ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Few college football programs have ever ascended as quickly as Michigan the past three years, and nobody can better attest to that than Washington quarterback Michael Penix.
I vividly remember the last time Michigan and Penix met on the field. It was during the shortened COVID season and the Wolverines were coming off a shocking home loss to Michigan State.
The 2020 Hoosiers were very good -- the best team Indiana has had in decades. But heading into Michigan’s trip to Bloomington, all anybody talked about was the streak. You know, that Michigan had beaten Indiana 24 times in a row. I wasn’t even alive the last time Indiana beat Michigan in football.
And it wasn’t just 24 in a row, either. It was also 39 of the last 40.
It felt like no matter what happened to the Wolverines, they at least knew they would always beat Indiana.
Until Nov. 7, 2020.
Again, this was a strong Indiana team that went 6-1 in the Big Ten and nearly beat Ohio State in Columbus. It wasn’t so much that Michigan lost. It was how.
The Wolverines got physically dominated. By Indiana. The game was over by halftime, and the Hoosiers ended up winning by 17 points in front of an empty stadium. Penix threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns.
The next week, Michigan got blasted by Wisconsin. Two weeks later, a loss to 0-5 Penn State mercifully brought the 2-4 season to an end.
At that point, Michigan had lost 15 of its last 16 games against Ohio State, was on a 17-year Big Ten title drought, and hadn’t sniffed a playoff appearance.
That’s the Michigan Michael Penix knew at Indiana. It’s not the Michigan he’ll see Monday in Houston.
Since the end of that miserable 2020 season, the Wolverines are on one of the most dominant runs in modern college football history. They’ve won 35 of 36 regular-season games and have a 39-3 record overall.
Michigan’s 17-year Big Ten title drought has become a three-year conference championship streak. Its weakness against Ohio State has been replaced by dominance.
And when they walk into NRG Stadium next week for the national championship game, the Wolverines will do so having just knocked off Nick Saban and the mighty Crimson Tide. At the Rose Bowl, of all places.
Yeah, I’d say this program has come a long way from getting its brakes blown off at an empty stadium in Bloomington.
Even Alabama never went undefeated in consecutive regular seasons. Neither Georgia nor Ohio State has ever made three-straight playoff appearances. Only once has an SEC team been defeated in a playoff semifinal.
The Wolverines have done each one of those things -- all since their last meeting with Penix.
The 23-year-old from Tampa has also come a long way since that dreary November afternoon in 2020.
At some point, the injury-prone lefty who made Indiana games interesting when nothing else was on morphed into a bonafide Heisman Trophy candidate. Penix might not have won the award, but he’s thrown for 9,289 yards, 66 touchdowns, and only 17 interceptions in 27 games since transferring to Washington.
Penix is on the short list of best players in college football and will be a high selection when the NFL draft comes to Detroit in April.
Sure, Washington has great weapons. But it’s Penix and his pinpoint accuracy that make the Huskies tick. He’s the reason they’re 14-0 and heading to the national championship game.
When Penix was throwing for touchdown after touchdown against them three years ago, Michigan fans never could have dreamed they’d one day be facing him with a national championship on the line.
But that’s how far this program has come. There’s just one somewhat familiar hurdle left to clear.
