Category: College Football Playoffs

College Football Playoff committee agrees on ‘5+7’ format

It appears that we finally have confirmation on the playoff format.

The College Football Playoff committee announced an agreement on the format for the 2024-25 season and beyond.

“This is a very logical adjustment for the College Football Playoff based on the evolution of our conference structures since the board first adopted this new format in September 2022,” said Dr. Mark Keenum, President of Mississippi State University and Chair of the CFP Board of Managers. “I know this change will also be well received by student-athletes, coaches and fans. We all will be pleased to see this new format come to life on the field this postseason.”

The original play for the ‘6+6’ model was officially scrapped once the Pac-12 lost 10 of their 12 members to the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten conferences. Originally the Power Five champions earned an automatic bid with the highest-ranked group of five champions also earning a berth. The remaining spots would be awarded to six at-large bids.

The new format would award the power four champions (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC) with one final automatic bid going to the highest-ranked group of five champion and the remaining seven spots will be at-large bids.

Starting with the 2024 season, the top four conference champions will be ranked No. 1-No. 4 and will each receive first-round byes. The remaining eight teams will face off in the first round of the playoffs with the highest ranking team hosting the game. The winners will move on to face the top four seeds at the hosting team’s stadiums.

‘5+7’ CFP Format:

  • No. 1 vs the winner of No. 8 vs No. 9
  • No. 2 vs the winner of No. 7 vs No. 10
  • No. 3 vs the winner of No. 6 vs No. 11
  • No. 4 vs the winner of No. 5 vs No. 12

The quarterfinals and semifinals will be held in the New Years Six bowl games. The CFP national championship will be a neutral site game.

The best photos from Michigan’s national championship victory over Washington

Some of the best images of the national championship game.

It has been a long time coming for the Michigan Wolverines. They haven’t been college football’s national champions since the days of Charles Woodson and Lloyd Carr. The two helped bring a national title to Ann Arbor in 1997. Now, Jim Harbaugh and Blake Corum can proclaim the same.

Some will view this victory as tainted due to the sign-stealing scandal, but one thing remains the same, Michigan was the best team on the field on this day. After building a 17-10 halftime, as they did against Alabama, the Wolverines were able to dominate the second half. It began with an interception on the first play of the second half.

The big star in the first half of the game was Donovan Edwards, who rushed for two touchdowns. Both of them came from 40+ yards out. In the fourth quarter, star running back Blake Corum was the closer. He scored two touchdowns to put the game out of reach for the Huskies. As the clock reached 0:00, Michigan was staring at a 34-13 win and the realization that they were national champions.

Here are some of the best images of the game:

Watch: Washington gets back in the game with a score before halftime

Michael Penix Jr makes it a one-score game with a touchdown pass in the National Championship game

Early on, it looked like the Michigan Wolverines would run away with the National Championship game. With a 17-3 lead, they looked dominant. However, just before halftime, the Washington Huskies put together a drive of their own, capped by a Michael Penix Jr touchdown pass to Jalen McMillan.

The drive started on the Washington 39-yard line. The drive spanned 11 plays and 61 yards. The Huskies Southpaw started to heat up as he led the offense down the field to get back within striking distance.

The touchdown pass came on 4th down after Michigan failed on a 4th down attempt of their own. With the Huskies getting the ball back after halftime, it could signal a big momentum shift in the game. Penix Jr will look to keep it up in the 2nd half.

Watch: Donovan Edwards breaks free for the game’s first score for Michigan

Donovan Edwards get the Michigan Wolverines on the board with a 41 yard touchdown run.

College football’s National Championship game has begun as the Michigan Wolverines and the Washington Huskies face off.

The No. 1 ranked Wolverines got the ball first and drove down the field for the game’s first touchdown. The scoring drive went a total of 84 yards, mostly on the ground. The drive spanned a total of eight plays, six on the ground. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy completed both of his passes for 18 yards, both to Cornelius Johnson.

Running back Donovan Edwards got loose and took the ball 41 yards for the score.

The play was the first big play of a game that could feature multiple big plays. Michigan leads 7 – 0 after Edwards’ touchdown run.

Washington will need to slow down the running game and explosive plays from the Wolverines.

How to watch the College Football Playoffs National Championship game

Here’s how you can tune in for tonight’s game.

