MICHIGAN BEATS WASHINGTON

Michigan overpowers Washington as Jim Harbaugh delivers a national title

Michigan overpowers Washington as Jim Harbaugh delivers a national title
Michigan beats Washington, 34-13. Photo via: Wiki Commons.

Jim Harbaugh raised the championship trophy as gold and white confetti sprayed over his team and “We Are the Champions” blared.

Nine years after he took over at Michigan, Harbaugh delivered on the lofty expectations he brought with him to his beloved alma mater.

Blake Corum ran for 134 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns as Harbaugh and the top-ranked Wolverines — undeterred by suspensions and a sign-stealing case that shadowed the program — completed a three-year surge to a national title by beating No. 2 Washington 34-13 Monday night in the College Football Playoff.

“We’re innocent and we stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent. And I’d like to point that out,” Harbaugh said when asked about off-field issues, jumping in to answer a question posed to his players. “And these guys are innocent. And overcome that? It wasn’t that hard because we knew we were innocent.

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

The Wolverines (15-0) sealed their first national title since 1997 when Corum, who scored the winning touchdown in overtime against Alabama in the Rose Bowl, blasted in from the 1-yard line with 3:37 left to put Michigan up by 21 and set off another rousing rendition of “The Victors” from the band.

After a third consecutive playoff appearance, Harbaugh won the championship so many expected when he took over a struggling powerhouse in 2015 — despite missing six regular-season games this season while serving two suspensions.

“That man, he's the reason we're here today,” Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy said of his coach.

And Harbaugh did it with a team his old coach, Bo Schembechler, would have adored. The Wolverines ran for 303 yards against Washington (14-1), and their rugged defense held Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies’ prolific passing game to just one touchdown while intercepting the Heisman Trophy runner-up twice.

“There are more than 100 Michigan men who are on this team,” Harbaugh said. “What they’ve done is amazing. They will forever be known as national champions.”

Penix’s remarkable six-year college career ended with maybe his worst performance of the season. Usually unfazed by pressure, Penix was not nearly as precise against a Michigan defense that took away his signature deep throws.

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

The Indiana transfer who came back from two knee surgeries and two shoulder injuries was roughed up by the Wolverines, limping at times, stepped on another time.

Asked how he was feeling, Penix said, still undaunted: “Better than I was three years ago."

Penix finished 27 for 51 for 255 yards and a touchdown as the Huskies had their 21-game winning streak snapped.

“They've given me everything they possible can,” coach Kalen DeBoer said of a group of players who went 4-8 just two seasons ago and 25-3 since he took over in 2022.

McCarthy had a modest game, throwing for 140 yards and running for 31. But it was enough for him to improve to 27-1 as a starter for the Wolverines.

Michigan gave Washington a taste of life in the Big Ten, where the Pac-12 champions are heading next season, and the Huskies were up for the grind for a while.

Two long touchdown runs by Donovan Edwards and 229 yards rushing in the first quarter put the Wolverines up 17-3 early in the second and conjured up memories of last year's historic Georgia blowout of TCU.

Washington stabilized and didn’t allow the Wolverines another point in the first half. 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 on a fourth-and-goal with 42 seconds left for a 3-yard touchdown. After being on the verge of getting buried by the Wolverines, the Huskies fans sang along to “Who Let the Dogs Out,” happily down only 17-10 at half.

Will Johnson’s interception of Penix on the first play of the second half gave Michigan another opportunity to open up a two-touchdown lead, but the Huskies forced a field goal by James Turner to make it 20-10.

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

Michigan nursed a touchdown lead until halfway through the fourth quarter, when it put together a 71-yard drive, capped by Corum's tackle-breaking 12-yard touchdown that finally gave the Wolverines some room with a 27-13 lead and 7:09 left.

Corum, the engine of the ground-and-pound offense and heart and soul of a team loaded with fourth-, fifth- and even sixth-year players, missed the CFP last year with a knee injury. He was named offensive player of the final national title game in before the College Football Playoff expands from four teams to 12 next season.

"Michigan, this is for you,” Corum told the Wolverines fans.

Michigan seemed to be steaming toward a third consecutive Big Ten championship when in October it was revealed the NCAA was investigating the program for potentially breaking rules that prohibit in-person scouting of opponents and using video equipment to attempt to decode opponents’ play signals.

The scandal turned Connor Stalions, the low-level Michigan recruiting staffer accused of orchestrating the scheme, into a household name and threatened to derail the Wolverines’ season.

The NCAA process will linger well into 2024 and it is unknown what penalties Michigan could face. The Big Ten, though, decided to act quickly and punished Michigan by suspending Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season, including matchups with Penn State and rival Ohio State.

With offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore taking Harbaugh’s place, it became Michigan vs. Everybody and nobody could stop the Wolverines.

Harbaugh returned for the postseason, completed the mission and got to celebrate with his 84-year-old father, Jack — himself a former college football coach — as he accepted the trophy.

Michigan became the first college football program to record 1,000 victories when it beat Maryland in November and won its third national title in January.

“Who has it better than us?” Jack Harbaugh asked the fans during the trophy ceremony. They replied with a boisterous: “Nobody!”

Now the question is whether Harbaugh has coached the team he once quarterbacked for the last time, with the NFL seemingly beckoning again.

Harbaugh said it felt good to no longer be the only coach in the family without a national championship. His father won a Division I-AA title with Western Kentucky and brother John won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens by beating Jim's San Francisco 49ers 11 years ago.

"I can now sit at the big person’s table in the family,” Harbaugh said.

As for what's next?

"I just want to enjoy this,” he said. “I hope you give me that. Can I have that? Does it always have to be what’s next, what’s the future?”

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The Texans are back in action next week against the Dolphins. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

C.J. Stroud faced criticism in Houston's last few games as the Texans hit a rough patch after losing just two of their first eight games.

But the second-year quarterback remained confident and his strong performance last Sunday helped the Texans (8-5) to a 23-20 win over the Jaguars to enter their bye with a two-game lead atop the AFC South.

“When he is leading and playing the way he is playing, our entire team feeds off of him,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “I am excited for his second year. I think he is showing a ton of growth, he is in a really great spot for us physically, mentally. I really love where he is and I am excited to see how he comes back after the break.”

Stroud threw for 242 yards and a touchdown against Jacksonville to leave him ranked fourth in the NFL with 3,117 yards passing this season. That game came after he threw two interceptions in a 32-27 loss to Tennessee a week before for the team’s third loss in four games.

Those two interceptions brought his season total to nine, which are four more than he threw in 15 games a rookie. But the Texans aren’t worried about that statistic and believe he has grown in his second year.

“He’s made a lot of progress,” general manager Nick Caserio said. “There are some plays, like all of our players, that we probably wish he could have back, but happy he’s our quarterback, happy with what he brings to the table. ... Wouldn’t want anyone else leading this team.”

The Texans are in position to win their division for a second straight season despite dealing with several significant injuries on offense. Running back Joe Mixon missed three games early with an ankle injury and leading receiver Nico Collins was sidelined for five games with a hamstring injury.

They also lost four-time Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs for the season when tore an ACL in Week 8.

Mixon leads the team with 887 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns and has added four touchdown receptions. His work in his first season in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati has helped the team deal with those significant injuries to the receiving corps.

Mixon ranks third in the NFL by averaging 88.7 yards rushing a game and has had at least 100 yards rushing in seven games.

Stroud has continually raved about Mixon’s contributions on and off the field.

“He’s a servant, a helper,” Stroud said. “That’s ultimately what I want to be as well. Who can I serve and how can I help? That’s ultimately what the game of football is.”

While Mixon has been the team’s most important new acquisition on offense, Danielle Hunter has been Houston’s new defensive star. The defensive end spent his first eight seasons in Minnesota before joining the Texans this year.

He has helped Houston lead the NFL with 84 tackles for loss after piling up 15 this season, which is tied for third most in the league. He also leads the Texans with 10½ sacks to help them rank second with 42.

Hunter been a great addition to a team that already had defensive end Will Anderson Jr., last year’s AP Defensive Rookie of the Year. Anderson ranks second to Hunter on the team with 13 tackles for loss and 9½ sacks.

Ryans said this week’s break is much needed for a team that opened the preseason on Aug. 1 in the Hall of Fame game.

“It’s here and we’re going to take advantage of it,” he said. “We’ve been going at it for a long time.”

The Texans need to recharge this week with a brutal stretch of three games in 10 days when they return from their bye. Houston hosts Miami on Dec. 15 before a trip to Kansas City on Dec. 21 and a visit from the Ravens on Christmas Day.

“It’s Christmas and all that, but we can’t worry about that. All we can do is focus on Miami,” Caserio said. “And then when we get through the Miami game, then we kind of turn the page to the next. ... We’re either going to earn it or we’re not. Not to oversimplify it, but that’s the truth.”

The Texans will play those game without starting linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair after he received a three-game suspension for his violent hit to the head of Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence, which led to a concussion.

Al-Shaair will be eligible to return for Houston’s regular-season finale against Tennessee.

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