quick thoughts on the game:
Michigan is a team that is improving every single week. On both sides of the ball. Two B1G conference games in a row however it felt like they were in firm control of a game that they should've won by a lot more than they did. On the positive they already have more explosive plays (20+ yards) through 5 games this year than they had all year- by probably double- but they need to convert those into more points.
Giovanni El-Hadi should be back in the starting lineup at LG very soon and that should help boost an OL that is starting to get better and gel. Justice Haynes is an absolute stud. Jordan Marshall is pretty damn good himself. What a RB duo that is. Better RB duo than last years.
Bryce Underwood is improving every single week. They need to make it a point to force feed targets down the field to Donaven McCulley- give him more opportunities to make plays on 50-50 balls down the field. Andrew Marsh HAS to be your other starting WR going forward. Semaj Morgan, Channing Goodwin, and Kendrick Bell continue to stink up the joint and drop catchable passes. Right now Michigan literally only has 2 WR's that are scholarship level and that's McCulley and Marsh.
TE's need to get healthy. Marlin Klein still isn't close to 100% and Hogan Hansen missed another game. This is starting to get concerning. These are both really good TE's and the offense is so much better with multiple TE sets with these two because as mentioned previously- there are literally only 2 scholarship worthy level WR's on the entire roster.
Defense was god awful on that first opening drive. After that they played well. Jyaire Hill needs to hit the bench and Jayden Sanders needs to start over him. Hill at this point is what he is- a dumb football player who bites on every double move- gets his hands on the football but can't make interceptions- and is WAY too grabby/handsy and gets called for DPI's or holdings way too much- and he got away with a pretty obvious DPI today. Was great seeing Rod Moore back out there flying around making plays. Secondary will go up another notch with Moore back at free safety and Jyaire Hill on the bench and Jayden Sanders at CB.
Oh and Jimmy Rolder starting over Cole Sullivan makes absolutely zero sense. Rolder is highly mediocre. Sullivan is a star in the making.