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Michigan will play Washington in the College Football Playoff championship game
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- Michigan will play Washington in the College Football Playoff championship game
With less than a week before the College Football Playoff championship game in Houston, Free Press sports writer Ryan Ford breaks down the matchup between No. 1 Michigan football and No. 2 Washington:
Fast facts: Michigan vs. Washington
Matchup:No. 1 Michigan (14-0) vs. No. 2 Washington (14-0), CFP title game.
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Kickoff:8:15 p.m. Jan. 8; NRG Stadium, Houston.
TV/radio:ESPN (and its family of networks); WXYT-FM (97.1) WTKA-AM (1050).
At stake:Michigan is looking for its first national title since winning the AP vote following the 1997 season (with Nebraska earning the coaches vote). Washington is looking for its first national title since winning the coaches vote following the 1991 season (with Miami winning the AP vote).
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Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) lifts the Rose Bowl trophy to celebrate a 27-20 win over Alabama at the 2024 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 1, 2024.
Scouting report
When the Wolverines have the ball:Which U-M offense will show up? The one that compensated for an offensive line yet to jell by passing for 257.1 yards a game over its first nine outings (admittedly against sub-par competition)? Or the one that, with an ailing J.J. McCarthy at QB, largely ditched the pass, averaging just over half that (132.5 yards) against Maryland , Penn State , Ohio State and Iowa ? Despite the run game's inconsistency all year, Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore never abandoned it, with the Wolverines rushing at least 31 times in every game. (For comparison's sake, the Huskies reached 31 rushes just four times in 2023.) So, yes, Blake Corum will get his touches, and probably a TD or two to add to his status as Michigan's career leader in touchdowns (he's at 58, after passing Anthony Thomas in Monday's Rose Bowl).
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When the Huskies have the ball:No FBS team averaged more air yards than Washington did with Michael Penix Jr. executing Kalen DeBoer's offense; the Huskies threw it 37.2 times a game (good for 13th in the nation) for 343.8 yards (first), making for a crisp 9.2 yards per attempt (11th). That'll make for an ideal strength-vs.-strength matchup, as the Wolverines allowed the second fewest passing yards per game (152.6) and had the fourth-lowest passer efficiency rating against (100.8). After Penix was punished by opposing defenses in three seasons at Indiana , DeBoer's crew has kept him nearly spotless — Washington allowed just 11 sacks in 13 games. That's another bone to dangle in front of the Wolverines' "we-fense," which had a good-but-not-great 32 sacks through its first 13 games in 2023.
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Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. finished second in the 2023 Heisman Trophy voting.
Know the foe
Penix rising:Despite playing his sixth season of college ball, the 2023 Heisman Trophy runner-up has just 47 appearances, thanks to injuries and 2020's abbreviated season. (J.J. McCarthy has 38 in just three years.) That includes three years in the Big Ten with Indiana, where, despite being in the same division as the Wolverines, he faced them just once: IU's 38-21 victory in November 2020. DeBoer had moved on to Fresno State , but Penix did just fine, completing 30 of 50 passes for 342 yards and three TDs.
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Building Rome:Leading receiver Rome Odunze — that's pronounced "ROAM oh-DUNE-zay" — caught 81 passes for 1,428 yards, with plenty of highlight reel grabs, but his most impressive feat came off the field in late September. After taking a knee to his ribs during an onside kick in Washington's win over Arizona , Odunze was diagnosed with a broken rib and a punctured lung. The Huskies were off the following week, but faced rival Oregon the week after that, leaving Odunze no choice: "I was going to play [against Oregon after a bye] regardless," Odunze told the Seattle Times . "So attacking my rehab with that mindset … that was going to be the outcome regardless of how I felt." That meant a 23-hour car ride in a rented Chrysler 300 from Arizona to Seattle — the lung meant he wasn't allowed to fly — just to get back to practice. And then, two weeks later, hauling in eight passes for 128 yards and two TDs.
Sorry, Mr. Jackson:There'll be at least one familiar face on the Washington sideline for the Wolverines: receiver Giles Jackson , who spent two seasons in Ann Arbor before shipping out to Seattle ahead of the 2021 seaso. Jackson caught 24 passes for 309 yards as a Wolverine; he hasn't done much more as a Husky — 50 catches for 521 yards, including 14 for 106 and a TD this season.
Washington wide receiver Giles Jackson, top, is lifted up by wide receiver Germie Bernard (4) after scoring a touchdown against Oregon during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Ryan Ford's two cents
Coming up Roses:It's almost a shame this game will be played under the retractable roof of NRG Stadium in Houston, rather than under the shadows of the San Gabriel Mountains, as U-M and UW have met four times in the Rose Bowl. (U-M won the 1981 and 1993 editions, while UW won in 1978 and 1992, with the latter sealing a split national title for the Huskies.) In all, Michigan is 8-5 against Washington, though the Wolverines are riding a two-game win streak (2002, 2021) in the series.
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The Bigger Ten:One way or another, a Big Ten school will be raising a national championship banner come September, as Washington is set to ditch the Pac-12 (of which it was a founding member in 1915) for the chilly climes and bigger TV checks of the Midwest come August. Also, one way or another, the loser of this one gets a rematch this fall, as the Wolverines are set to visit Husky Stadium on the shores of Lake Washington on Oct. 5. (The Huskies will hit the Big House soon enough, too, with a visit to Ann Arbor slated for sometime in 2025.)
Prediction
Penix is a more polished passer than the QB U-M just dealt with ( Jalen Milroe ), though he doesn't present nearly the challenge with his legs. Add in that the Wolverines' offense is the most two-dimensional the Huskies have seen this year, the four-team CFP era should come to a close just as it began: With a (legacy) Big Ten team hoisting the trophy in Houston. The pick:U-M 35, Washington 21.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan vs. Washington for national title: Scouting report
