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Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior Writer
The College Football Playoff national championship game between No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington will be a sneak preview of two future Big Ten opponents, as the Huskies will join the 18-team superconference in August, and Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said on Wednesday there’s already plenty of familiarity with their new home.
Washington and Oregon will join the Big Ten in 2024 along with USC and UCLA, which will make the conference the biggest in the country.
“Our staff has a lot of ties and connections, both to the Midwest and the Big Ten, whether it be coaching there in the Big Ten, or just from that region of the country,” DeBoer said when asked on a CFP teleconference about recruiting for the Big Ten. “I think it will be a transition that will be pretty smooth for us that way. We have lot of familiarity with the type of football they play, the different styles of each program.
“We still have to keep our footprint in the West Coast, but we won’t be afraid to venture off and find the right fit, the guys we have contacts with, head coaches, and we’re very familiar recruiting already,” he said. “There’s certainly a lot that we already feel we have in this program that fits well with what can compete well in the Big Ten.”
In 2019, DeBoer was on Indiana‘s staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, where he met quarterback Michael Penix Jr. They helped guide the Hoosiers to an 8-5 record and a berth in the Gator Bowl. IU’s eight wins that season matched their highest win total in 26 seasons, and the Hoosiers ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten in total offense.
In 2020, after DeBoer left IU to become the head coach at Fresno State, Penix Jr. beat Michigan during the COVID-19-ravaged season. He threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the Hoosiers’ 38-21 win against the Wolverines, but he said it won’t be a factor in his preparation or mindset heading into the national title game.
“I don’t remember much, I just remember winning, really,” Penix Jr. said. “It’s a totally different ball game. But I’m always confident in myself and this team and the preparation that our coaches give going into each game.”
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh hasn’t forgotten how good Penix Jr. is.
“He’s a super great player,” Harbaugh said. “My impressions of him when he played at Indiana were the same. Big-time arm talent, tremendous presence in the pocket, sees the field really well. He is so polished. Watching him and his accuracy, his decision-making, timing. He has really just continued to have this tremendous presence of going through progression, feels pressure, will drop it off to a checkdown. Yeah, it’s at an elite level.”
That’s why Harbaugh said he’s thinking “more about the here and now” than playing Washington more regularly as a future conference opponent. The two teams will play again on Oct. 5 this fall in Seattle.
“They’re an outstanding football team,” Harbaugh said, “just a very one-track mind of today, getting our team prepared, get them back moving around, but also schematically onto what Washington does and preliminary plans for putting in our game plan.”
In addition to establishing itself as the best team in the country on Monday night, Washington also has a chance to set the bar for preseason expectations as a member of the Big Ten by knocking off the undefeated conference champs.
“Physically, you get to this point in a playoff, you’re facing the best of the best,” DeBoer said. “Obviously we’ll learn more about that when we step on the football field against them and where we match up as far as being the best in the Big Ten as well.”