Michigan football quarterback J.J. McCarthy is breathing a deep sigh of relief after helping his team reach the College Football Playoff final. McCarthy led the Wolverines to a 27-20 victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl, sending the Wolverines to the national championship game after failing to win in the semi-finals the last two years.

“It just means everything,” McCarthy said, per On3. “Just think about how far we’ve come, all the hardships that we went through as a team and as a brotherhood. Just being able to do it on this stage. It’s been 26 years since Michigan won in this building, and the second most appearance out of any college in the entire country playing in this game.”

Michigan is now 14-0 and has a chance to win the school's first national championship since 1997. McCarthy led the way for the Wolverines, throwing three touchdown passes in the game with no interceptions. McCarthy went 17-for-27 through the air for 221 yards in the game. His most important throw was arguably a touchdown pass to Roman Wilson late in the fourth quarter, that ended up forcing overtime in the contest. Michigan football made the plays it needed to in the extra period to win.

“We can’t do it without the unity that we have, everything that we went through this entire year made us unbreakable, and in the biggest moments we were going to show up,” McCarthy added.

McCarthy is closing in on 3,000 passing yards this season, as he is about 150 away. He's got one more chance to accomplish that feat, in the national championship game. On the year, McCarthy has thrown for 2,851 yards with 22 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions.

Michigan football and Washington both enter the CFP final undefeated at 14-0. The two teams play for all the marbles on Monday. The game kicks off at 7:30 Eastern time.