College football fans could not help but think of Texas on Monday during the first half of the National Championship Game.
Michigan took a 17-3 lead over Washington early in the second quarter at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The Wolverines crushed the Huskies on the ground with 209 rushing yards in the first half alone. Michigan running back Donovan Edwards accounted for 87 of those with 2 touchdowns on just 2 carries.
Washington, which trailed 17-10 at the half, had only 160 yards of total offense in the first two quarters.
At the end of the first half, Michigan has racked up 209 yards on the ground.
As a whole, Washington has 160 yards on offense.#NationalChampionship https://t.co/u9uekXBdlq pic.twitter.com/WTbCgvrbtN
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) January 9, 2024
Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian was a huge talking point during the Michigan-Washington contest. The first half of the title game had several fans on social media wondering why Sarkisian didn’t run the football more during his team’s semifinal loss to Washington.
I will never forgive Steve Sarkisian for not sticking with the run game in the first half
Texas would be here if he would’ve just kept it simple pic.twitter.com/v0MVq8i4vg
— Jon (@jonvillanueva_) January 9, 2024
Sarkisian looking in the mirror asking his OC why he didn’t just run the ball. pic.twitter.com/88qZEtwvvi
— jagercrombie (@Jertriot) January 9, 2024
The real village idiot here is Steve Sarkisian. How do you average over 8 yards a carry and then decide to throw the ball 45 times against this trash JV team?
— Roll ‘Bama Roll (@rollbamaroll) January 9, 2024
Texas had one of the best rushing offenses in the country during the regular season, averaging 188.4 yards on the ground per game. However, the Longhorns opted to have quarterback Quinn Ewers throw 43 passes with just 24 completions against Washington. Texas had just 28 total carries in the contest despite averaging 6.4 yards per carry. They finished with 3 rushing touchdowns in the 37-31 defeat.
After watching Michigan gash the Washington offensive line on the ground, Sarkisian may be wishing he opted to run more.
