EAST LANSING − Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia grades Michigan football after the Wolverines’ 31-20 victory Saturday, Oct. 25, at Spartan Stadium.
Offense: B-
The Wolverines said they could beat the Spartans on the ground and that’s exactly what they did. U-M ran 49 times for 276 yards (5.6 yards per carry) and all four of their touchdowns. Much of it was buoyed by a 56-yard back-breaking run near the end of the game by Jordan Marshall. But even prior to that, Michigan was comfortably over 200 yards. Once again, Justice Haynes was a game changer. He ran 26 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns — he’s had more than 100 yards and a score in every game he’s finished. He started the second half with rushes of 20 and 28 yards, then capped off the first drive with a 5-yard score. On the next drive, he scored from 14 yards out to go up three possessions. Bryce Underwood also added five rushes for 26 yards and the game’s opening score.
Where the offense was not successful: the passing game. Bryce Underwood completed just 8-of-17 passes for a season-low 86 yards and no scores. He had just two passes more than 10 yards down field, a 22-yarder and a 27-yarder, both to Andrew Marsh. After completing 3-of-5 passes to start, he connected on 4-of-12 passes with one more than 5 yards.
“It wasn’t dictated before the game, before the game we wanted to be balanced,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “As we got into the game and the defense started to mold them down, we felt like we just had to milk the clock and get the win. … You’ve got to have selfless people on your team to do that. Team over me, guys.
“That’s what our quarterback is, our receivers are and our defense is.”
Defense: B+
For the most part, the defense was outstanding. Michigan State had 13 drives and more than half (seven) ended in punts. The first possession of the game began with a turnover less than a minute in: Brandyn Hillman hit Aidan Chiles, the ball came out and Jimmy Rolder dove on it before it rolled out of bounds (more on him later). But the two biggest possessions of the night came in the fourth quarter, when MSU had the ball down 11 inside the U-M 30.
First, on fourth-and-3, Rolder broke on a tight end in the flat and made a diving pass break up to force a turnover on downs. On the next series after a Haynes fumble, MSU was back inside U-M’s 30, when Derrick Moore and TJ Metcalf stuffed Chiles on a fourth-and-1 keeper when the Spartans tried to hurry up to the line.
“We take pride in that,” TJ Guy said. “We do that. It’s hard, I know most people it’s third down into tempo it’s fourth down, they snap the ball quick, that’s hard for normal people to do, but we can do that. We handle that, we see that all the time.”
In total it was three turnovers (including two on downs) which matched MSU’s touchdown total, one of which came inconsequentially with seven seconds left. Of all the big players, Rolder was the star of the game with a team-high 10 tackles, two for loss, a sack, fumble recovery and the fourth down pass breakup.
Coaching: C+
Credit to Moore and company for a few things, most notably, for getting up by 17 points in the first place. He said U-M wanted to “milk the clock” after that and trust the defense, but that’s also part of the rub here. In the end, he was right, the defense made the plays so he gets credit. But it should be noted the Spartans hung around for far too long, and twice got deep into Michigan territory with a chance to cut the game to one score with plenty of time left on the clock.
Fortunately, Rolder, Moore and Metcalf made timely plays against a team known for beating itself.
The offensive playcalling also seemed to lack conviction. Perhaps the plan was rooted in the thought if U-M didn’t lose the turnover battle, it would be hard to lose the game. So U-M ran, then ran, then ran some more. It worked by the second half, but a 10-7 lead at the break was rather lackluster and if weren’t for an overturned fumble on a 50-50 offsides call, this game could’ve looked very different.
The real knock, however, was Moore letting the clock run out in the first half. Michigan had the ball on its own 43 with three seconds left, with a timeout. It seemed like a chance to stop the clock, trot out five wide receivers and let Underwood show off his massive arm with a heave. Instead, the clock ran out.
Special teams: C
Kudos to Hudson Hollenbeck, for the best game of his career. The U-M punter in his first season as a starter was on the field six times and netted 288 yards, good for a career best 48-yard average. That was boosted by the best punt of his career, a 67-yarder that pinned MSU on its own 3 and helped U-M continue to lean into its field position.
That was one of two punts of 50 yards or more and the only one that pinned the Spartans inside their own 20.
The struggle in this unit, however, remains the punt return. Semaj Morgan made a major gaffe in the first half, calling for a fair catch inside Michigan’s own 5. Later in the half, there was almost a catastrophe when Channing Goodwin ran into Morgan when he called for a fair catch. In the second half, Morgan fielded yet another punt and had nobody within 10 yards of him, yet he ran east to west instead of getting up field and picked up just one yard. In total, he had two returns for two yards.
Andrew Marsh had just one kick return for a modest 22 yards while Dominic Zvada made his lone chip-shot field goal attempt from 21 yards and all four of his extra points.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football grades vs. MSU: Ground game, defense lead the way in rivalry win
Reporting by Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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