For the second week in a row, the Michigan football team secured a how-did-it-actually-get-to-be-this-close 27-24 win over a Big Ten opponent. A week ago it was USC, but this time it was the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who now fall to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
The Wolverines move to 4-1 on the season and a perfect 2-0 in the Big Ten. And while their conference record may be perfect, how they’ve gotten here has been anything but.
This is now a Michigan team whose offense has been outscored 21-7 and 21-6 in the second halves of their last two games. This isn’t just unsustainable — it’s actively destroying the environment. These games are just going to sit in a landfill forever. Like 15 car batteries stuffed into an old fridge. There is no recycling. There isn’t even any upcycling. Cracker Barrel doesn’t want to have anything to do with this kind of garbage.
There are no dramatic changes coming for the Michigan offense. It is what it is. The defense will attempt to clean up the messes, but sometimes after a long day of work, tidiness tends to wane for even the best of us.
When Michigan Was On Offense
Michigan’s offense produced just 241 yards on Saturday. It’s their lowest yardage total in a game since the COVID season. Before that, you have to go back to 2017 and a 24-10 loss at Wisconsin where the Wolverines managed just 234 total yards.
The last time the Wolverines won with so few yards was the 2011 season when Michigan produced just 184 total yards in a 23-20 Sugar Bowl win over Virginia Tech.
In last week’s win against USC, the Wolverines managed just 12 first downs. It was their lowest total since they had 10 first downs in the 2015 loss to Michigan State. The last time they won with just 12 first downs was 2014. They also didn’t complete a pass for a first down last week for the first time in decades.
Give credit to Michigan for winning the last two weeks, but they’re doing so in ways that almost never happen.
For instance, quarterback Alex Orji threw for just 86 yards in this game, marking just the first time since the 2011 season that the Wolverines have thrown for fewer than 100 yards in back-to-back games. The 118 yards passing combined in the last two weeks is the lowest total in at least the last 25 years.
Michigan is going at it the hard way this year. What they lack in a passing game, they make up for in a predictable, yet sometimes successful running game.
At this point, even Houdini would be like, “Are you sure you want to add another set of handcuffs?”
Orji completed 10-of-18 passes for 86 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was also sacked once. Removing that sack, he only rushed for 24 yards on eight carries. I realize Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore doesn’t want to get Orji hurt, but I don’t think they can win many more games if he’s only rushing for 24 yards per outing.
Orji completed just 2-of-6 passes beyond nine yards downfield. His interception came on a pass 30 yards downfield to tight end Colston Loveland. Loveland was open, and could have been thrown open even more, but the pass was behind its intended target and the defender was able to make a play.
One thing that could help the passing offense is if Orji would look to throw while he is scrambling. To this point, however, he’s been unable to pull the trigger on the move. A scramble drill or two may be just what this passing offense needs to finally hit a deep shot.
The Wolverines have just two pass plays of 30+ yards this season. Only Air Force and Florida Atlantic have fewer. Michigan is one of just three teams without a completion of 40 yards this season (Air Force, Iowa). There are 84 players in the FBS with more 30-yard receptions than Michigan’s team, and at least 100 with more 40-yard receptions.
The Wolverines were 6-of-15 on third downs in this game, but just 2-of-9 on third-and-six or longer. (It would help if the receivers would actually run their routes to the sticks on third-and-long situations.)
The running game was not as successful as it has been in the past, due mainly to the lack of home runs. The long carry of the day was a 27-yard touchdown from Kalel Mullings, who finished the day with 111 yards on 24 carries. Mullings got his first start of the year as Moore and running backs coach Tony Alford decided to stop pretending that Donovan Edwards was RB1.
Edwards finished with 34 yards on nine carries. He did have two catches for a total of one yard. Fifteen of those one yards came after the catch, to give you an idea of how far behind the line of scrimmage he was getting the ball. They tried to incorporate him into the passing game a bit in order to find him some room to hit something long, but it didn’t work.
The offensive line continues to be a vulnerable spot for a defense that might like to create some havoc. Though with the struggles on offense, defenses may choose instead to stay basic and force Michigan to drive it down the field and try to pick up an eventual third and long.
When Michigan Was On Defense
The Wolverine defense can only be asked to do so much, and by the third and fourth quarter, it is becoming too much.
Their best course of action right now would be to form a support group with the Iowa defense. The Hawkeyes have years of experience with this sort of thing. Just knowing that there are other defenses going through similar situations would no doubt make the Wolverines feel better. It’s always good to know that you are not alone, even if it feels like it on Saturdays.
The Wolverines were without two of their top five defensive players, as cornerback Will Johnson and defensive end Josiah Stewart were held out with injuries. Despite their absences, the Michigan defense still got after Gopher quarterback Max Brosmer and also defended the pass pretty well. The longest pass play of the day came on a 44-yard Hail Mary at the end of the half to tight end Nick Kallerup.
Michigan held Minnesota to just 38 yards rushing on 25 attempts. Starter Darius Taylor had 13 carries for 36 yards, with a long of just six yards. He did score twice, however.
