College Football: Michigan Wolverines defeat Washington Huskies to win national title

HOUSTON (AP) – Jim Harbaugh hoisted the championship trophy as gold and white confetti flew over his team and “We Are the Champions” rang out.

Nine years after taking over at the University of Michigan, Harbaugh has lived up to the high expectations he brought to his beloved alma mater.

Blake Collum had 134 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for Harbaugh and the top-ranked Wolverines. Suspension and sign stealing incident It cast a shadow on the program. They won their first national title in three years by defeating second-place Washington 34-13 in the College Football Playoff on Monday night.

“We stood strong and tall because we were innocent and we knew we were innocent. And I want to point that out,” Harbaugh said when asked about off-field issues. When asked, he offered to answer the questions posed to the players. “And these guys are innocent. And overcome that? We knew we were innocent, so it wasn’t that hard.

“(The season) went exactly the way we wanted it to go. It went exactly the way we wanted it to go.”

The Wolverines (15-0) took a 21-point lead over Michigan after Colm, who scored the winning touchdown in overtime against Alabama in the 1997 Rose Bowl, made a shot from the 1-yard line with 3:37 left. They won their first national title since 1997. Then the band began to play “The Victors” again.

After three consecutive playoff appearances, Harbaugh won the championship that many expected when he took over a struggling team in 2015 — though he missed six regular-season games during his tenure this season. In spite of the) 2 suspensions.

“That guy, he’s the reason we’re here today,” Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy said of his coach.

And Harbaugh did it with a team that his former coach, Bo Schembechler, would have idolized. The Wolverines rushed for 303 yards against Washington (14-1) and their stout defense held Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies’ prolific passing game to just one touchdown, holding the Heisman Trophy runner-up to two touchdowns. Intercepted once.

“We have over 100 Michigan men on this team,” Harbaugh said. “It’s amazing what they accomplished. They will forever be known as national champions.”

Penix’s stellar six-year collegiate career ended with perhaps his worst performance of the season. Penix, usually unfazed by pressure, wasn’t as accurate against Michigan’s defense, which robbed him of his signature deep throws.

“That was a great game by our defense,” Harbaugh said.

The Indiana transfer, returning from two knee surgeries and two shoulder injuries, was manhandled by the Wolverines, at times hobbled and at times stomped.

Asked how he’s doing, Penix remains undeterred: “I’m better than I was three years ago.”

Penix was 27-for-51 for 255 yards and one touchdown. The Huskies’ 21-game winning streak ended.

“They gave me everything they could,” said coach Karen DeBoer, whose team went from 4-8 just two seasons ago to 25-3 since taking over in 2022. talked about.

McCarthy had a modest game, throwing for 140 yards and running for 31 yards. But he was good enough to go 27-1 as the Wolverines’ starter.

The University of Michigan gave Washington a taste of life in the Big Ten. The Huskies have struggled for a while in the Big Ten, which will feature the Pac-12 champions next season.

Two long touchdown runs by Donovan Edwards and 229 yards rushing in the first quarter gave the Wolverines a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter, bringing back memories of last year’s historic TCU loss at Georgia. I let it happen.

Washington was steady in the first half, not allowing the Wolverines any extra points. After the Huskies stopped Michigan on a fourth-and-2 from the UW 38 with 4:46 left in the second quarter, Penix went to work.

He found Jalen McMillan for a 3-yard touchdown with 42 seconds left on fourth-and-goal. After nearly being buried by the Wolverines, Huskies fans sang along to “Who Let the Dogs Out,” and they trailed just 17-10 at the half.

Will Johnson’s interception of Penix on the first play of the second half gave Michigan another chance to extend its lead to two touchdowns, but the Huskies forced a James Turner field goal to make it 20-10. did.

“Today was a perfect team effort,” said Corum.

Michigan held a touchdown lead until midway through the fourth quarter before putting together a 71-yard drive capped by a goal by Colm. Tackle break 12 yard touchdown This ultimately gave the Wolverines a 27-13 lead with 7:09 remaining.

Colm, the driving force behind the ground-and-pound attack, the heart and soul of the players Teams with 4th, 5th, and even 6th grade players; Last year, he missed CFP due to a knee injury. He was named the offensive player for the final national title game before next season’s College Football Playoff expands from four teams to 12 teams.

“Michigan, this is for you,” Colm told Wolverines fans.

The University of Michigan appeared to be on track for a third straight Big Ten championship, until the NCAA announced in October that it would use in-person scouting and video equipment to try to decipher opponents’ play signals. It has been revealed that the company is investigating programs that may violate rules prohibiting such activities.

This scandal changed Conor Stallions. Michigan’s junior recruiting staffers were accused of orchestrating the scheme, which gained notoriety and threatened to derail the Wolverines’ season.

The NCAA process is expected to drag on until 2024, and it’s unclear what penalties Michigan could face. However, the Big Ten decided to act quickly and punished Michigan State with the following penalties: suspend Harbaugh The final three games of the regular season, including a matchup between Penn State and rival Ohio State.

Offensive coordinator Sherone Moore replaced Harbaugh as Michigan vs. Everybody; No one could stop the Wolverines..

Harbaugh returned for the postseason, completed his mission, and will celebrate by accepting the trophy with his 84-year-old father, Jack, himself a former college football coach.

The University of Michigan defeated Maryland in November to win its third national title in January and become the first university to record 1,000 wins in college football.

“Who’s better than us?” Jack Harbaugh asked fans at the trophy ceremony. They answered noisily, “No one!”

Now the question is whether Harbaugh last coached the team he once quarterbacked; with It looks like the NFL is beckoning again.

Harbaugh said he’s happy to no longer be the only coach in his family without national championship experience. His father won a Division I-AA title at Western Kentucky, and his younger brother John won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens over Jim’s San Francisco 49ers 11 years ago.

“Now I get to sit at the table of big names in my family,” Harbaugh said.

What’s next?

“I just want to enjoy this,” he said. “It would be nice if you could give me that. Can I have that? Does it always have to be the next thing, the future?”