“Improvement week” is what Sherrone Moore preferred to call last week instead of a “bye week” for Michigan. With two weeks to prepare for the Wisconsin Badgers, Michigan didn’t necessarily put its best foot forward in its 24-10 victory on Saturday, but it showed some signs it was able to use the extra week to make some meaningful changes.
After their win over Nebraska in Week 4, many were singing the praises of the Wolverines, particularly the running game. However, Wisconsin entered the week as the nation’s
No. 1 run defense, allowing just 50 yards per game. Michigan managed 175 yards on the ground, but they were hard-earned yards. As such, Michigan found itself relying on the passing attack a bit more to eventually seal the victory.
Two weeks ago, Michigan put on a drop-fest in Lincoln with Channing Goodwin and Semaj Morgan both having a bad case of butterfingers. In the wake of their performance and the bye week, Michigan entered the Wisconsin matchup with a new lineup on offense that featured true freshman Andrew Marsh as one of the starting wideouts.
“He has continued to learn the playbook, learn what he’s supposed to do, he’s continued to make plays,” head coach Sherrone Moore said of Marsh after the win. “We had the opportunity week, and he was a guy that just kept standing out. He kept making plays and when a guy keeps making plays, it’s only fair to give him the opportunity.”
Marsh made the most of his opportunity on Saturday, finishing second on the team with 80 yards on four receptions. We saw Michigan use him both in the screen game and down the field. His best play of the game came in the second quarter on fade down the right sideline, where he made the adjustment to turn around and keep a foot in bounds despite a defender being all over him.
“During the bye week, it was kind of something we talked about — coach kind of told me just to be ready in case I do get the opportunity to go in and make a play,” Marsh said. “My mindset coming into the day was really just that — be ready for anything and just go in and make a play.”
Marsh’s performance is undoubtedly a big development for the offense as it hopes to find a more balanced approach for when it faces tougher defenses in the Big Ten. But his performance was overshadowed a bit by Donaven McCulley. He was quiet in the first half, but ended the day with six receptions for 112 yards and a touchdown. His performance marked the first time a Michigan wide receiver topped the 100-yard mark since Roman Wilson did so against Purdue in 2023.
Coming out of the half, the Wolverines held just a 10-7 lead and were in need of a spark to start putting the Badgers away. That’s when Bryce Underwood started looking McCulley’s direction a bit more, hitting him for gains of 33 and 29 yards on a three-play touchdown drive.
McCulley’s production to this point hadn’t really been anything spectacular, as he entered Saturday with 197 yards this year. But his breakout game on Saturday didn’t seem to be all that much of a surprise to Moore, as he said McCulley is a player that regularly pushes the defensive backs covering him in practice. He also talked about how McCulley has been impressive with his hands so far despite the receiver room as a whole struggling with drops.
“The first thing I said when I came back (from suspension), we really talked about catching the ball away from your body — (McCulley) does that naturally and we continued to emphasize it all throughout the week,” Moore said.
Moore also said he believed Marsh and McCulley played their best games as Wolverines on Saturday. With both receivers taking a step forward, it feels like the Wolverines now have a reliable one-two punch of pass-catchers that can help Underwood has he continues to navigate his way through his freshman season. They’ll be put to the test again next weekend when they travel to USC to take on another top-25 opponent, one that’s surely going to be interested in turning the game into a shootout.
