Game balls from Michigan's 31-20 win at Michigan State

EAST LANSING – The Michigan Wolverines moved to 6-2 (4-1 Big Ten) on the season with a 31-20 win over the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday night in primetime, grabbing their fourth-straight win in the series.

There were a handful of players on the Michigan sideline who did their part in the Week 9 outing. Here are the game ball picks for this week, with plenty of praise to give out.

Senior linebacker Jimmy Rolder

Jimmy Rolder is an ascending player for the Michigan defense and had the best game of his career against the Spartans, recording 10 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, a sack, a pass defended and a quarterback hit. He was a major part in stuffing two fourth downs that sucked the life out of the MSU faithful and was all over the place on Saturday night. For a group that lost sophomore Cole Sullivan in the game due to an upper-body injury, Rolder stepped up and led the team in tackles and set a physical tone against an MSU team that had trouble moving the ball for most of the night.

Junior running back Justice Haynes

Michigan got its star tailback back in the lineup on Saturday night, and while he looked a bit stiff and slow in the first half, Justice Haynes busted out in the final two quarters and finished with 26 carries for 152 yards and 2 touchdowns. He is now up to 857 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season despite missing 1.5 games, and also chipped in with 3 catches for 19 yards in East Lansing.

Junior cornerback Jyaire Hill

Outside of a miscommunication on a 25-yard completion to Nick Marsh, Jyaire Hill played arguably his best game of the season on Saturday night. On the miscue, he appeared to have thought that he had safety help over the top from Jaden Mangham, which ultimately led to a pass down to the 1-yard line. But Marsh’s 6-catch, 75-yard performance was mostly inconsequential and came on 13 targets. Hill was a bit part of that and was stride for stride with him for most the game. He dropped another interception – he must lead the nation in that category – but “Sug” was a big positive in this game.

Sophomore running back Jordan Marshall

Haynes will get all the love, but Michigan also got a second-straight 100-plus yard game from Jordan Marshall, who iced the contest away with a 56-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 31-13 with 2:48 to go. He finished with 15 carries for 110 yards and a touchdown, his fifth of the year.

Michigan honorable mentions

Freshman WR Andrew Marsh: 3 catches, 54 yards, 4 targets

Senior EDGE Derrick Moore: 6 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss