The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Washington Huskies 34-13 before an announced crowd of 72,808 at NRG Stadium on Monday to earn the school's first national championship since 1997.

Michigan never trailed in the victory.

"I feel like this has been the perfect happy ending," said running back Donovan Edwards, who averaged an astounding 17.3 yards per carry and finished with 103 yards and two touchdowns.

"A lot of personal success, a lot of personal failures, but our ultimate goal was to win a national championship. ... There's no other feeling than to go through what we have and still come out on top. So perfect story, a lot of adversity -- coach [Jim] Harbaugh's not there for six games -- perfect story."