Those Who Stay Will Be Champions!

We set the records aside last night and had a pair of 14-0 teams battle it out on the field in Houston. This might not have been the pair of thrillers we had in the semifinals last weekend, but it was a heckuva night nonetheless.

We’ll take a closer look at the National Championship and a few other stories in the sports world.

NCAA National Championship

#1 Michigan ^_(15-0) 34 | #2 Washington ^_(14-1) 13

〽️Those who stay will be champions. It was a statement set by Bo Schembechler many years ago when he took over the Michigan football program as head coach and threw the team into a rigorous winter conditioning program. Today, with players declaring for the draft or entering the transfer portal, the statement is still palpable. After a disappointing end to the season last year, those who stayed are now named champions.

👉️ We were a little off on our 31-20 prediction, but Michigan hit one extra field goal than expected and the Washington offense surely could’ve scored one more TD but had some missed opportunities.

🏃 We mentioned the run game would likely be a deciding factor and Michigan set the tone in the first quarter, taking the lead 14-3. The Wolverines rushed for 174 yards in the first quarter and averaged over 19 yards a carry as Donovan Edwards broke out with two long touchdown runs. Blake Corum ended the quarter with a 59-yard run that got Michigan into the redzone. Edwards and Corum each scored a pair of touchdowns, giving Michigan their four big scores for the day.

✈️ Michigan did enough to shut down the normally impressive passing game of the Washington Huskies. Just when Michael Penix Jr. and Co. got things moving and scored a touchdown, halftime came with the score 17-10. The start of the 2nd half wasn’t ideal, as Penix threw an INT on the first play of the 3rd quarter. Michigan held Penix to 255 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions while being 27 of 51 in the air. Only two of Penix’s passes were completed for more than 15 yards, well below the expected output of the Washington offense.

💪 Corum’s two touchdowns would come in the 4th quarter, securing the victors for the Wolverines.

🎥 Check out the highlights right here.

Black Monday

The Monday after the last regular season weekend in the NFL is known as “Black Monday,” and it’s when the coaches you expect to get fired get tossed, and you get some additional surprises here and there. So far, we’ve got five coaching vacancies in the NFL with the Chargers, the Raiders, the Panthers, and now the Commanders and Falcons. The Commanders let Ron Rivera go yesterday, and the Falcons didn’t even let Arthur Smith clean his office out as they let him go at 12:01 am on Monday morning.

This Black Monday has been somewhat anticlimactic as many expected the Saints and the Bears to clean house. Many expect New England will let Bill Belichick go as well, but the Pats were likely never planning to do Bill dirty like that on a Monday morning.

So the question is… who’s going to fill these openings? I don’t think there are any magicians at OC or DC that teams are competing for. Maybe Dan Quinn of the Cowboys would be considered for a defense-heavy roster? Is Jim Harbaugh considering any of these squads? It’s early enough in the week that we likely won’t have much news, so we’ll continue to focus on the first round of the playoffs and coaches will likely start to interview over the next few weeks.

Injury Report

We’ve got injuries across multiple leagues. Let’s take a closer look.

NBA

Ja Morant Out For The Season

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant will miss the remainder of the season with a torn labrum. Morant dislocated his shoulder in practice and had ongoing soreness and instability and underwent an MRI that showed the labral tear. Morant will have season-ending surgery and should fully recover before next season.

Morant missed the first 25 games of the season due to a suspension, and when he returned to the team, Memphis was 6-3 and he averaged 25.1 points, 8.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds.

I guess they’ll at least get a good draft pick.

Haliburton Hamstringed By His Hamstring

I think people use hamstring as a verb, right? Well, what happened to Tyrese Haliburton last night made my own hammies hurt. Haliburton slipped on a drive and basically did a full split in last night’s game vs the Celtics. We’re not sure how severe the injury is yet, but with hamstring pulls, it’s tough to recover fully in less than a month. This looks more like a 6-8 week injury at minimum. We’re not doctors, though!

Even with Haliburton leaving in the 2nd quarter, the Pacers still got the W over the Celtics.

Connor Bedard Out With A Fractured Jaw

Chicago Blackhawks rookie sensation Connor Bedard fractured his jaw Friday night and has been placed on injured reserve. Bedard left in the first period of a 4-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils after a hit by defenseman Brendan Smith.

Bedard likely will miss four to six weeks for his recovery, which seems pretty wild to be coming back from a broken jaw that fast. Gotta love the hockey dudes 💪 .

That will be all for today, but before we finish, we’d like to thank college football for another wonderful season. We’ll see you in 8 months!

GO BLUE!

-The Daily Breakroom