SEATTLE — The Washington Huskies are facing a somewhat familiar foe and one of the sport's most successful programs in the upcoming College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
The Michigan Wolverines are the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff and dominated defensively en route to a perfect 14-0 record going into Monday night's game at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Here's what fans who haven't followed college football on a national scale this season should know about the Huskies' opponent in the title game.
Overwhelming defense
Michigan allowed the fewest points per game of any college football team at the Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level (10.2). Mike Sainristil is the star of the Wolverines' defense, with five interceptions on the season, three of which were returned for touchdowns.
No team has scored more than 24 points against the Wolverines in a game this season. Washington, however, had the 10th highest-scoring offense in the country in 2023. Monday's game features the ultimate clash of strength against strength.
Jim Harbaugh
The head coach of the Michigan football team is fittingly a former quarterback at the school who has a decorated coaching career at a variety of levels. Harbaugh began his coaching career in 2002 with the then-Oakland Raiders, not long after retiring from his own playing career in the National Football League (NFL).
Harbaugh eventually became the head coach at Stanford University and led the school to an Orange Bowl victory. If Harbaugh's name sounds familiar, that might be because he then went to coach the Seahawks' archrival San Francisco 49ers in 2011.
The 49ers advanced to three NFC Championship Games, and Harbaugh led the team to an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII. Harbaugh later parted ways with the 49ers and returned to his alma mater to coach the Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan is playing in its first national championship game under Harbaugh but has been to the College Football Playoff in each of the last three years.
Sign-stealing controversy
The Wolverines are still under investigation by the NCAA over allegations, over three years including this season, had a staff member do in-person advance scouting against NCAA rules and used video equipment to learn future opponents' play-call signs from the sideline.
The Big Ten suspended Harbaugh for the final three regular-season games for violating the conference's policy on sportsmanship. Harbaugh has denied knowing about any of the alleged sign-stealing activities. Michigan suspended Harbaugh for the first three games of the season amid completely separate allegations of recruiting violations.
Michigan fired an assistant coach in connection to the investigation into the allegations, but that coach told the Associated Press he had no knowledge of any sign-stealing scheme.
UW's future conference rival
College sports underwent a seismic realignment in the past 12 months, with many schools changing conferences in an effort to maximize potential TV revenue.
The Pacific-12 Conference, which once consisted of UW, Washington State University, and many of the most prominent universities in the Western U.S. However, UW and the University of Oregon joined the University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles just before the 2023 season in announcing a move to the Big Ten Conference.
The Big Ten primarily was a midwest-focused conference for decades and included Michigan as well as Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University and several other strong programs. UW and Michigan will now play each other at least once every few years and could match up in the eventual Big Ten Championship Games.
In fact, the Wolverines are scheduled to play at Husky Stadium on October 5, 2024.