Michigan proves that defense still does win championships

It seemed obvious going into the College Football national championship game that Michigan's offense — and specifically the Wolverines' rushing attack — was going to have its fair share of success.

Michigan entered the CFP final averaging 159 yards per game on the ground, and it featured arguably the best running back in college football in Blake Corum. Heading into Monday night, Corum boasted 25 rushing touchdowns on the season.

As the confetti fell to commemorate Michigan's 34-13 championship win, one of the main takeaways was that the Wolverines' rushing attack did indeed dominate Washington. 

That was thanks to 134 yards and two touchdowns from Corum and 104 yards and two explosive first-quarter touchdowns by his "backup", Donovan Edwards.

Those two will garner many of the headlines after Michigan secured its first national championship since 1997 and those headlines are deserved, but it was Michigan's defense that really won the day in Houston.

Heading into the contest, Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was averaging 332 yards and 2.5 touchdown passes per game. He was the Heisman Trophy runner-up to LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, and one could have easily made the argument that he could have won college football's most prestigious individual honor.

Penix threw 32 touchdowns in the regular season. He notched 319 yards and a touchdown against Oregon in the last-ever Pac-12 Championship game. He then followed that up by going for 430 yards and two touchdowns against Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

That's quite a resume.

Penix was a superstar all season, but against Jesse Minter's Michigan defense in the championship game, Penix was pedestrian — at best.

He completed just 27-of-51 passes for 255 yards and a touchdown. Michigan picked him off twice and allowed him to notch just five yards per completion. For a normally explosive Washington offense, that fact alone clearly had the Huskies shell-shocked. 

Michigan didn't do anything special, but the combination of solid fundamentals, strong tackling and a clamp-down secondary made Penix's life miserable. 

Speaking of clamps,  superstar wideout Rome Odunze was held to just 87 yards on five catches. Before Michigan, he had averaged over 100 yards per game and he boasted five multi-touchdown games.

Jalen McMillan, one of the best slot receivers in the country, did find the end zone in the second quarter. With that said, he was held to just 33 total yards on six catches.

In all, it was a masterclass in defense from Minter and his unit.

There have been a lot of big names creating big headlines for Michigan this season. From Jim Harbaugh to quarterback J.J. McCarthy ... to the aforementioned double-headed monster of Corum and Edwards.

In the end, though, defense truly did win a championship for the Wolverines.