Best and worst from Michigan's national championship game win over Washington

HOUSTON — Michigan Wolverines football blew out Washington in the national championship game Monday night at NRG Stadium, 34-13. Here are the best and worst from the game.

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Champs again, finally

Michigan has won its 12th-ever national championship, first since 1997 and its first outright title since 1948. The Wolverines won 15 games, the most in any season in program history, and are one of only six college football teams in history to finish 15-0 or better.

The Wolverines overcame adversity, including not having their head coach for six games, by continuing to win despite some outside forces working against them. They’re champs again.

“Ann Arbor is (likely) on fire, Michigan fans are going wild, the team’s celebration will be ‘lit,'” per junior safety Rod Moore … as it all should be. Order has been restored; the Wolverines are back on top.

Standing on finished business

Michigan senior running back Blake Corum proclaimed that the unfinished business he and others came back for has now been completed.

The Wolverines spoke this one into existence, with ‘Houston or bust’ signs inside Schembechler Hall and predictions like Corum’s at a basketball game last February. “We’re gonna win the national championship and go down in history,” Corum said then. He backed it up. They all did. Corum certainly wasn’t alone in returning, and this group made it worth each other’s while to do it.

Blake Corum on the mic here at Crisler

“Man it feels good to be back!”

“We’re gonna win the national championship and go down in history.” pic.twitter.com/VpjIBuzzut

— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) February 9, 2023

Fast start and The Don is back

Michigan had to start fast, considering Washington’s offense is dangerous and can score in the blink of an eye. Within 13 minutes, U-M had two junior running back Donovan Edwards touchdown runs on the board and led 17-3 less than two minutes into the second quarter.

Edwards’ longest run of the season was 22 yards entering Monday night. He was averaging 3.5 yards per carry and had only 3 touchdowns. It was a frustrating year at times, though he remained positive.

But Edwards, as he’s said in the past, shows up in the big games. He exploded for 257 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on 14 carries in West Bloomfield (Mich.) High’s state championship game win back in January 2021. Just under three years later, he dashed for 41- and 46-yard touchdowns in the national title game. He ripped off 75- and 85-yard scores against Ohio State in 2022 and stepped up in the program’s last two wins over Penn State.

“The Don is back,” Corum said with a grin.

Ground game

Poor Washington.

Michigan ran for 343 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 31-10 win over the Huskies at The Big House Sept. 11, 2021, a win in front of an electric crowd for what was the second of the Wolverines’ 40 victories over the last 43 games. To cap off that dominant stretch with a 303-yard rushing performance in another big win over the Huskies was fitting.

Best coordinator

Jesse Minter, take a bow. The Michigan defensive coordinator has led one of the top units in program history, and its last showing may have been its best.

As Minter noted to us after the game, all the talk leading up to this one surrounded Washington’s high-flying offense, which led the nation with 350 passing yards per game. But fewer were mentioning the U-M defense, which allowed less than 10 points per game entering the College Football Playoff.

When it was said and done, Heisman Trophy runner-up Michael Penix Jr. completed just 53 percent of his passes — a season low — with 5 yards per attempt. Washington ranked second in the country with 77 completions of 20-plus yards but had just one — a 44-yard gain in the fourth quarter when the Huskies were already on the ropes, trailing 14 points with less than seven minutes to go.

Buffed up

Michigan seemingly dominated play in the first half but struggled to sustain drives after scoring on big-play touchdowns. It led only 17-10 at the break, and Washington had the ball to begin the third quarter. Minter said he told his group it would need two turnovers to win the game in the second half, and that’s exactly what they delivered.

On the first play of the third quarter, Michigan sophomore cornerback Will Johnson picked off a pass near the sideline intended for UW star wideout Rome Odunze. That led to three U-M points that gave the Wolverines a 10-point cushion.

Playmaker

When Michigan has needed a play this season, more times than not it’s been graduate nickel back Mike Sainristil who’s come up with it, from a game-changing pick-six against Rutgers to a pair of interceptions at Maryland. It was no different on Monday night, with Sainristil grabbing a key interception as Washington was driving down 27-13 and returning it 81 yards to the 8. Michigan scored its final touchdown just two plays later, sealing the victory.

Legend status

So many players, like junior quarterback J.J. McCarthy, Corum and others have already been legends for beating Ohio State and winning the Big Ten multiple times over, but winning a national championship puts them in an even higher category.

It does the same for their head coach, Jim Harbaugh.

There was a time when Harbaugh, the son of former Michigan assistant Jack Harbaugh (1973), was chewed out by head coach Bo Schembechler when a ball he and other coaches’ kids were playing with interrupted practice by rolling onto the field. Then there was Harbaugh, late to his first team meeting, being told by Schembechler that he’d never play a down at the University of Michigan his entire career. There were the Big Ten championships as a player, earning All-America status, coming back to his alma mater in 2015 after winning 49 games in four seasons as an NFL coach.

The list goes on and on, and it’s now highlighted by the 2023 team reaching the pinnacle. Harbaugh is the greatest coach in Michigan history and one of the most important individuals the program has ever been blessed with.