The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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30 THE WOLVERINE JANUARY 2023 A crazy championship weekend saw two top-four teams — No. 3 TCU and then-No. 4 USC — fall in their re- spective conference title games, to Kan- sas State and Utah, respectively, cre- ating a bit of chaos ahead of Selection Sunday. The Horned Frogs remained at No. 3, but the Trojans' loss allowed Ohio State, which was idle in Week 14, to jump to No. 4. Georgia took care of business against with a 50-30 win versus LSU and re- mained No. 1, while Michigan beat Pur- due 43-22 to lock up the No. 2 seed. New Year's Eve will feature Michigan taking on TCU in the Fiesta Bowl (4 p.m. ET) and Georgia facing Ohio State in the Peach Bowl (8 p.m. ET) with a national title game appearance hanging in the balance. The Maize and Blue are in the College Football Playoff (CFP) for the second straight season and are striving to notch their 12th-ever national championship. Making its first-ever CFP appearance, TCU is 12-1 and hasn't lost a game in regulation this season, with the 31-28 setback to Kansas State coming in over- time. Head coach Sonny Dykes — only the third head coach in the CFP era to guide his team to the playoff in his first season at the helm, joining Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley (2017) and Ohio State's Ryan Day (2019) — was named the Wal- ter Camp National Coach of the Year. TCU senior quarterback Max Dug- gan finished second in Heisman Tro- phy voting and is one of the best deep- ball passers in the nation. He has 34 completions on 70 attempts for 1,245 yards and 18 touchdowns on passes of 20-plus air yards, according to Pro Football Focus. Overall, he's completed 64.9 percent of his tosses for 3,321 yards (16th nationally) with 30 touchdowns (12th) and just 4 interceptions. "I can't tell you what a joy and a pleasure it was to watch him compete in the game [against Kansas State]," Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said. " No t h i n g b u t t re m e n - dous respect for the type of competitor that he is, and it's going to be a huge challenge getting ready for a quarterback like that. All I have seen is just a relent- less competitor, super tal- ented, tremendous effort." Duggan has other tal- ented offensive players around him. Horned Frogs wide receiver Quentin Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 215-pounder, has hauled in 54 catches for 903 yards and 5 touchdowns in 12 games. Meanwhile, junior running back Kendre Miller is 16th in the country with 1,342 rushing yards and sixth with 17 touchdowns. TCU's defense has been much less productive in a conference not known for great play on that side of the ball. On a per-game basis, TCU gives up 25.0 points (tied 57th nationally), 385.1 total yards (74th), 149.5 rushing yards (66th) and 235.6 passing yards (84th). "I see a lot of opportunities for our smash fest to kind of take advantage of that," McCarthy said of what he's seen from TCU. "So that definitely ex- cites me, but at the end of the day, who knows what's gonna happen, and we'll be ready for it." Back in the same position as a year ago, Michigan feels more prepared for what's ahead. "We really weren't shooting for that national championship last year," Mc- Carthy admitted. "It was kind of like beat Ohio State, win a Big Ten champi- onship. But this year, we're shooting for it, and we're gonna go get it." — Clayton Sayfie MICHIGAN FOOTBALL Wolverines Earn No. 2 Seed In College Football Playoff, Set For Showdown With TCU NCAA Team Rankings Comparison U-M TCU Total offense 27th 16th Rushing offense 6th 25th Passing offense 94th 25th Passing yards per completion 50th 23rd Completion percentage 28th 22nd Scoring offense 7th 6th Red zone offense 5th 80th Fewest penalties 9th 27th Total defense 5th 74th Rushing defense 3rd 66th Passing defense 22nd 84th Passes intercepted 29th 15th Scoring defense 5th 57th Red zone defense 30th 76th Team sacks 26th 78th