I'm happy for the seniors. FS1 put up a stat box at one point talking about the seniors on Michigan's team and their accomplishments. Over the past 3+ seasons, they have won a national championship, won the Big Ten three times, and gone 3-0 against Ohio State. We also saw senior Tavierre Dunlap score his first career touchdown on senior night at home. We saw Donovan Edwards get in the end zone for just the fourth time this year, which has been a disappointing season relative to expectations. There was Kalel Mullings scoring a career-high 3 touchdowns. We also saw transplanted players like Josaiah Stewart getting 2 sacks, T.J. Guy getting 1 sack, and Aamir Hall getting his first career interception in a Michigan uniform. This year has not gone according to plan overall, but at least senior night went well.
Hit the jump for more.
How did Michigan score 50 points? This unit has been offensively challenged this season. I predicted a 26-10 victory, because I expected Michigan's defense to help out the offense with some short fields. What I didn't expect was for Northwestern's defense to seemingly get their souls crushed by the second half. It looked like the recipe Michigan had used for the past few years, wearing down teams in the second half. The Wolverines could barely move the ball on the ground in the first half, and then Kalel Mullings (12 carries, 92 yards, 3 TD) started ripping off chunks after the intermission. Donovan Edwards (10 carries, 65 yards, 1 TD) had a couple nice runs where he showed his burst. Quarterback Davis Warren had a very efficient but boring day (26/35, 195 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT). The reason it seemed like Michigan dominated, though, was because Northwestern's offense couldn't do anything. Michigan won the time of possession battle, 35:41 to 24:19.
How about that defense? Okay, Northwestern isn't any good because they don't have anyone special, including offensive linemen. The lineman who looks most decent, former Michigan target Caleb Tiernan, got abused by Michigan's edge rushers. Bryce Kirtz is a decent possession guy, and even though A.J. Henning had a few big plays when he was at Michigan, he's averaging fewer than 10 yards/catch at Northwestern. Michigan was just able to swarm whatever the Wildcats threw at them, and the defense allowed just 127 total yards and just 2.6 yards per play. I've seen some people pumping up Wink Martindale for how he has adjusted to the college game over the last 2.5 games or so, but I think Northwestern is just kinda terrible. Michigan did exactly what they should do against a team lacking any special players on offense.
About that broadcast . . . It was nice to see Devin Gardner get to announce his first Michigan game, but Tim Brando was really weak. It was kind of cool that he honored Gardner in a lot of ways by mentioning Gardner's exploits, his number, his toughness, etc., but Brando made a lot of mistakes and generally just didn't seem to add much to the broadcast. I think Gardner is good at analyzing X's and O's, but he was very adamant that Northwestern backup quarterback Ryan Hilinski didn't deserve an intentional grounding penalty that was ruled a safety, and I think that penalty was absolutely warranted.
Injury concerns. Loveland did not come out of the locker room for the second half, and that's concerning, considering he's the only consistent pass receiving target. While he had just 3 catches for 22 yards and 1 touchdown this game, he's clearly Michigan's best offensive player. There was one tackle where he fell hard on his shoulder - the one he injured earlier this season against Arkansas State - and there was another play where he was tackled and fell on his head. He did play after both those plays and even caught a touchdown at the end of the first half, but perhaps one of those plays lingered to the point where he had to be removed. Ohio State and their fierce defense loom next week. The absence of Loveland would significantly impact the offense, and there are rumors that Will Johnson may still be unable to play by next Saturday; Michigan would be missing its best player on both sides of the ball if both those guys miss next week.
What does this mean for Ohio State? Ummmm . . . I'm not expecting a positive result next week. Even with Martindale seemingly improving as a college defensive coordinator, the offense is still a dink-and-dunk passing offense combined with an inconsistent rushing game. It reminds me of one of those situations from 2015 or 2016 where you just can't expect much from the offense against Ohio State, even if the defense plays a very good game.
Bowl eligibility FTW. I was really dreading the possibility of not having a Michigan bowl game to look forward to this year. I had confidence that Michigan would win against Northwestern, but I just didn't want to go all of December without having another team to scout and some anticipation of a few hours of excitement. It's also going to be a great thing for some of these young players to get 15 extra practices. We'll get a glimpse at 2025, too. Even though the transfer portal opens the roster up for an influx of new players, the bowl game could be an opportunity to see someone like Jordan Marshall get more reps, for Marlin Klein to see an increased role, for Mason Curtis and Jo'Ziah Edmond to get more chances, etc.
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