of those being a 41-yard touchdown by Donovan Edwards. He looked to be stopped going up the middle of the field but bounced to the outside and down the left sideline for the score.
Washington made good progress in their first drive with Michael Penix Jr. connecting with Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze. Bad news however for the Huskies, running back Dillon Johnson went down with an ankle injury and returned a few plays later, despite looking uncomfortable. Michigan’s defence held strong in the redzone and it resulted in a Grady Gross field goal to put Washington’s first points on the board.
The scoring for the first quarter wasn’t done there. McCarthy connected with Roman Wilson to push the Michigan offense down the field and once again Edwards would cap off the drive. Another long rushing touchdown from the 46-yard line saw the Wolverines take an early 14-3 lead with Washington struggling to contain the run.
There was no reply from Washington who stalled and their defence could not contain the run again, with Blake Corum this time going for 59 yards on the first play of the drive and putting Michigan in touching distance of the endzone. Thankfully for the Huskies, they held their opponents to just a field goal.
The second quarter began with Washington piecing together a positive drive but found themselves on a fourth down in midfield. Penix overthrew a wide open Odunze and it began to feel like the game was already getting away from Washington.
The Huskies held strong and forced Michigan to go for it on fourth down in midfield. McCarthy’s pass was deflected and Washington now had a chance to make it a one-score game before the end of the half.
Michigan did their best to contain Washington, but Penix found Jalen McMillan in the endzone on 4th & 3 to narrow the deficit to seven points. The game headed into halftime with the Wolverines up 17-10 and the Huskies receiving the ball to start the second half.
It could not have started any worse for Washington. On the first play, Penix stayed in the pocket and threw towards the sideline, only for Will Johnson to intercept and give Michigan the ball around 35 yards out.
Again, Michigan stumbled offensively and had to settle for a field goal to extend the lead to 20-10. The dominance of the run game early was seemingly abandoned for the pass game and that has been one of their weaker areas all season, keeping Washington within touching distance throughout the first three quarters.
A screen pass and good run by Devin Culp picked up 14 yards for Washington, but an unnecessary roughness penalty by Makari Paige gave the Huskies an extra 15 yards of progress. They stalled however and had to settle for a Gross field goal to bring them back within seven.
The low scoring third quarter looked to continue with Washington punting into the Michigan 10 to leave them with a long way to go for a score. On third down McCarthy was able to escape from outside his own endzone for a big 22-yard run.
Into the fourth quarter and Michigan remained up by seven. Neither team could get any offense going and the game quietened down with plenty of penalties for both sides. The most damning of which was when Penix found Odunze for 32 yards, but it was brought back due to a holding call and leave Washington with a 2nd & 20 situation.
Michigan marched down the field thanks to a 41-yard reception from Colston Loveland to setup another rushing touchdown but this time it was from Corum. The kick from James Turner was good and the lead was now 27-13.
Washington clearly were not going down without a fight. For the first time in the game, Penix connected on a deep ball with Odunze and they picked up 44 yards. A false start penalty and two incompletions led to another fourth down for Washington. Both teams committed penalties and the Huskies were fortunate to replay the fourth down.
Penix had to take a shot and disaster struck. Once again he was picked off and Mike Sainristil returned it for 80 yards to put the game out of Washington’s reach.
Corum powered in another touchdown from the goal line and the lead was extended to 34-13. Two touchdowns for each running back and the Michigan run game had been truly dominant off the back of their elite defence.
Michigan would hold on for the 34-13 win and their defence dominated all game to stop what is a brilliant Washington team.
Now the attention moves towards which players will declare for the draft and will Jim Harbaugh make his return to the NFL?