The Gophers also used Taylor in the passing game, targeting him 14 times. They clearly saw something in film preparation and used him as a dump-off mechanism throughout the game. He finished with 10 catches for 52 yards. It wasn’t prolific, but it was basically an extension of the running game.
Defensive tackle Mason Graham had two sacks. Linebacker Ernest Hausmann may have played his best game, coming away with nine solo tackles. Nickel back Zeke Berry continues to improve and make plays. He forced a fumble in this one when he took the ball from Minnesota receiver Daniel Jackson inside the Gopher red zone. That turnover led to a three-play, 16-yard touchdown drive.
Cornerback Jyaire Hill had a great interception on the sideline, turning at the last moment to make a catch and get his foot inbounds. It looked like something Will Johnson would do, but Hill didn’t then somehow return it 85 yards for a touchdown.
Linebacker Jaishawn Barham continues to be an enigma. There was a sequence on Minnesota’s final drive of the second quarter that showcased everything we’ve seen from him this season. He began by roughing the quarterback on first down. He then tackled Darius Taylor in the backfield for a loss of one yard. The third play then saw him miss Taylor in the open field, giving up 10 yards and a first down. The drive ended in a field goal to make it 21-3 at the half.
Then came the second half.
The Gophers only had the ball four times, but three of those drives went for touchdowns. Including Minnesota’s last drive of the first half, three of their final five drives of the game went at least 10 plays and at least 75 yards.
Before that, their previous seven drives went for a total of 52 yards and led to zero points.
Is this Michigan defense wearing down during games? Or just playing the most dangerous kind of bend-but-don’t-break defense the law will allow?
The Wolverines have allowed 107 points through five games this season. Of those points, 71 have come in the second half. Does that mean offenses are catching up in the second half, or that the Michigan defense is fading away?
The Michigan Special Teams
Minnesota freshman safety Koi Perich had punt returns of 62 and 20 yards in this one. Both were the two longest punt returns allowed by the Wolverines this season. They did limit Perich to just 26 yards on two kickoff returns.
Place-kicker Dominic Zvada was again great, hitting a 53-yarder in the third quarter and a 35-yarder with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter that turned out to be the game winner. As close as the Wolverines are going to be in games this season, having somebody like Zvada is always going to be an advantage — and they’re going to need every advantage they can get.
Punter Tommy Doman had an okay day, averaging 46.8 yards per punt. He only put one of his five punts inside the 20-yard line, however.
The Wolverines also blocked a punt, which led to a one-play, 11-yard touchdown drive to make it 21-0 midway through the second quarter.
What Does It All Mean?
It means that if you take what the Michigan defense gives you, it just might be enough.
The Gophers couldn’t run the ball, though they tried enough to keep Michigan honest. They did take several checkdowns in the passing game, and even had some first reads to the running back. They weren’t looking for big chunks, they were just looking for enough to get by. And it almost worked.
Even if the Wolverines get out to a good-sized lead, they probably don’t have the offense to extend the lead beyond an opponent’s reach. The Gophers almost came back from a 24-3 deficit. The Trojans did come back from a 14-3 and 20-10 deficit.
The Trojan game was kind of like the Michigan tortoise vs. the USC hare, but this week’s game was the tortoise vs. a slightly faster tortoise. I’ll let you decide who was actually the faster tortoise in this game.
It also means that if the officials hadn’t flagged Minnesota for being offsides on their onside kick attempt at the end of the game, this game could have gotten even darker.
Whether it was the right call or not — and the Big Ten seems to think that it wasn’t, it’s a dangerous situation to be in to allow a game to come down to an onside kick and whatever else that may include immediately after. The fact that it happened is concerning enough. The fact that it was Minnesota who made it happen, however, should be causing the largest amount of concern.
The Gophers are not a very good team. And this game was over at the half. Or at least it should have been. The Wolverines have been able to build leads by taking advantage of mistakes. If there are no further mistakes, however, then those leads begin to vanish.
Michigan now heads off to Washington for a rematch of last year’s national championship game where neither team even remotely resembles what they were a season ago.
The Wolverines have made the most of a few breaks this season. If the Huskies can avoid handing out favors like USC and Minnesota have, they’ve got a pretty good chance of walking away with a win.
But if they can’t protect the football and they don’t tackle adequately, don’t be surprised when Michigan somehow finds a way to win a game that they shouldn’t.
It’s kind of their thing this year.
The Road To The Game
Aug. 31 – Michigan 30 – Fresno State 10 (1-0)
Sept. 7 – Texas 31 – Michigan 12 (1-1)
Sept. 14 – Michigan 28 – Arkansas State 18 (2-1)
Sept. 21 – Michigan 27 – USC 24 (3-1, 1-0)
Sept. 28 – Michigan 27 – Minnesota 24 (4-1, 2-0)
Oct. 5 – at Washington
Oct. 12 – OPEN
Oct. 19 – at Illinois
Oct. 26 – Michigan State
Nov. 2 – Oregon
Nov. 9 – at Indiana
Nov. 16 – OPEN
Nov. 23 – Northwestern
Nov. 30 – at Ohio State
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