As the college football season has ended, there is so much to discuss. From the championship game to many of the leaders of the Washington Huskies and Michigan Wolverines leaving, so much has happened this season. Furthermore, the BIG 10 is changing in even more ways than it already has. Luckily for you, we have summarized all these events in a quick, easy way to stay updated!
The first quarter of the Fiesta Bowl, the college championship game, allowed Michigan’s running back, Donovan Edwards (#7), to shine. The junior made the first touchdown of the game in the first five minutes of the quarter. After receiving the hand off from Quarterback JJ McCarthy, Edwards bounced off a tackler and escaped 41 yards into the endzone. Following this Michigan touchdown, Washington had to settle for a field goal due to a missed catch in the endzone. Michigan’s second touchdown in the first quarter was made yet again by Edwards. On 2 & 10, Edwards found a pocket between Michigan’s Colston Loveland and a Washington player and ran 46 yards into the endzone. The score at the end of the first quarter was 14-3.
While Michigan dominated the first quarter, the second was less impressive. Michigan settled for a 32-yard field goal two minutes into the quarter. The first and last Huskie touchdown was made right before the half by wide receiver Jalen Mcmillan (#11), who caught the ball in the endzone. The score was 17-10 at halftime.
In the third quarter Washington made a 45-yard field goal. After a bland second and third quarter, Michigan picked up the pace in the fourth, utilizing their other running back, Blake Corum, to score two more touchdowns. The first touchdown was made about 8 minutes into the quarter. The last touchdown of the game was a Michigan 1-yard rush with about four minutes left in the quarter.
College football allows for constant changes as students are always graduating and leaving the team behind.. This season, both Michigan and Washington are losing valuable players, as well as their head coach. The head coach at UW, Kalen DeBoer, is leaving after two seasons and moving to coach at University of Alabama. DeBoer’s replacement is Jedd Fisch, the former Arizona coach. After six seasons of football and four season ending injuries, quarterback Michael Penix Jr., and four season wide receiver Rome Odunze, are declaring for the NFL draft.
The Wolverines’ quarterback, JJ McCarthy, is also leaving to go pro. McCarthy is only a junior and therefore will not finish college. Running back Blake Corum is graduating this year and will also be declaring for the draft. As previously mentioned, Michigan’s head coach (Jim Harbaugh) of nine years may possibly leave to coach the LA Chargers (future us: well it’s been confirmed Jim’s heading off to LA). However, Harbaugh has yet to announce that he is leaving and many claim he won’t due to this year’s National Champions title giving a boost to his paycheck (perhaps making him the highest paid college football coach). Even so, Harbaugh might be inclined to leave college football due to having been suspended from coaching twice this season.
Even with all of these changes within both teams, there are also changes in the BIG 10 conference, such as adding four more teams. These four teams are PAC-12’s Washington, Oregon, USC, and UCLA. With 18 teams in the BIG 10 (don’t ask them to count), playoffs will have to be completely reconstructed. While this season was 15 games for those who made it all the way to the National Championship, next season will have to be 17. These 17 game seasons pose big problems for teams as the added stress on players bodies will show. This timeline doesn’t give players time to recover from previous games and injuries. The quality of football will decrease as teams struggle to maintain stamina throughout the season.
Whatever happens in the 2024 football season, there is no denying that this year’s season was awesome. Both the Huskies and Wolverines showed brilliant efforts and put in endless time to make it to the top. But in the end Michigan beat everybody. Will this stand next season? While we can’t tell you that, we can tell you it’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine. Go Blue!
