Michigan Are National Champions! Wolverines Beat Washington 34-13 in ‘Perfect Ending’ to Season After Scandal

The Wolverines won their first NCAA National Championship since 1997 after a 15-0 season

The Michigan Wolverines are national champions!

For the first time since 1997, Michigan won the NCAA National Championship with a 34-13 win on Monday night over the Washington Huskies.

The dominant victory capped off an undefeated season for the Wolverines (15-0) — their first unblemished season since it won its last NCAA National Championship two and a half decades ago.

"I feel like this has been the perfect happy ending," running back Donovan Edwards said after the game, according to ESPN. "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 Harbaugh's not there for six games — perfect story."

Related: Tom Brady Reacts to the Suspension of University of Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh: 'Bet'

Edwards helped Michigan cap off its “perfect happy ending” with two touchdowns Monday night. Starting running back Blake Corum added two more touchdowns on the ground, as the Wolverines ran through Washington’s defense for 303 yards total on the night.

Michigan’s defense, which dominated college football all season long, helped seal the victory with two interceptions against Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the runner up for this year’s Heisman Trophy for best player in college football.

"They're a good team," Penix said afterwards. "We just didn't execute in the moments when we needed to. It's just about executing. I don't feel like they did anything — I feel like we beat ourselves."

Related: Shirtless Tom Brady Celebrates Michigan’s Rose Bowl Win Over Alabama: 'Let’s Go!'

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh called the team’s defense “spectacular” in Monday night’s win.

The national championship victory was a longtime coming for Harbaugh, a former NFL coach who was brought into Ann Arbor, Mich., as the head coach in 2015 with the intention of ending the university’s long national title drought.

A Michigan alumnus and former player, Harbaugh also comes from a family of successful football coaches — from brother John Harbaugh, who defeated Jim and his then-San Francisco 49ers team to win the Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2013, as well as his dad Jack Harbaugh, who won a Division II NCAA National Championship with Western Kentucky in 2002.

"For me personally, I can now sit at the big person's table in the family," Harbaugh said after the game. "They won't keep me over there on the little table anymore. My dad, Jack Harbaugh, won a national championship and my brother won a Super Bowl. It's good to be at the big person's table from now on."

Related: John and Jim Harbaugh: Everything to Know About the Football Coach Brothers

Monday’s long-awaited National Championship win was bittersweet for many Wolverines fans, however.

Michigan found itself at the center of college football’s biggest controversy this season when the NCAA launched an investigation into allegations that the team had been stealing other team’s play-calling signs.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Harbaugh and his players have continuously denied wrongdoing, but he was suspended and barred from coaching the Wolverines for six games at the end of the season. He returned for the Rose Bowl Game, which Michigan won to reach the NCAA National Championship contest Monday night.

"It fueled us," Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham said after the game. "Everything that we've been through, everything they tried to do to us, tried to discredit everything we did this season. Winning this game solidifies we're that team.”

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.