Michigan Football: National Championship Preview and Prediction

While Washington has a tremendous offense, their defense is very pedestrian. Their defense is ranked 88th in yards per game and 49th in points allowed per game. Michigan, on the contrary, is number one in both of those categories. There is a lot to like if you're a Michigan football fan here.

First and foremost, the run game. Washington is not great against the run, and if Texas had stuck with the run (they fumbled twice which put them behind), they likely could have won the game. The Longhorns rushed for 180 yards and a staggering 6.4 per carry. And their longest rush of the day was a 21 yard qb scramble, so it's not like they had one 80 yard rush. The Longhorns were dominating in the run game.

This is a game where I would not be surprised to see Blake Corum have 30-40 carries. If it's there, Michigan is going to take it gladly. I expect that Washington knows this, however, so Michigan will have to be creative.

Sherrone Moore did a tremendous job against Alabama, and I expect he'll have another great game plan dialed up for the Huskies. This is a game that I think, offensively, could be similar to the 2022 Ohio State game.

The Huskies know that they're outmatched in the run game. They know that Michigan football will gladly run it every play if they can. Because of that, they're likely going to stack the box and bring more pressure than usual. That's going to leave their secondary, which is already suspicious, on islands. The Huskies have the 121st pass defense in the country based on opposing yards per game, and Michigan could expose that.

We're definitely going to see a heavy dose of play action. We didn't see much of that against Alabama, but a big reason for that was the excellent pass rush the Tide had. Washington does not have Dallas Turner or Chris Braswell. Michigan will run play action and dial up some deep shots, and I wouldn't be surprised to see McCarthy throw for 300+ yards.

I think that Michigan definitely has the advantage against this Huskies defense, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them score 30-40 points. They need to make every possession count against this great offense, and I trust that Sherrone Moore will.

So what do I see happening?