HOUSTON–Michigan senior running back Blake Corum had a chance to declare for the NFL draft last season after the B1G champion Wolverines fell short of their ultimate goal, losing to TCU, 52-45 in a stunning upset at the 2023 College Football Playoff semi-finals.
But he came back for this crowning achievement.;.
Top-ranked Michigan put an exclamation point on a perfect 15-0 season here Monday night by steam rolling previously unbeaten Washington, 34-13, in the College Football Playoff championship game at RNG Stadium.
After the game, Corum summed up what the moment meant to him with a three- word message for the Maize and Blue fan base. “We said we had unfinished business, so I’ll leave you all with this: ‘Business is finished,”’ he said. “We came back to get a natty.”
The 23-year-old carried the ball 21 times for 134 yards and two touchdowns and was selected as the game’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player. Corum put an exclamation point on a prolific career that spanned 44 games. Across four years with the program, Corum scored 59 touchdowns and racked up 3,603 yards. This season he led the nation with 27 touchdowns.
The Wolverines rushed for 303 yards in 38 carries, overwhelming the Huskies– who only had 301 yards total offense– with their massive offensive line that created massive holes for their running backs and confused the Huskies’ defense with their blocking schemes. Dylan Edwards rushed for 104, scoring on runs of 41 and 46-yards in the first quarter to set the tone as Michigan jumped out to a 14-3 lead and never looked back.
I honestly thought this game would be more competitive.
So apparently did the ESPN audience after both national semi-finals were so competitive. But despite the fact the Neilsen same day data showed the game averaged 25.1 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, the suspense ended quickly.
It wasn’t as bad as Georgia 65, TCU 7. But the outcome was never in doubt.
Washington had no answers for Michigan’s sledgehammer approach. And the Huskies struggled generating any success with their normally effective passing game. The Wolverines’ defense constantly got to star quarterback Michael Penix Jr., a Heisman finalist, with differing pressure and secondary coverage, limiting him to just 157 yards passing and preventing him doing any damage with deep bombs. Washington and its top-ranked passing offense, included three NFL caliber wide outs, was held to its lowest point total of the season with Michigan going through a 15-game season not allowing a single team to score more than 24 points.
This was Michigan’s first national championship since 1997, when the Wolverines split the title with Nebraska and their first outright championship since 1948.
It was also the last football game of the traditional Pac-12, which will break up after this spring. Washington will become a conference rival of the Wolverines next year as one of four new West Coast members of the B1G.
The biggest questions remaining for Michigan is whether Jim Harbaugh will be back in Ann Arbor next year or will he go to the NFL.
Harbaugh has been rumored as a leading candidate for vacancies at both the Los Angeles Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders. He wasn’t about to ruin the party by talking with the media about his future after leading the Wolverines to the B1G’s first CFP championship since Ohio State won in 2014.
“I just want to enjoy this,” he said. “I hope you give me that/. Does it always have to be what’s next, what’s the future? Like I said the other day, I hope to have a future. I hope there’s a tomorrow, a day after tomorrow, a next month, a next year.”
Michigan is working on a lucrative long-term extension, but talks are on hold and Harbaugh had hired agent Don Yee, who has extensive ties to the NFL and is Tom Brady’s agent.
AD Warde Manuel gets why people want to hire Harbaugh, who is the hottest coach in the country. “/The man went to a Super Bowl, won a conference championship, went back to the conference championship in that league.
“If I was in the pros, I would want to talk to him because of what he’s accomplished. However, I’m not in the pros and I want to keep him as our coach, that’s my bar to bear. But I’m proud that Jim is our coach.”
No matter what happens, there the possibility of NCAA sanctions for the program. Harbaugh was suspended three games at the start of the season after an investigation into recruiting violations and another three- game suspension at the end of the regular season after a sign stealing scandal that led to the dismissal of staffer Connor Stallions.
The Wolverines never panicked though.
“It went exactly how we wanted it to go to win every game,” he said. “The off the field issues, we’re innocent and we stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent. And I’d like to point that out.”
ccording to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, Michigan’s decisive 34-13 victory over the Washington Huskies averaged 25.1 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, marking the biggest TV turnout for a college football national championship game in four years.