On Monday night we will finally crown the 2023-24 college football national champions when the No. 1 Michigan Wolverines take on the No. 2 Washington Huskies.

The betting line for this game has held steady at (-4.5) in favor of the Wolverines. One team will walk away as the champions while the other will see their perfect season come to an end in the final game.

Both head coaches are seeking their first championship. Jim Harbaugh is in his ninth season with the Wolverines, this is his third straight appearance in the College Football Playoffs. Since the six-game season in 2020, Michigan is 39-3 since the 2-4 campaign.

Kalen DeBoer is in year 2 with the Washington Huskies, in two seasons he has amassed a record of 25-2 and 16-2 in Pac-12 play. Add in the 2021 season and DeBoer has a combined record of 34-5 over the past three seasons. These two head coaches have seen plenty of success in recent memory.

On Monday night from NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, it will all come to a head.

Here’s when you should tune in to see the game:

  • Date: Monday, Jan. 8
  • Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
  • TV Channel: ESPN
  • Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)

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Washington running back Dillon Johnson expected to play

Dillon Johnson, who had to be helped off the field on the final play against Texas, is expected to play against Michigan.

Washington running back Dillon Johnson, who suffered an uncomfortable injury on the final offensive play against Texas in the semifinals and needed to be helped off the field by trainers, is expected to play in Monday’s national championship game, head coach Kalen DeBoer announced on Saturday.

The Huskies running back has dealt with leg injuries for most of the season, either with his knee or foot. Johnson himself confirmed in a media availability that he won’t be 100% against Michigan, but he will be ready to play.

Johnson has been Washington’s best option on the ground by a wide margin this season. He’s rushed for 1,162 yards and 16 touchdowns on 222 carries this season, finishing in the top 25 in the country in rushing yards. He sent his biggest statement against USC with 256 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, gashing a leaky Trojans run defense.

No other Huskies running back surpassed 200 yards for the season, and the entire rest of the team managed just 583 yards on 150 carries.

The curious case of Michael Penix Jr’s draft stock

What can we make of an older, injury-embattled quarterback who has some of the best traits in the entire 2024 quarterback class?

If there’s one appeal for NFL fans to watch college sports, it’s watching the quarterbacks bloom and announce themselves as the future of the sport. The College Football Playoffs have been a proving ground for many top draft picks, from Clemson‘s Trevor Lawrence to Alabama‘s Tua Tagovailoa to LSU‘s Joe Burrow. This year, the story centers around Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., but his argument is a little different than the others mentioned above.

You can’t have a rational discussion on Penix’s prospects at the next level without mentioning his injury history. The 23-year-old suffered four consecutive season-ending injuries at Indiana, including two ACL tears and a joint dislocation in both shoulders. The Washington quarterback has not missed a game over the past two seasons, but the wear-and-tear will lower his ceiling as a first-round candidate.

We’ve also seen this film before, a senior quarterback with a late-career breakout once they’ve developed as a player. Kenny Pickett did this with Pittsburgh. Bo Nix did it at Oregon the past two seasons. In a sport where the entire foundation is that everyone is gaining experience rather than showcasing it, a seasoned player can do some true damage once it all slows down. That especially applies when said quarterback has a receiving room like Rome Odunze, Ja’Lynn Polk, and Jalen McMillan, all of whom have NFL futures.

Penix isn’t your average quarterback who is just better than everyone else because he’s 23. We’re learning more and more about what makes quarterbacks good prospects and good NFL quarterbacks, and the Washington quarterback checks some big boxes.

For one thing, Penix is a wizard within the pocket. No quarterback has exemplified this in the NFL more than Kansas City‘s Patrick Mahomes, but one of the most valuable skills a modern passer can have is avoiding sacks. No one can quite extend plays like the guy on the Chiefs, but avoiding negative plays and turning sacks into throwaways or even completions can save possessions. Penix’s 8.0% pressure-to-sack ratio is the fourth-best among any Power 5 quarterback, a talent on full display against Texas. He’s not particularly speedy or mobile, but he seems to have an almost supernatural sense of how to angle himself away from an oncoming pass rusher to buy an extra second to avoid a big loss.

Over Washington’s past two games, Penix has been pressured on 29 of his 80 dropbacks. He’s only been sacked twice. Longhorns pressured Penix 16 times in Monday’s semifinal and they never got him to the ground. He’s thrown for 1,014 and averaged 8.3 yards per attempt under pressure this season.

