HOUSTON — There's no problem here, not for the Wolverines .
Michigan football's season full of tumult and chaos, scandal and slander, ended with confetti falling, tears streaming and one resounding message: we told you so. Michigan ran over Washington early, then held on late, 34-13, Monday night at NRG Stadium in Houston to win the 2023 national championship in Jim Harbaugh's ninth season in Ann Arbor.
Its the program's first national title since it went undefeated in 1997 and marks just the fourth time in NCAA history a team has gone 15-0 (Clemson, 2018; LSU , 2019; Georgia, 2022).
The Wolverines, whose ground game this year wasn't quite what it was at times the past two seasons, put it all together when it mattered most. They ran 35 times for 304 yards and four scores, which included three rushes of more than 40 yards in the first quarter.
Donovan Edwards , most regarded for his two-touchdown performance against Ohio State in 2022, will now be known for his title-delivering evening in Houston . The West Bloomfield native took his first touch of the night 41 yards to the house, which was announced as the second longest touchdown run in title game history.
That record stood for not quite 10 minutes, because later in the quarter, he ripped off a 46-yard burst to the right side to put U-M up by two scores.
The Huskies had whittled U-M's lead to seven, when James Turner connected on a 38-yard field goal with 11:55 to play in the third, only for Washington to counter with a 45-yard field goal of their own three minutes later to make it 20-13.
The Huskies got the ball with a chance to take the lead with 11:52 remaining and on the second play of the drive Michael Penix Jr. appeared to find Odunze on a 40-yard pass, but it was negated by a holding penalty.
Three plays later, the Huskies had to punt. On the first play of the next drive, McCarthy found Loveland up the left seam, as he coralled the pass with two hands over his head, tucked the ball tight and rumbled for a gain of 41, U-M's longest pass play of the day.
Three plays later, Corum, U-M's most decorated running back in history and all-time leading touchdown scorer , broke a tackle and trucked his way in from 12 yards out to go up 27-13 with 7:09 to play.
Corum finished with 20 rushes for 133 yards and one score while Edwards ran six times or 104 yards and two scores; they became the first pair of players to run or more than 100 yards in a CFP title game.
Defensively, the Wolverines held one of the nation's most potent attacks to just 20 rushes for 4.6 yards (2.3 yards per attempt), 2 of 14 third down conversions, and forced a momentum-changing turnover on the first play of the second half.
Penix, the Heisman runner-up, completed just 27 of 51 passes for 255 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Washington entered play with the No. 1 passing attack (350.0 yards per game) and a top 10 scoring offense (37.6 points per game), but hadn't seen a defense like U-M which ranked No. 1 in scoring and No. 2 against the pass.
The Huskies needed 14 plays to go 67 yards on their opening drive — a drive that would have stalled at midfield if Keon Sabb hadn't missed a third-and-5 tackle — and eventually had to settle for a 25-yard field goal when a third-and-goal shot to the end zone came up in complete.
Even when things went wrong for Jesse Minter's unit early, they went right.
The Huskies faced fourth-and-7 at the Michigan 47 mid-way through the second quarter, when there was a miscommunication in U-M's secondary. It left a wide-open Rome Odunze streaking down field, however Penix's throw was a beat behind the Biletnikoff runner-up and the two couldn't connect on the would-be walk-in touchdown.
On the next possession, Kenneth Grant recorded a sack on a bullrush up the middle, which quickly forced another three-and-out. U-M almost looked as if it would hold Washington without a touchdown in the opening half, but the Huskies put together an 11-play, 61-yard drive to score with 42 seconds left.
Mike Sainristil was flagged for pass interference to set U-W up inside the Michigan 10, then on fourth and goal, Penix found Jalen McMillan to cut the deficit to 17-10.
Johnson came up with the interception to start the second half and from there the Huskies never got much going. After their second half field goal, the Huskies punted on three consecutive possessions, before one last gasp with seven minutes to play.
Penix would find Odunze on a 44-yard bomb down the right side to get into U-M territory, but a false start on the next play put Washington behind the sticks. U-M called a timeout ahead of fourth-and-13 with 4:53 to play when off-setting penalties led to another play.
On that play, Sainristil came away with an 81-yard interception, his sixth of the year, to seal the victory.
McCarthy wasn't as crisp as he was last week in Pasadena, but made just enough plays.
He completed both off his passes on the game's opening, 8-play, 84-yard touchdown drive, then connected with Roman Wilson on a 37-yard post route out of the left slot in the first quarter which set up Edwards' second score.
After a tough stretch in the middle of the contest that saw him complete just 2-of-10 passes, McCarthy hit three in a row in the second half, then later when backed up had scrambles of 22 yards and 12 yards which didn't lead to points, but did flip the field and eat up clock.
Then, in the fourth, he found Loveland for the game's deepest pass play of the day.
McCarthy completed 10 of 18 passes for 140 yards.
Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com . Follow him at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football runs over Washington, wins national championship
