How to Stream the 2024 NCAA College Football National Championship on ESPN
The 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship Game between #1 Michigan and #2 Washington is set. Here's how to watch the event.
After all the controversy and discussion surrounding the selection of the College Football Playoff teams, the final year of the four-team format yielded arguably the best two games of the nine-year CFP era. Next year, the party will expand to 12 teams as the landscape of the sport continues to change.
In the shadows of the San Gabriel mountains, #1 Michigan finally got over the Semifinal hump, and impressively took down #4 Alabama 27-20 in overtime. The Wolverines overcame multiple special teams blunders with a vintage Big 10 performance of controlling the line of scrimmage, pressuring Alabama Quarterback Jalen Milroe and getting a timely stop when they needed to. Next up, they’ll face a completely different offense and quarterback: the No. 2-ranked Washington Huskies, led by Michael Penix Jr. En route to a 37-31 win over #3 Texas, the Heisman finalist threw for 430 passing yards, the second-most ever in a CFP semifinal, behind Joe Burrow's 493 yards in 2019.
You can watch the 2024 National Championship on ESPN with Sling Orange or Sling Blue and Orange subscriptions. Let’s take a quick look at the key matchups between the Wolverines and the Huskies.
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How to Watch the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship on ESPN with Sling TV
The national championship between Michigan and Washington will be broadcast on ESPN, which is available on Sling with a subscription to Sling Orange or Orange + Blue. Keep in mind, you can only watch one stream at a time with Sling Orange, so you won’t be able to watch on multiple devices. Use the link below to subscribe to Sling Orange right now! Here are some other things to watch for in the game.
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The Trenches
One of the biggest takeaways from the Rose Bowl was Michigan’s ability to control the line of scrimmage, especially on defense. The Wolverines racked up five sacks in the first half, and the constant pressure left Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe rattled. Combine that with an excess of bad snaps—and Milroe’s struggles inside the pocket—and the Alabama offense could never stay on schedule, or buy him enough time to find his weapons down field. Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter came into the game with complex twists and delayed pressures, which the Tide struggled to handle early on.
Michigan will now face a quarterback in Michael Penix Jr. who brings a completely different set of challenges. Penix Jr. can read defenses, as well as feel and avoid pressure, all while keeping his eyes downfield to deliver dart after dart with pinpoint accuracy. But will the Washington offensive line hold up and keep Penix off his back? The injury to Huskies bellcow running back Dillon Johnson does not help, as it puts a lot of pressure on Penix and the wide receivers. The O-line did a good job against Texas’ rushers, but this Michigan front brings different challenges, along with more depth courtesy of havoc wreckers Braiden McGregor, Josiah Stewart, Jaylen Harrell, and Derrick Moore, just to name a few.
On the flip side, Michigan’s offensive line did enough to win the game. They were exposed at times, which is going to happen over the course of a game. But when it came down to game-deciding plays, they executed in front of running back Blake Corum. In Washington’s first bout with Oregon, Ducks running back Bucky Irving had a great game, rushing for over 120 yards. In the rematch at the Pac-12 Championship, the Huskies adjusted, limiting the Oregon backs to just 55 yards. Washington has to hunker down and stop the run to have a chance in this game, something the Tide did a serviceable job of before getting worn down. But if Washington can slow down Corum and avoid explosive plays to receivers Roman Wilson and Tyler Morris, they have to feel good about winning this game. No matter the talent, the old cliche of games being won in the trenches should ring true Monday night in Houston.
Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington Wide Receivers
Michael Penix Jr. was a Heisman finalist, and after the Sugar Bowl, there was some clamor about how the award should be given after the Playoff games. Jayden Daniels was a deserving winner based on his record-breaking statistics, but those who didn’t watch Washington this season (it’s ok, East coasters) missed Penix Jr. throwing seed-after-seed to his elite crew of wide receivers. Rome Odunze, Jay’Lynn Polk, and Jalen McMillan all bring different skill sets to the table. Odunze and Polk combined for over 2,600 yards this season, with McMillan racking up 526 yards and four touchdowns in just five games. Looking at Michigan’s opponents this year, they have faced only two 1,000 yard wide receivers: UNLV’s Ricky White and Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. Those two totaled 7 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown, mostly coming from “Maserati Marv”. Penix is coming off a game in which he diced up the Texas defense, who statistically weren’t the best against the pass. Can the Michigan secondary contain this group of receivers, along with TE Jack Westover? We outlined the best way to do that in the section above. Michigan has a great defense, and Minter will need to disguise pressures and coverages to throw Penix out of rhythm.
Coaching Experience
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Let us remember that just two years ago Washington went 4-8 and opened the season with a 13-7 loss against (an admittedly solid) FCS program, Montana. Coincidentally, Washington played Michigan in the Big House that year. But that season, Michael Penix Jr. was dealing with knee injuries while playing quarterback at Indiana, while Kalen DeBoer was the head man at Fresno State. All this is to say, when it comes to big game experience, it’s not close. Jim Harbaugh has been in Super Bowls, College Football Playoffs, and several massive tilts vs Ohio State. The lights should not bother this Michigan team, or the operation. Washington showed in their game against Texas that DeBoer is susceptible to some questionable calls (along with some bad luck). Inside of three minutes in the Texas red zone, the Huskies elected to throw the ball on third-and-10, which stopped the clock, saving Texas from burning their second timeout. Forcing Texas to use their penultimate timeout could have proved valuable, and it did come back to matter on Texas’ final drive of the game. Now, DeBoer did get a hit of bad luck with RB Dillon Johnson getting hurt as the clock was winding down, affording Texas an extra 40-seconds to drive down the field. But the Huskies did what they’ve done all year: they found a way to win a close game. They’ve played eight one-possession games this year, coming out unscathed in all of them. Does the trend continue, or will the clock strike midnight Monday night?
Special Teams
If you watched the Rose Bowl, you know why we’re bringing up this category. The Wolverines had a botched snap on an extra point, another bad snap that forced a missed field goal, plus two muffed punts. One was recovered by Alabama and resulted in a score, and the other was fielded at the 3-yard line, but was recovered by Michigan. Washington had their own special teams struggles, muffing a punt against Texas that resulted in a change of possession and quick score by the Longhorns.
Michigan kicker James Turner has been extremely solid this year, while Washington’s Grady Gross has been nails from 20-29 and 40-49 yards, but has oddly struggled from 30-39 yards. In these high pressure games, fielding punts and making field goals are crucial, momentum-swinging plays.
College Football Playoff National Championship FAQs
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