College Football National Championship: Michigan’s path to victory

• What Michigan’s gameplan should be for the national championship

• Dominate on the ground: The Wolverines have the potential to dominate the Huskies' vulnerable run defense.

• Pressure Michael Penix Jr.: Just as it did with Jalen Milroe, Michigan needs to get immediate pressure on Penix so he doesn’t have time to take shots downfield. 

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

Following a thrilling 27-20 overtime victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, top-ranked Michigan faces No. 2 Washington in the national championship on Monday. 

If the Wolverines are going to take home their first national title since 1997, here’s what they need to do on offense and defense against the Huskies.

Offensive Blueprint: Dominate on the ground

It’s no secret that the bread-and-butter of Michigan’s offense is its ground game. The Wolverines run the ball on 55.6% of their plays, the sixth-highest rate in the Power Five. Blake Corum leads all FBS players with 25 rushing touchdowns this season while Michigan is seventh among Power Five teams in PFF run-blocking grade (72.9).

Washington meanwhile is just 72nd in the nation in run defense grade. On inside zone, Michigan’s most common run play, the Huskies earned the fourth-worst defensive grade in the Power Five (57.3). A dominant run game is certainly possible for Michigan in this game, which will take pressure off of quarterback J.J. McCarthy to go throw-for-throw with Michael Penix Jr.

Defensive Blueprint: Get immediate pressure on Michael Penix Jr.

Slowing Penix down is paramount for the Wolverines to win the national championship, just as he was against Texas in the semifinal. In that game, Penix threw for 430 yards against the Longhorns and earned his highest PFF passing grade of the season (93.8). With the nation’s highest-graded receiving cops at his disposal, it’s a matter of when, not if, he’ll find them with a perfectly placed moonball.

That is unless you don’t give him time to find the deep throw to begin with. That’s precisely what Michigan’s strategy was in the Rose Bowl against another dangerous downfield passer, Jalen Milroe. The Wolverines blitzed him on 57.1% of his dropbacks when their blitz rate before that game was just 42.8%. That led to Milroe taking a season-high seven sacks and attempting just three passes of 20-plus yards, his second-lowest total of the year. While Washington’s pass-blocking grade is significantly better than Alabama’s (fifth in FBS vs. 48th), Michigan still owns the fourth-best pass-rushing grade in the country. Penix isn’t nearly the rushing threat that Milroe is either, so the Wolverines shouldn’t need to send a spy which will free up another defender.