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Michigan 13, Ohio State 10

I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I underestimated Michigan again. I really should know better by now when it comes to the Ohio State game, but I just thought the #2 team that was 10-1 going into The Game would be good enough to beat the 6-5 team with no hope of a Big Ten Championship, no hope of a playoff, and a barely achieved realization of bowl eligibility. The 6-5 team was missing its best offensive player (Colston Loveland) and best defensive player (Will Johnson), not to mention a great senior safety (Rod Moore) who sealed a former iteration of The Game with an interception. By the day of the game, it was a 19.5-point spread and the only people picking Michigan were homer TV personalities like Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard.

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Preview: Michigan vs. Ohio State

RUSH OFFENSE vs. OHIO STATE RUSH DEFENSE
Michigan had a solid rushing effort last week against Northwestern and still ranks just #71 nationally (159.6 yards/game) and #62 in yards per carry (4.47). Kalel Mullings (12 carries, 92 yards, 3 touchdowns against Northwestern) is now up to 11 scores on the year, while Donovan Edwards (10 carries, 65 yards, 1 TD last week) had his second-highest rushing average of the year. Backup quarterback Alex Orji has 50 carries for 228 yards and 1 touchdown this year, but has two DNPs in the past five weeks, including against Northwestern. I would think Orji would get a few snaps just to give Davis Warren a breather from what will probably be a tough day of avoiding the pass rush, but maybe not. Meanwhile, Ohio State is #3 in rush defense (90 yards allowed/game) and yards allowed per carry (2.7). They have allowed more than 3.75 yards/carry to just two teams, Iowa and #1 Oregon. Junior LB Sonny Styles (6’4″, 235) leads the team with 71 tackles, followed by senior LB Cody Simon (6’2″, 235) with 65. Senior DT Tyleik Williams (6’3″, 327) is a force in the middle of the defense with 25 tackles and 5 tackles for loss, and senior DE J.T. Tuimoloau (6’5″, 269) leads the team with 11 TFL. Northwestern did a good job of stopping the run in the first half last week, but they ran out of steam in the second half and gave up. I don’t think Ohio State is going to do that this year.
Advantage: Ohio State

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2025 Offensive Recruiting Update: November 27, 2024

With National Signing Day looming in early December – and lots of recruiting movement – I wanted to catch up on some of the most recent happenings as Michigan tries to fill out its 2025 recruiting class.

QUARTERBACK

COMMIT: Belleville (MI) Belleville quarterback Bryce Underwood committed to Michigan (LINK). It seems as if Fort Myers (FL) Bishop Verot quarterback Carter Smith at least suspected that was going to happen, and he decommitted beforehand; Smith recently committed to Wisconsin and will be a Badger instead, perhaps with eyes on getting a bit of revenge against the Wolverines down the road.

KEEP AN EYE ON: Michigan will also be looking to add a quarterback through the transfer portal, and USC transfer Miller Moss has been rumored to be a possible candidate.

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2024 Ex-Wolverine Updates: Week 13

Here’s a roundup of the former Michigan player, former commits, and former coaches (or players-turned-coaches). NOTE: I will not regularly post updates about offensive linemen since stats are minimal and just posting PFF grades is kind of boring, but I did this week just to show who’s playing where and what their opening day role was.

FORMER PLAYERS

WR Andrel Anthony (Oklahoma): Anthony has not played since week one due to an injury.

LB Jeremiah Beasley (Missouri): Beasley made 2 tackles in a 39-20 win over Mississippi State.

QB Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State): Bowman did not play in a 56-48 loss to Texas Tech.

LB Semaj Bridgeman (Michigan State): Bridgeman has not recorded any stats yet this year for MSU.

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Michigan 50, Northwestern 6

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.

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