Everything looks different about Saturday’s national championship rematch between the Washington Huskies and Michigan Wolverines. Both teams are led by new head coaches and breaking in new quarterbacks, a second signal caller in Michigan’s case, and have a collection of new key players all over the field.
Both teams still have a few stars from January’s matchup in Houston remaining, with the Wolverines rolling out arguably the nation’s best pair of defensive tackles, Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, with the country’s top cornerback, Will Johnson, leading the back end.
The Huskies have gotten significant production from linebackers Carson Bruener and Alphonzo Tuputala and safety Kamren Fabiculanan. However, due to self-inflicted wounds on Washington’s side, this isn’t a battle of undefeated teams as it was in January.
Jedd Fisch’s team is sitting at 3-2 and coming off a frustrating 21-18 loss to Rutgers, while the No. 10 Wolverines eeked out a 27-24 over Minnesota to move to 4-1 on the season. But despite Michigan’s status in the polls, ESPN’s FPI is giving the Huskies a 54.8 percent chance to upset their Big Ten foes inside Husky Stadium on Saturday.
Washington is bringing a top-10 defense and the No. 21 offense to the game, while Michigan has struggled. The Wolverines rank No. 116 in total offense and No. 43 in total defense, and if Fisch can figure out how to keep the Huskies from hurting themselves, they could come away with a victory on Saturday.