I do not give a rat’s ass what Jim Harbaugh does tomorrow. He could get on a plane right after he accepts the trophy and go to Los Angeles or Las Vegas or wherever the fuck.
It doesn’t move me to think about what the NCAA may or may not drop tomorrow. Or in the spring, or whenever I keep being told it’s happening.
I don’t give a shit about that big, fat asterisk the rest of you are going to put on this. Connor Stalions is a loser Barstool affiliate now, and Michigan won the rest of its season without him, however much you think his influence mattered.
As Blake Corum said in his postgame interview, business is finished. The College Football Playoff is settled. It’s done and over.
Michigan won a national championship.
To be clear, they did not make things easy, but all that “karmic retribution” so many people wanted didn’t happen. Early in the game, Donovan Edwards had his Linsanity run (or, well, Linsanity runs) now, of all games to remember how to play football. His first touchdown looked like yet another dead-in-the-water play of his, until it wasn’t.
This entire first drive was great play design, but also incredibly good to establish a lead, any lead, and try not to look back. Playcalling for much of the game after their incredible first quarter bordered on infuriating, and even when it worked, players dropped critical passes or were schemed up for the worst plays possible (looking at whatever Sherrone Moore designed for Semaj Morgan).
I actually don’t really need to offer any insight on it, though, because that was the last game of the season. Cornelius Johnson is no longer my problem. And, by the way, Michigan won.
If you’re wondering about egregious missed calls or other celestial questions of fairness, refs miss calls all the time. Shit happens. Spare me. Because I am a Michigan fan, and my team is currently making TikToks with the CFP trophy, your anger about what was definitely a missed holding call does not move me.
You can’t argue Michigan got special treatment, either. The team blew two false starts on an offensive drive after intercepting Michael Penix Jr. early in the second half, taking their great field position and turning it into a long field goal. They got great breaks (like an offensive holding call against Washington that nullified a 30-yard Odunze connection and offsetting penalties on fourth and 13), but it’s nothing out the of the ordinary for a human officiating crew.
But who cares? I don’t have to rehash this. My. Team. Won.
As I mentioned before the game, nothing is fair, and Washington was not the David to slay Michigan’s Goliath. In fact, where fortune and luck favored Michigan, everything that could have gone wrong for the Huskies did. God is fickle and cruel like that.
The run defense that other folks told me soooo much about did not show up, save for a brief stint in the second half. Then, on offense, Dillon Johnson tweaked his left leg. I already mentioned that Odunze connection that got called back. The wheels fell off, and Washington could never establish any rhythm, and barely did so on their lone touchdown drive.
The fearsome Washington receivers would get open, but failed to make a real splash. In fact, it was a really bad day for them as they went:
- Odunze, five receptions for 87 yards;
- Westover, five for 42;
- Polk, four for 35;
- and McMilan, six for 33 and the Huskies’ sole touchdown.
It’s hard to see such bad things happen for a team I really liked and seemed wholesome enough. The same team that an atomic bomb couldn’t stop last week was completely disjointed this week.
Not to mention that game, not the last one, should have been Michael Penix Jr.’s swan song. Seeing him tweak an ankle and hurt his ribs sucked, because you want to face teams like this at their best, and that includes someone as dangerous — and root-for-able — as Penix.
It wasn’t though; the title game ended up as one of his worst performances to date. While J.J. McCarthy was by no means a revelation, Penix wasn’t either. He went 27 of 51 on the day for 255 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. It was heartbreaking to watch him, injured, sailing high hero ball after hero ball in the dying minutes of the game. He was a man cupping his hands and trying to splash water out of his capsizing boat, only for more to flood in.
Thank Michigan’s defense for that. Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant were productive and matched up well on the inside, frazzling a usually perfect Washington offensive line. Keon Sabb made up for early mistakes with critical plays down the stretch. Will Johnson, who by and large didn’t have a great time covering Rome Odunze, caught an interception. Mike Sainristil took a critical fourth and 13 (that same one with the off-setting penalties) and turned it into an 81-yard interception and run.
It sucks seeing bad luck and bad execution befall the Huskies, but it did. It’s a really good thing that’s not my problem, considering that Michigan — you guessed it! — won.
You could tell me anything right now, and I wouldn’t hear a thing. I can look at this game tomorrow, with less tired, more objective eyes.
Right now, business is finished. The best team in college football this year was the Michigan Wolverines, whether you like it or not.
This team’s leaders (including Blake Corum, transcendent again with 21 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns) returned to bet on themselves, and they were proven right. Young players like Graham, Grant and others rose to the occasion when needed most. Jim Harbaugh, sideshow freak that he is, showed them the right nature documentary. Because they went on their most crucial hot streak of the year after the Stalions incident, they rebuffed the narrative that they needed to cheat to activate their team. They rebuffed that narrative so concretely, they ended up winning a natty in the process.
There is no asterisk big enough to hide my glee in Michigan winning a game they, many times, tried to lose. It is settled business. It is done. Whatever fuckery flows to me in the offseason can’t really hurt me, because nothing can undo what Michigan did on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024.
Everyone’s business here is finished. The job is done. Whatever the future holds doesn’t hold a candle to this, right here and now.