Michigan football winners and losers vs. Minnesota: Wideouts MIA, Mullings saves day again

Posted by Admin September 30, 2024 Football

Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia breaks down the winners and losers for Michigan football in the Wolverines’ 27-24 over Minnesota in the battle for the Little Brown Jug on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor:

Winners

RB Kalel Mullings

Perhaps this section should have a permanent spot for the senior running back. It began symbolically, as the senior ball carrier got his first career start on offense (he started a game at linebacker in 2022 vs. Colorado State), then turned into “The Mullings Show” once again. Mullings, who accounted for seven of U-M’s 15 first downs on the afternoon, finished with 24 rushes for 111 yards (4.6 yards per carry) and two TDs, while all other ball carriers combined for 19 carries for 44 yards. In case that wasn’t enough, he recovered the final onside kick to seal the game after Minnesota was called offsides on the first attempt it recovered. Per Pro Football Focus, Mullings forced a season-high eight missed tackles and averaged 3.7 yards per rush after contact.

DT Mason Graham

Sure, Graham was flagged for illegal hands to the face (a questionable call) on a pivotal fourth down late in the game but as the projected first round NFL selection said: “That’s the cost of doing business.” He clearly wasn’t bothered because, for the rest of the afternoon, business was boomin‘. Graham started his day with a pair of tackles in the run game on the opening drive of the first quarter, then really got going in the second quarter when he set the right guard up on a pass rush, hit him with a swim move and swallowed Max Brosmer for a 10-yard sack on third-and-11 to force a punt. But the junior wasn’t done. With Minnesota driving by midfield late in the first half, Graham came away with another sack for a loss of seven yards for his second sack on the day. Graham, who earned PFF’s fourth best grade (67) among U-M defenders, added a pass breakup late in the fourth quarter.

K Dominic Zvada

On a rainy day, when one team missed a kick and another banged two attempts through the uprights, it’s only right to acknowledge kicker Dominic Zvada as the game-changing force that he is. It didn’t look like it was all that pivotal at the time. After U-M got out to a 21-3 lead, and he made point after attempts on all three touchdowns, Zvada knocked home a 53-yard field goal in the middle of the third quarter to not only extend the Wolverines’ lead back to three scores, but set a Michigan record of field goals of at least 50 yards (4) in a single season before the end of September. The Arkansas State transfer wasn’t quite finished; he calmly knocked home a 35-yard attempt with 4:33 to play to extend Michigan’s lead back to 10, which proved to be the difference.

Losers

LOOKING AHEAD: What we learned vs. Minnesota, what to watch at Washington

Wide receivers

Kendrick Bell caught a 16-yard dig route on first-and-20 late in the third quarter, the deepest pass completed in quarterback Alex Orji’s U-M career. He also caught an eight-yard pass on U-M’s opening drive of the second half (though it was on third-and-9 and U-M had to try a risky fourth-down attempt in its own territory to convert). Meanwhile, Tyler Morris caught an 11-yard touchdown on a play-action pass, on a wiiiiide-open play. Other than that, the U-M wideouts did not have a positive yard; Fredrick Moore had one end-around which lost 2 yards. Four touches for 33 yards is not enough out of an entire skill position group. There were nice plays made by Peyton O’Leary and C.J. Charleston in the run game as well, but somebody not named Colston Loveland has to step up as a pass catcher. A U-M tight end has led the team in receiving each of the first five games, which does not seem to be a recipe for long-term success. Per PFF, the three lowest graded players on offense were wideouts Bell (53.1), Charleston (49.6) and Moore (41.1)

RB Donovan Edwards

Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell did his best to find ways to scheme open Donovan Edwards. But the senior running back was not able to break any major plays. Edwards, who has now moved into a secondary role, finished with nine runs for 34 yards (3.8 yards per attempt) and had two receptions which netted just 1 yard, but even that was somewhat negated by a hold elsewhere. Edwards, who converted two first downs on 11 touches, had just one carry go for more than 6 yards on the afternoon.

QB Alex Orji

U-M managed just 164 yards of offense on the final 11 drives, and other than a TD on its opening 79-yard drive, found the end zone only when the defense and special teams gifted it short fields inside the red zone. And that failure to more the ball falls on Orji, who completed 10 of 18 passes for 86 yards, one touchdown and one interception. For the first time in his career, he completed a pass with at least 10 air yards (going 2-for-7 on such attempts). But he was 2-for-6 when under pressure, including the interception, and was 3-for-5 for 14 yards when he was blitzed. The interception was particularly brutal as he could’ve hit Loveland on time and on target for a 25-yard gain or, better yet, made it to the back side of his progression for a walk-in touchdown for Edwards. Instead, he lofted a ball over the deep middle of the defense. The junior averaged 4.9 yards per pass attempt and still does not have an “explosive” play in the passing game (defined as 20 or more yards) through two starts.