For the first time in 27 years, college football giants Michigan are finally back on top of the mountain – but fittingly, it was a controversial climb to the peak.
The Wolverines downed fellow unbeaten Washington 34-13 to win the 2023-24 national championship in Houston, in a game that was tighter than the scoreline suggests, as the Huskies were within a touchdown halfway through the final quarter.
But the Wolverines’ dominant running game proved too strong with a Blake Corum touchdown to seal it, after backup Donovan Edwards sprinted for two long touchdown runs in the first quarter.
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The two Edwards scores ended up being enough as likely NFL first-round pick quarterback Michael Penix Jr. failed to get the vaunted Washington offence going, with his trio of gun wide receivers having minimal impact until Rome Odunze, another likely first-round pick, fired late in the game.
The game-sealing drive in the fourth quarter, capped off by Corum’s first touchdown, drew plenty of controversy though as the Wolverines were not called for holding on multiple occasions, nor were they called for a 12-men-on-the-field penalty at one stage in the second half.
The claims of “cheating” were grimly ironic given the sign-stealing scandal inside the program this season.
Wolverines staffer Connor Stalions, who allegedly attended opponents’ games to steal the signs which are used to signal plays in college football (in-helmet headsets so the coach can talk to the quarterback or defensive captain, as used in the NFL, are illegal in college), resigned while head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended three regular season games – not because he had a direct role in the incidents but because as coach he oversees the program.
The Wolverines rallied around Harbaugh, feeling he had been mistreated by the sport’s governing body the NCAA, and he returned in time for their post-season victories over Iowa, Alabama and Washington.
Harbaugh, the former San Francisco 49ers coach, is known to have major interest in returning to the NFL and having finally given his alma mater the championship he dreamt of, is likely to be heavily considered by teams like the Chargers, Falcons and Commanders this off-season.
The most recent college football champion to lose its head coach came in 1997 – the last time Michigan won the title.
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