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Michchamp
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Monday, January 8, 2024, we'll see our Michigan Wolverines take on the Washington Huskies for the National Championship at 7:30 PM EASTERN (6:30 PM CENTRAL) in Houston, Texas on ESPN.
Line: UM -4.5 (opened at -6.5)
O/U: 56.5
Sagarin Predictor: Michigan by 6
Here we go, for all the marbles it comes down to this game.
Series History
We're 8-5 against Washington, all time, on a 2 game win streak against them (with wins in 2-2 in Bowls - all Rose Bowls - and we won those in '81 and '93 and lost in '78 and '92.
About Our Opponent
It doesn't look like we've done one of these, so I'll write up a bit of UW history. The University was founded in 1861, makeing it one of the oldest public universities on the West Coast. It was located in Seattle, as local leaders felt that would more effectively develop the city than pushing to locate the state capital there (Washington wasn't admitted to the union until 1889.
There's not much notable about its development into an educational bohemoth like every other major public university in the country, although UW does seem to have some bona fide leftist cred, unlike a lot of supposedly progressive/leftist universities in the land. They were one of the few universities in the country to hire an actual Marxist for a while (Harold Laski) in 1939, although he was only a visiting lecturer. And HUAC got three UW professors actually fired for being Communists, though this was far short of the 150 "Communists" that were alleged to be professors there.
Since then, well, nothing unusual has happened. Of course, local robber barons like Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and corporate leviathans like Amazon, Boeing, and every pharmaceutical giant have given untold billions to the school...
Famous Alumni
Well... UW does have some pretty great and some notorious alums.
Also... Kenny G.??? :ugh:
Actors Kyle McLachlan and Rainn Wilson
And for Tinsel... Former USWNT Goalie and All Around Bad Girl Hope Solo
Hard Drinking Marine and WWII Pacific Theatre Ace Pappy Boyington
Notorious Serial Killer Ted Bundy! (attended UW but did not graduate... so I won't post his pic)
Okay, so how about the football team?
Washington is also 14-0, making this only the 5th time in CFP history where two unbeaten teams have met.
Washington is in their 2nd year under coach Kalen DeBoer. DeBoer took over after their lousy 4-8 season in 2021 and immediately turned things around, going 11-2 in 2022 with Hoosier transfer Michael Penix quarterbacking the team.
Penix is a weird name, eh? Sounds like PENIS, right? I thought it might be Dutch, but turns out the name originated in Cornwall, England (Michael Penix is of course, not of Cornish ancestry, but the name is).
DeBoer hasn't coached at this level for very long. His only FBS HC gig was a two year stint at Fresno State, before UW hired him. Before that, he was Indiana's OC/QBC as recently as 2019 (where he met Penix), and before that, he was a long time assistant at a couple MAC programs, and HC at Div II Sioux Falls University.
Between UM and UW, UW is the shakier 14-0 team. As Wolverines24 helpfully pointed out, their much vaunted offense has gotten held in check a couple times this year by lackluster teams, and they probably should've lost once already, to Oregon, and would have if UO's coach had just taken points a couple times, instead of going for it while in FG range. Still... UW has risen to the occasion consistently this season, and stayed undefeated through some tough stretches of games against ranked opponents.
Stats Watch! (UM - UW)
Total Defense: 1st (243 ypg) - 94th (404 ypg)
Pass Eff. Def.: 3rd - 32nd
Rush Def.: 8th (93 ypg) - 41st (137 ypg)
Total Offense: 70th (378 ypg) - 10th (473 ypg)
Pass Eff. Off.: 5th (on 342 attempts) - 11th (on 523 attempts)
Rush Off: 61st (159 ypg) - 100th (124 ypg)
Scoring Off.: 14th (36 ppg) - 10th (37 ppg)
Fewest Penalties/Game: 1st (2.8/g) - 124th (7.6/g)
Turnover Margin: 2nd (+1.2/g) - 53rd (+0.1/g) (We've lost 8; they've lost 18)
Sacks Allowed: 28th (1.36/g) - 4th (0.79/g)
Sacks.. Sacked: 19th (2.7/g) - 114th (1.5/g)
I guess we'll see if it's true that defense wins championships... our offense is no slouch though. I keep seeing people (mostly MSU or OSU fans) bag on JJ, but someone who actually played QB noted this:
Washington seems to have more chinks in its armor than we do, and is a hell of a lot more mistake prone. I'm sure we can find some weaknesses and attack them. BE LIKE WATER as Bruce says... flow to the opponent's weakest point and pour through them.
So go ahead and make your predictions and post some analysis if you choose, but as always, leave the woofing and barking for other threads!
