In a preview of next season’s Big Ten, Michigan pulls away to beat Washington in College Football Playoff title game

HOUSTON — In 10 months, it’ll be just another Big Ten game. But on Monday night at NRG Stadium, it was the pinnacle of college football.

Michigan and Washington battled it out in the College Football Playoff championship game, with the Wolverines winning, 34-13, for their first national title since 1997. Michigan (15-0) won the last CFP trophy awarded in the four-team format as the playoff, which pitted the nation’s top four teams since its inception a decade ago, will expand to 12 teams next season.

“There was nothing surprising,” said head coach Jim Harbaugh. “It was just good old-fashioned teamwork, good old-fashioned hard work by these players and these coaches and none of us are up here taking a deep, long bow because we know this was just good old-fashioned teamwork.”

Harbaugh joked that he can now sit at his family’s “big person’s table” alongside his dad, Jack, who won a Division I-AA national title following the 2002 season at Western Kentucky, and his brother, John, who led the Baltimore Ravens to Super Bowl XLVII following the 2012 season.

Though it was its first time breaking through to the CFP title game, it was Michigan’s third straight CFP appearance (and fourth overall). And it showed, especially early on.

Donovan Edwards etched his name into CFP history on the opening drive with a 41-yard touchdown run. It was the second-longest touchdown run in CFP title game history, only trailing Derrick Henry’s 50-yard rush in 2016.

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But that piece of trivia didn’t last long.

After Washington (14-1) cut its deficit to 7-3, Edwards was off to the races again, this time scoring from 46 yards out. As the final seconds ticked off the first-quarter clock, it was Michigan star running back Blake Corum’s turn to get in on the big-play action as he ripped off a 59-yard rush to close out the period.

That scamper only translated to three points, but it put Washington in a 17-3 hole. Both defenses clamped down in the second quarter, but the Wolverines still managed to outgain the Huskies, 290-160, in the first half. Overall, Michigan amassed 443 total yards to Washington’s 301. Michael Penix Jr. threw for 255 yards on 27-of-51 passing, while J.J. McCarthy completed 10 of 18 attempts for 140 yards. Rome Odunze was the game’s leading receiver with five catches for 87 yards.

Defensively, South Jersey’s Keon Sabb recorded six tackles, good for second-most by a Michigan player, and two key pass breakups.

“We started off really hot,” McCarthy said. “But I feel like we got to points in the game where we were beating ourselves. I was missing throws. I was missing some reads. And it just comes down to moving on to the next play, flushing the last play, and just staying in the present moment and just trying to attack one play at a time.”

Washington finally found the end zone in the final minute of the first half when Penix and Jalen McMillan connected on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line.

The Huskies got the ball to start the second half but never got a chance to get into a rhythm, as Penix was picked off on the first play from scrimmage of the third quarter.

The teams traded field goals after that, with Washington’s drive helped significantly by an unnecessary roughness penalty following a 14-yard gain — much like how pass interference on third-and-10 helped set up its touchdown drive.

“We played a good team,” Penix said. “They did some good things. I feel like on the offensive side of the ball, we just missed a lot of opportunities, opportunities where we needed to execute the most to help our team, put our team in a better position to come out with this win. But in the locker room, it’s just a lot of love.”

After a relatively quiet second half, McCarthy and Colston Loveland connected for a 41-yard gain. Four plays later, Corum darted in from 12 yards out. Corum and Edwards are the first duo to surpass 100 rushing yards in CFP title game history with 134 and 104, respectively. As a team, Michigan recorded the most rushing yards in CFP history with 303 yards.

The defense picked up another big play in the latter half of the fourth quarter as Mike Saintrisil picked off Penix and returned it 81 yards to the Washington 8. Two plays later, Corum punched it in from 1 yard out to seal a Wolverines national title.

As for Washington, Monday marked its final game representing the Pac-12. It’ll move into the Big Ten and face Michigan again on Oct. 5 in Seattle (its inaugural Big Ten schedule also includes road contests against Rutgers (Sept. 28) and Penn State (Nov. 9). Washington coach Kalen DeBoer is proud of how his Huskies represented the conference one final time — and throughout the season.

“There’s multiple teams that could have been knocking on the door of being a conference champion, being even in a final four. I really believe that,” he said. “There’s some really good football that’s been played on the West Coast. I tip my hat to those coaches that have been part of Pac-12.”