"Washington, in their last game, really should have beat Rutgers," Klatt said. "Meanwhile, Michigan has eeked out back-to-back three-point wins over USC and Minnesota. They almost blew those leads in both of those games in the second half, and the question becomes, can Michigan continue to win with minimal to no downfield passing?"

Washington and Michigan met with a national championship on the line in a traditional matchup between the Pac-12 and Big Ten that evoked the history of those two conferences.

Michigan is undefeated in their last six games passing for 100 yards or less since 2016, with wins over the Indiana Hoosiers (59 yards passing in 2016), Indiana a second time (58 yards in 2017), the Minnesota Golden Gophers (56 yards in 2021), and Washington Huskies (44 yards in 2021) and Penn State (60 yards in 2023) prior to this season.