Michigan football: What we learned in rivalry win vs. MSU, what to watch vs. No. 1 Oregon

Posted by Admin October 27, 2024 Football

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Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia looks back at Michigan football in Week 9 and its 24-17 win over rival Michigan State and looks ahead to a matchup against the top-ranked team in the nation next Saturday.

Next up for the Wolverines: No. 1 Oregon Ducks

Matchup: Michigan (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) vs. No. 1 Oregon (8-0, 5-0).

Kickoff: 3:30 p.m., Nov. 2; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor

TV/radio: CBS; WXYT-FM (97.1).

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Know the foe

The Wolverines will welcome the new kid on the block to town and they just so happen to be the top-ranked team in the country. No. 1 Oregon will be the third new-look Big Ten team U-M plays this year (the Wolverines are 1-1 with a 27-24 win over USC and 27-17 loss to Washington) but this will without question be the toughest test since Texas.

The Ducks, led by head coach Dan Lanning, are elite on both siders of the ball. The offense is No. 12 in the nation in passing offense (300.0 yards per game), No. 61 in rush (167.1 yards) and is T-No. 24 in scoring (35.0 points per game).

Oregon is led by Heisman trophy candidate quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who has completed 192 of 252 passes (76.2%) for 2,371 yards, 18 touchdowns and five touchdowns. The dual-threat signal caller has also run for 97 yards and five touchdowns. His favorite targets in the air are Tez Johnson, who is one of the elite play-makers in the league with 63 grabs for 638 yards and eight touchdowns and Evan Stewart, who has 28 receptions for 446 yards and three scores.

On the ground, Jordan James is a load. He’s run 136 times for 800 yards (5.9 yards per rush) and eight touchdowns to go with 13 grabs for 90 yards. He’s complemented by Noah Whittington, who has 61 rushes for 270 and two scores on the ground and 14 grabs, 86 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air.

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Oregon is tough to get off the field, at No. 7 in the nation in third-down conversions (50%) and is top-50 in turnover margin (plus three) with eight takeaways and five giveaways.

On the other side of the ball, Oregon is just as stout. Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi’s group is ranked No. 16 pass D (173.8), No. 41 in rush defense (123.5 yards per game) and most importantly No. 10 in scoring (15.6).

Watch for edge Matayo Uiagalelei (brother of Florida State quarterback DJ) with 22 tackles, six for loss and 5½ sacks and defensive back Tysheem Johnson with 36 tackles and two interceptions.

Michigan leads the all-time matchup 3-2, however Oregon is 2-0 this century, including a 39-7 shellacking the last time it came to Ann Arbor in Sept. 2007.

Tony Garcia’s three things we learned

This team still has heart: There was a question posed in last week’s press conference leading into the game, if Michigan had to match Michigan State’s “heart” that it usually brings to this game because they treat it like “their Super Bowl.” Good thing Michigan seemed to care, too. The Wolverines had their most inspired effort of the year (after an earful from head coach Sherrone Moore following a dreadful first quarter) and did all the little things right. For the first time all season, the Wolverines finished a game with no turnovers. They also didn’t commit one infraction on the evening, to boot.

Then, there was the play-calling. Not perfect, to be sure, but to use offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell’s phrase, U-M was finally able to get “the heat off the sheet.” At one moment, Davis Warren threw a pitch to Donovan Edwards who heaved the ball 23 yards to Colston Loveland for a touchdown. At another, Warren found Tyler Morris on a 23-yard flea-flicker, before wide receiver Semaj Morgan took a direct snap on the next play, faked a reverse and got inside Michigan’s 5-yard line. Michigan mixed pass with run, came up with a big fourth down stop and made game-changing plays in the final 30 seconds of the first half, led by a Josaiah Stewart strip sack, to flip the script. U-M wasn’t playing for playoff seeding like in recent years, but it did play to show it had some heart, and that came through loud and clear.

Michigan found its quarterback(s): We will ignore for the time being that Michigan didn’t have a single pass play go more than 15 yards on the day without some sort of trickery (and still one of the two came from a running back) because Warren finally did what his coaching staff has begged of the man at the position: protect the football. The senior finished the day 13 of 19 for 123 yards and a key 10-yard touchdown pass to Loveland in the final minute of the second quarter.

It wasn’t an aerial attack: 15 of his attempts were inside of 10 yards of the line of scrimmage, according to Pro Football Focus, but when he did throw past the sticks he was successful, completing 3 of 4 attempts for 48 yards. Of course, he wasn’t the only quarterback to make an impact. Alex Orji finally had a game as the true change-of-pace threat he was billed as, running six times for a team-high 64 yards. It included a 29-yarder in the third quarter − a drive he finished with a two-yard score − and a pair of first downs in the fourth quarter to get U-M in victory formation. This is the formula for the position moving forward and was reflected in the PFF grades with Orji (91.4) and Warren (77.4) grading out as two of Michigan’s three best offensive players on the day.

Cracks in the foundation: Though the vibes of a rivalry win are tough to match, it wasn’t all roses for the Wolverines. U-M entered play with the No. 9 rushing defense in the nation, yet was gashed on the ground by the Spartans. When not factoring in the 37 yards in sacks (23) and an intentional grounding penalty (14), MSU ran 42 times and amassed 200 yards. That’s nearly five yards per attempt. Nate Carter alone ran 19 times for 118 yards, which included four carries of 11 yards or more.

Notably, 75 rushing yards came on third down, as MSU checked into a handful of rushing plays on third-and-9 or longer and three times converted when running up the middle into the hole Mason Graham had vacated when defensive coordinator Wink Martindale chose to take him out of the dirt and stand him up on the edge. By not consistently getting off the field and allowing 9 of 17 conversions on third and fourth down, U-M lost the time of possession battle 37:05-22:55. It didn’t matter this time, but that’s not a consistent winning formula.