Michigan Wolverines Beat Washington Huskies To Win College Football National Championship
The Michigan Wolverines beat the Washington Huskies to win the 2024 College Football National Championship, winning the game 34-13. It was a spirited game that went back and forth. Michigan got out to an early 17-3 lead before Washington made it 17-10 at halftime.
It was a matchup between two undefeated teams, both 14-0. Michigan had beaten Alabama in overtime last week. Washington beat Texas. As both teams had not lost the entire season, there was little controversy over whether they were the two best teams in the country.
In the final year of Pac-12 football, Washington flew the flag of the conference for the final time. It’s a shame that the conference is disbanding right when Pac-12 teams were starting to rise. Both Washington and Oregon were contenders for the CFP playoff.
It was a tight game through most of the second half, until Michigan broke through for a touchdown to make it 27-13 halfway through the 4th quarter. The Wolverines made it 34-13 late in the 4th quarter after a defensive interception that they took inside Washington’s 10 yard line.
The Washington Huskies were just not able to get their offense going. That proved to be their downfall. Michael Penix was disappointing in this game, throwing two interceptions and having over 20 incompletions. It was especially disappointing because we know that the Huskies are much better than how they played tonight.
Michigan’s defense was stellar, it has to be said. This was Michigan’s first national title since 1997. The storied program has been amongst the top teams in the country multiple times since 1997, but hadn’t tasted national glory in over 25 years.
In the end, Michigan won the National Championship. After much controversy about whether and which SEC teams should have been selected for this playoff, neither finalist was from the SEC. It was a brief respite from the usual SEC and Alabama domination of this sport. Will we see a power shift away from the SEC? Only time will tell.