Line: UM -4.5 (opened at -6.5)
O/U: 56.5
Sagarin Predictor: Michigan by 6
Here we go, for all the marbles it comes down to this game.
Series History
We're 8-5 against Washington, all time, on a 2 game win streak against them (with wins in 2-2 in Bowls - all Rose Bowls - and we won those in '81 and '93 and lost in '78 and '92.
About Our Opponent
It doesn't look like we've done one of these, so I'll write up a bit of UW history. The University was founded in 1861, makeing it one of the oldest public universities on the West Coast. It was located in Seattle, as local leaders felt that would more effectively develop the city than pushing to locate the state capital there (Washington wasn't admitted to the union until 1889.
There's not much notable about its development into an educational bohemoth like every other major public university in the country, although UW does seem to have some bona fide leftist cred, unlike a lot of supposedly progressive/leftist universities in the land. They were one of the few universities in the country to hire an actual Marxist for a while (Harold Laski) in 1939, although he was only a visiting lecturer. And HUAC got three UW professors actually fired for being Communists, though this was far short of the 150 "Communists" that were alleged to be professors there.
Since then, well, nothing unusual has happened. Of course, local robber barons like Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and corporate leviathans like Amazon, Boeing, and every pharmaceutical giant have given untold billions to the school...
Famous Alumni
Well... UW does have some pretty great and some notorious alums.
First and Foremost... the Great BRUCE LEE
Also... Kenny G.??? :ugh:
Actors Kyle McLachlan and Rainn Wilson
And for Tinsel... Former USWNT Goalie and All Around Bad Girl Hope Solo
Hard Drinking Marine and WWII Pacific Theatre Ace Pappy Boyington
Notorious Serial Killer Ted Bundy! (attended UW but did not graduate... so I won't post his pic)
Okay, so how about the football team?
Washington is also 14-0, making this only the 5th time in CFP history where two unbeaten teams have met.
Washington is in their 2nd year under coach Kalen DeBoer. DeBoer took over after their lousy 4-8 season in 2021 and immediately turned things around, going 11-2 in 2022 with Hoosier transfer Michael Penix quarterbacking the team.
Penix is a weird name, eh? Sounds like PENIS, right? I thought it might be Dutch, but turns out the name originated in Cornwall, England (Michael Penix is of course, not of Cornish ancestry, but the name is).
DeBoer hasn't coached at this level for very long. His only FBS HC gig was a two year stint at Fresno State, before UW hired him. Before that, he was Indiana's OC/QBC as recently as 2019 (where he met Penix), and before that, he was a long time assistant at a couple MAC programs, and HC at Div II Sioux Falls University.
Between UM and UW, UW is the shakier 14-0 team. As Wolverines24 helpfully pointed out, their much vaunted offense has gotten held in check a couple times this year by lackluster teams, and they probably should've lost once already, to Oregon, and would have if UO's coach had just taken points a couple times, instead of going for it while in FG range. Still... UW has risen to the occasion consistently this season, and stayed undefeated through some tough stretches of games against ranked opponents.
Stats Watch! (UM - UW)
Total Defense: 1st (243 ypg) - 94th (404 ypg)
Pass Eff. Def.: 3rd - 32nd
Rush Def.: 8th (93 ypg) - 41st (137 ypg)
Total Offense: 70th (378 ypg) - 10th (473 ypg)
Pass Eff. Off.: 5th (on 342 attempts) - 11th (on 523 attempts)
Rush Off: 61st (159 ypg) - 100th (124 ypg)
Scoring Off.: 14th (36 ppg) - 10th (37 ppg)
Fewest Penalties/Game: 1st (2.8/g) - 124th (7.6/g)
Turnover Margin: 2nd (+1.2/g) - 53rd (+0.1/g) (We've lost 8; they've lost 18)
Sacks Allowed: 28th (1.36/g) - 4th (0.79/g)
Sacks.. Sacked: 19th (2.7/g) - 114th (1.5/g)
I guess we'll see if it's true that defense wins championships... our offense is no slouch though. I keep seeing people (mostly MSU or OSU fans) bag on JJ, but someone who actually played QB noted this:
J.J. McCarthy is all about playing winning football. 26-1 in his career as a starter and OUTSTANDING on 3rd downs. On 3rd and 7 yards or more, he is 33 of 44 (75%) for 526 yards with 26 first downs or touchdowns. THAT?S INSANE. All he does is win. Can he win the big one?
We'll see...
Washington seems to have more chinks in its armor than we do, and is a hell of a lot more mistake prone. I'm sure we can find some weaknesses and attack them. BE LIKE WATER as Bruce says... flow to the opponent's weakest point and pour through them.
So go ahead and make your predictions and post some analysis if you choose, but as always, leave the woofing and barking for other threads!
