Mike Barrett: All we heard was about Washington offense, not Michigan football defense
HOUSTON — Facing TCU in the 2022 College Football Playoff semifinal was supposed to be just a formality for the seemingly superior Michigan football team.
Yet, once the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl ended, the result was the same as the 2021 College Football Playoff: Quarterback J.J. McCarthy was loitering on the field watching the other team celebrate.
After the game, McCarthy was short and sweet: The team didn’t do enough, but it would be back. He walked off the dais in Phoenix after saying his piece.
His teammates took that to heart. Doubted all the way, picked against at every stage by multiple pundits (such as Pat McAfee), these Wolverines used that as fuel to propel themselves past Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Washington in the national championship game.
“We all knew what kind of team we had, what kind of defense we had,” sixth-year linebacker Michael Barrett said. “We fell short the last couple years and like J.J. said, man, we was gonna be back, Blake Corum was coming back. And all of us had his back. He made that promise we had to go get that for him.”
In the week leading up to the national championship game, the narrative was about the Washington offense led by former Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Though the Huskies were similarly doubted, many of the same pundits who were low on UW suddenly looked at the explosive offense and deemed it to be too much for the Wolverines.
Yes, Washington entered the championship game as the No. 1 offense, but Michigan had the No. 1 defense. The question frequently asked: How were the Wolverines going to stop Penix and receivers Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Ja’Lynn Polk. Another was how the maize and blue would keep stride with an offense that assuredly would score in bunches?
Well, it turned out that the winning score came in the first quarter — on running back Donovan Edwards’ second touchdown scamper. Barrett said that the defense took to heart the challenge in front of it and knew that it had something special — no matter what was thrown against it.
“Everybody always asked us how we were gonna do something to get somebody else man like we’re not the best team and we’re not the best defense in the country,” Barrett said. “How were they gonna move the ball on us was real question. We just came up and just executed, man. We came up, prepared the same way we prepare all week, all year long, man, and just trusting each other man that we’re gonna go out there and execute on all three levels.”
Barrett has played his last game in a winged helmet, but will continue to celebrate. The Wolverines will hold a parade and pep rally in Ann Arbor on Saturday to celebrate the 2023 national championship win.
