Urban Meyer explains what gives Washington an edge vs. Michigan in College Football Playoff National Championship Game
No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington will meet in Houston on Monday to determine who will leave as an undefeated national champion. With both teams more than proven, though, Urban Meyer highlighted one way in which the Huskies could catch the Wolverines off balance.
Meyer noted an advantage for Washington ahead of the title game in the College Football Playoff on ‘Urban’s Take’ with Tim May. To him, the Huskies play such a high-energy style with their pass game that the Wolverines could have issues with it since they didn’t see many, if any, teams quite like Washington in the regular season.
“I think it’s the electricity. That’s an electric team right now,” said Meyer.
“I think the Wolverines are good on the back end but they’ve not seen anything like this,” Meyer explained. “You can go through the Big Ten Conference – Ohio State is the closest thing to skill. Ohio State would match up with Washington as far as offensive skill.”
Washington is throwing for right at 350 yards per game of the team’s average yardage total at 473.6 yards.
QB Michael Penix Jr. is connecting on 66.7% of his overall attempts to his highly-productive receiving corps. That has led to 4,648 passing yards and 35 touchdowns from his arm with Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk combining for 152 receptions for 2,675 yards 22 scores. That’s not to mention Jalen McMillan as well with 39 catches for 526 yards and four more touchdowns.
Washington is undoubtedly coming off two of their best performances against Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship and versus Texas in their playoff semifinal. Pair that with Penix Jr.’s play, especially in his latest outing against the Longhorns, and Meyer believes the Huskies can push Michigan to the brink if the championship is close in the fourth quarter.
“The whole package of Washington? Coming at you the way they do? I think they played their best game (in the Sugar Bowl),” Meyer said. “They beat Oregon twice, they won that game (against Texas).
“I think if Penix has a day, this will come down to whoever has the ball at the end of the game.”
Urban Meyer explains what gives Michigan an edge vs. Washington
Urban Meyer watched the College Football Playoff on New Year’s Day like most of America did and he has come to some fascinating conclusions.
Ahead of the national championship, Meyer joined Tim May for Urban’s Take with On3 where he explained his opinion of what gives the Wolverines the edge over Washington heading into the title game.
“I think the front-seven on both sides of the ball – on both sides. It was on display in the last game against Alabama. It was really, really good,” Meyer explained. “I think it all starts and stops with the line of scrimmage. Especially when you start getting into — I used to say talent-equated. That was a term we used all the time. In talent-equated games? Everybody is going to have really good skill.”
“That’s what I see when I watched them play. They’re developed but they’re really, really good players. They’re a well-coached team. They play hard as hell.”