Current:Home > MarketsCFP national championship: Everything to know for Michigan-Washington title showdown-InfoLens
CFP national championship: Everything to know for Michigan-Washington title showdown
View Date:2024-12-23 11:37:18
As Canadian supergroup Rush pithily stated in Tom Sawyer, "He knows changes aren’t permanent, but change is." So it is that amid the sweeping changes about to overtake the college sports landscape, we nevertheless have a football championship to decide. That decision day has arrived.
We should enjoy the final game of the season for what it is, a head-to-head contest between the nation’s last undefeated teams that will determine a true and undisputed champion. But one can’t help but observe that it’s more than a little ironic that it took the sport more than a century to reach this point only for the mechanisms to be altered as the entire infrastructure of the sport is remade.
But never mind all that. Let’s get to the game.
How to watch CFP championship game
The game will be televised on ESPN with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit on the call; Holly Rowe and Molly McGrath on the sideline, and Bill Lemonnier as rules analyst. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. from NRG Stadium in Houston.
Additionally, ESPN will offer a variety of alternative broadcasts on its other channels: Field pass with "The Pat McAfee Show" (ESPN2), Command Center (ESPNU), Skycast (ESPNews), Spanish language (ESPN Deportes).
CFP championship game: No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 2 Washington
Part of the aforementioned irony stems from the fact that by coincidence, the last time both schools claimed the title it was shared – Michigan’s with Nebraska in 1997 and Washington’s with Miami in 1991. Of course there will be no splitting of this title, which will be a first for either program in the BCS/playoff era.
The marquee matchup pits the Wolverines’ lights-out defense, statistically the stingiest in the nation, against the high-powered Huskies’ aerial attack, the most productive passing game in the Bowl Subdivision putting up 350 yards a game. We got a good look at the kind of creative blitz packages Michigan can unleash in last week’s Rose Bowl semifinal win against Alabama, but Washington QB Michael Penix might be more difficult to rattle. He has mastered the team’s complex offensive scheme, making use of a variety of targets. Outside threats Rome Odunze and Ja-Lynn Polk get most of the attention, but Jalen McMillan and TE Jack Westover are equally important to sustaining drives. Huskies’ RB Dillon Johnson, already playing through a foot injury that he appeared to aggravate late in the Sugar Bowl win against Texas, is expected to play, though finding real estate on the ground against the likes of Wolverines’ LBs Junior Colson and Michael Barrett would be difficult enough even if he were at full speed.
The other side of the ball is just as vital, however, as the Wolverines figure to use their potent ground game to control the clock and keep Penix and Co. off the field. RB Blake Corum leads the country with 25 rushing TDs and added his first receiving score of the campaign last week. Keeping him in check will be the top priority for LB Edefuan Ulofoshio and the rest of the Huskies’ front. SS Dominique Hampton might have to provide backup for them, which could create openings for Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy and WR Roman Wilson to exploit through the air.
veryGood! (7636)
Related
- 2 weeks after Peanut the Squirrel's euthanasia, owner is seeking answers, justice
- Where the stage is littered with glitter: The top 10 acts of Eurovision 2023
- Selena Gomez’s Effortless Bronzer Technique Makes Getting Ready So Much Easier
- 'Wait Wait' for April 22, 2023: With Not My Job guest 'Weird Al' Yankovic
- Man charged with murder in fatal shooting of 2 workers at Chicago’s Navy Pier
- Advice from a recovering workaholic: break free
- Actor Joel Edgerton avoids conflict in real life, but embraces it on-screen
- Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams and Boyfriend Reuben Selby Break Up After 5 Years of Dating
- Homes of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce burglarized, per reports
- An upscale inn rarely changed the communal bathwater. A probe found 3,700 times the standard limit of legionella bacteria.
Ranking
- Is the stock market open on Veterans Day? What to know ahead of the federal holiday
- Meghan McCain Says She Was Encouraged to Take Ozempic After Giving Birth to Daughter Clover
- Toni Morrison's diary entries, early drafts and letters are on display at Princeton
- Can't-miss public media podcasts to listen to in May
- 4 charged in Detroit street shooting that left 2 dead, 5 wounded
- Howie Mandel’s Masked Singer Exit Interview Will Genuinely Make You Laugh
- Kourtney Kardashian's TikTok With Stepson Landon Barker Is a Total Mood
- Your First Look at The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip's Shocking Season 3 Trailer
Recommendation
-
Walmart Planned to Remove Oven Before 19-Year-Old Employee's Death
-
Rooting for a Eurovision singer of the same name
-
She wants fiction writers to step outside their experiences. Even if it's messy
-
Gigi Hadid's Daughter Khai Looks So Grown Up in Adorable New Photo Shared by Yolanda Hadid
-
New Pentagon report on UFOs includes hundreds of new incidents but no evidence of aliens
-
Jerry Springer, talk show host and former Cincinnati mayor, dies at 79
-
'Sunshine' centers on a life-changing summer for author Jarrett J. Krosoczka
-
Comic Roy Wood Jr. just might be the host 'The Daily Show' (and late night TV) need