Michigan overhauls team in quest to return to national championship game

When Michigan and Washington arrived at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday, it marked the first time they'd been on the same field since January's national championship game.

Much has changed in six months.

Their big-name coaches, Jim Harbaugh and Kalen DeBoer, have moved on to new homes in Los Angeles and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Their strong-armed quarterbacks, J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr., and workhorse running backs, Blake Corum and Dillon Johnson, are in NFL training camps. Washington even switched conferences.

But as the Wolverines and Huskies prepare for a new season, there is one common motivator fueling both teams — getting back to the expanded 12-team playoff and a possible rematch.

"It's cool," Washington quarterback Carson Bruener said when asked about reuniting with Michigan at Lucas Oil Stadium for the final day of the Big Ten's preseason media blitz. "Unfortunately, we lost (that game) and I was hoping for a win and everyone on the UW side was hoping for a win. We fell short, but that goal is still there."

Just how much of an overhaul has there been in the two programs?

Consider that new Huskies coach Jedd Fisch acknowledged Thursday he was rooting for his old boss, Harbaugh, in the title game. Fisch, hired by Washington after three years as Arizona's coach, worked as Michigan's passing game coordinator in 2015 and '16.

Of course, back then, Fisch couldn't have predicted he'd be here, leading the other team.

"I hope nobody took any pictures of how I was dressed for the national championship game and holds it against me in Seattle," Fisch said, drawing laughter. "My wife and I are very close with Jim and (his wife) Sarah, and I talked to him the day of the game. I talked to him the morning after, and I didn't have any expectation of coaching at Washington."

Now, Fisch finds himself leading a big rebuild of a program record-tying 10 Huskies were drafted in April.

Fisch brought 21 staff members with him from Arizona and added 46 new scholarship players. Bruener, the son of former NFL tight end Mark Bruener, is expected to replace Penix behind center, and with only one returning starter, Fisch knows the odds are stacked against him.

"It's never been done before, and we're excited about that challenge," he said. "We have four players on our team that recorded one start. It's a true reboot, but so is college football. It is a whole lot of new."

First-time head coach Sherrone Moore faces his own daunting challenge in Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines started the offseason with five returning starters, then lost all-conference safety Rod Moore to a torn ACL in spring practice. While the most glaring need is finding someone to replace McCarthy, another pressing concern is finding five new starters on an offensive line that lost its top six players to the NFL.

Still, Moore isn't about to start lowering the expectations at Michigan, which has an FBS-leading 1,004 all-time wins — and certainly not after the Wolverines won their first national championship since 1997. He's challenging his players to repeat the feat.

"We're always hunting regardless of whether people are coming after us or we're coming after them. We're not in the mentality of sitting back and waiting to see what goes on, we're going to attack our process," he said. "I think every year, our goal is to win (the title). When you're at Michigan, that should be your goal every single year."

Thursday won't be the last time these teams meet, either.

They'll square off in a rematch on Oct. 5 in Seattle, a game the Huskies have been anticipating for months.

"I've got that date circled on my calendar, but we can't overlook any opponent," Washington safety Kamryn Fabiculanan said.

With a little luck, Washington and Michigan could come back to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game on Dec. 7. And if they play as well as they did in 2023, perhaps there could be a playoff rematch.

But getting back will be much trickier with new coaches and without the veterans who took them to the title game.

"Team 145 has really done a really good job up to this point in taking the necessary steps to be elite, to do all the things that we set out to do — win the big games, beat our rivals, beat Ohio State, win the Big Ten, go to College Football Playoff and win it," Moore said. "For us, that's something we strive to do."