Penix is also one of the most precise downfield passers in the nation. PFF awarded him a passing grade above 90 on both intermediate and deep throws, and the site credited him with 40 big-time throws and seven turnover-worthy plays on passes 10 or more yards downfield. He ended the season with a 56.4% completion percentage, an average of 13.6 yards per attempt, 27 touchdowns, and nine interceptions on those passes. Even with the eye test, his downfield passes hum with an easy velocity and he finds tight windows routinely.

Penix’s injury history will likely prevent him from clambering into the upper tier of NFL Draft picks this upcoming season, but there’s a safe argument to make that he has the highest floor of any quarterback prospect in the class. Personally, I think he should be firmly in the mix to be the third or fourth quarterback selected in the draft with LSU’s Jayden Daniels.

It remains to be seen what NFL scouts make of that debate, but one more exceptional game against Michigan could vault him into conversations no one expected at the start of the season.

Michigan vs Washington will be a battle of good vs evil

When Michigan and Washington face off for the college football National Championship, it will be a battle of good versus evil in the minds of a lot of fans.

Football Blue Blood vs the Upstart

Eighteen-time National Champion vs one-time split National Champion

David vs Goliath

Good vs Evil?

American sports fans love a good underdog story. Watching the New England Patriots win yet another Super Bowl is fun, but seeing them fall to the New York Giants was epic. Mike Tyson was everyone’s favorite boxer, but Buster Douglas became a legend after beating him in 1990. Underdog stories are the best kind of stories.

The Michigan Wolverines will meet the Washington Huskies in the college football National Championship game on Jan. 8. Both teams are 14-0 coming into the game, and both have had tremendous seasons. However, the game is a tale of big, bad Michigan taking on a Washington team that few expected to be in this position. So the underdog story is built in. However, it feels like even more than that this year.

By now, every college football fan is aware of the sign-stealing scandal involving the Michigan football team. Staff member Connor Stalions was accused of leading a sign-stealing operation that may go back quite a while. This effort included recording other teams’ sideline signals with cell phones, which is banned by the NCAA. There are also rules in place that forbid sending people to scout opponents in person ahead of games, which Michigan also allegedly did.

As the story broke, and then became mainstream, the Wolverines quickly became the villains in the college football universe. Despite their claims that other teams did it first. Eventually, head coach Jim Harbaugh accepted a three-game suspension over the incident. Michigan moved on with its season, which, of course, led to the Playoff and a trip to the National Championship game appearance, much to the chagrin of a large number of college football fans.

Many fans see Michigan as “cheaters” who don’t deserve a championship, and many are convinced that the NCAA will eventually wipe away their title if they win.

Washington, on the other hand, has loads of goodwill. They’re led by a very likable quarterback in Michael Penix, who leads one of the top ten offenses in the nation. The offense also features a terrific receiver unit, including Rome Odunze, who will likely be a top-15 draft pick soon. They’re a fun team to watch, while Michigan features an offense built around the running game with Blake Corum and defense.

Jan. 8 will be a contrast of styles, and, in the eyes of many, a battle of good vs evil. That is certainly an exaggeration of the highest magnitude, but realistically, it’s how many fans will view it. Michigan appears to be the favorite to win according to the betting lines. Washington, though, will be the favorite in the hearts of most. To those fans, the Huskies are the good guys after all.

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy says ‘about 80 percent’ of college teams steal signs and accuses Ohio State

J.J. McCarthy said the practice is common among college teams and said Ohio State did the same thing to Michigan in 2019-20.

Michigan is getting ready for the national championship next Monday, but the Wolverines can’t outrun the sign-stealing investigation that has hung over their entire season.

After head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for the final three games of the regular season, quarterback J.J. McCarthy downplayed the act on Wednesday during a media session and said it was a common practice.

“I’d say a good number, 80 percent of teams in college football steal signs,” McCarthy said. “We actually had to adapt because (in 2019 and 2020), Ohio State was stealing our signs, which is legal.”

McCarthy said the Wolverines simply needed to make the game an even playing field.

Michigan staff member Connor Stalions, who remained at the center of the investigation and resigned in November, attended the Wolverines’ Rose Bowl victory, according to a social media post from former Michigan player Chase Winovich.

Get more Michigan coverage at Wolverines Wire.