Offense notes: Jordan Marshall carries team to win over Purdue, Michigan confident in fixing pass game

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — If there was a drive that served as an indication for how Michigan Wolverines football notched a 21-16 win over Purdue, it would be the team’s third on offense. It lasted two plays, going for 79 yards and a touchdown.

Sophomore running back Jordan Marshall — who was in a starting role with junior Justice Haynes injured — accounted for all 79 yards, with a 25-yard reception on a screen pass and a 54-yard dash to pay dirt to put Michigan up 7-0 in a game it never trailed but was much closer than expected.

Marshall carried the Wolverines to victory, with 185 yards and 3 touchdowns on 25 rush attempts, and the 1 grab for 25 yards. All in all, he registered 210 of the team’s 398 total yards.

“Really, just trust,” Marshall said of how he got the job done, before rebuffing the idea that he was solely responsible for the win.

“I didn’t carry the team. The O-line did. That O-line has played extremely well all year. Whoever is in there, you’ve got three guys in my grade playing. We’ve got freshmen out wide. Really, those guys up front help me play my best, and they do it week-in and week-out … those guys up front, they’re moving guys. When you run behind an O-line like that, again, you can say it’s me, but it’s really not.

“It’s the O-line putting in the work in the trenches, and they don’t get enough credit for what they do, week-in and week-out. They got us 200-and-whatever yards.”

Marshall just keeps Michigan moving forward, with head coach Sherrone Moore dropping an incredible stat.

“He’s had 124 carries [this season], only 1 tackle for loss,” the head man cited. 

Marshall is up to 729 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns on those 124 rushes. He set career bests with 185 yards and 3 scores Saturday night.

On the 5-foot-11, 216-pound Cincinnati native’s third touchdown, which put the Wolverines up 21-10, he somehow emerged from a scrum and powered his way into the end zone from 9 yards out.

“I don’t know,” a laughing Marshall said of how he scored. “[Michigan running backs] Coach [Tony] Alford was like, ‘What happened?’ I was like, ‘I just kept running.’ I was in the pile, [graduate center Greg] Crip[pen] pushed me and then I got in the end zone. Just trying to help this team out however I can.”

With Haynes out, others had to step up when Marshall needed a breather. Michigan turned to junior Bryson Kuzdzal down the stretch, and he delivered with solid ball security on his 4 rushes for 23 yards, one of them a 7-yard dash to move the chains and keep the clock running.

“Another guy that really came in at a crucial moment, Bryson came in there and ran hard, ran physically,” Moore said. “That’s really good, especially in those critical moments and holding on to the football. So, proud of him and what he did today, too.”

Michigan misses opportunities in red zone

Michigan scored on only 2 of its 4 red-zone opportunities prior to kneeling the clock out to secure the victory, with freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood making key mistakes each time. The 6-foot-4, 228-pounder threw a pick to cornerback Hudauri Hines on a third-and-6 play from the Purdue 19-yard line in the second quarter. Late in the third stanza, he fumbled at the 4-yard line on a first-and-goal run, through the end zone for a touchback, giving the Boilermakers the football.

“Overall, I’m glad my team got the win,” Underwood said postgame. “That’s first and foremost. I’ve just got to capitalize on points. A turnover in the red zone, that’s something that we’re preaching not to get into. I’ve got to go back relying on my training, count on my practice and establish that.”

Underwood finished 13-of-22 passing (59 percent) for 145 yards and no touchdowns. The interception was his third of the season and the lost fumble his second.

The Wolverines did hit on a double flea flicker for a 37-yard gain to junior tight end Zack Marshall prior to the Underwood fumble and a few more big plays, including a 20-yard connection between the quarterback and freshman wideout Andrew Marsh.

“It was just taking care of the football,” Moore said of what Underwood had to do better. “He could make every throw and do everything.He made a key throw down, throw in the pocket to Zack Marshall. He threw a trick play to Zack Marshall and a deep [ball] that was in the pocket. He threw a sprint out play to the right and threw a sprint out to the left, so he’s got multiple strengths, but we’ve got to clean up all the other things.

“We’ve got to clean up things to make him [thrive], and then everybody else around him has to execute at a high level too. The spacing has to be there … spacing plus timing equals completions. So, you’ve got to have the spacing too, so it’s not just on Bryce, and we don’t want to put it … we don’t put out the excuse of, oh he’s a freshman or there’s a freshman out there.’ Nobody’s a freshman anymore. We’ve just got to keep getting better.”

Jordan Marshall believes Michigan’s running backs and entire offense can protect for Underwood better, as well.

“I already said something to the guys after, we’ve got to be better in all phases of the game,” he said. “That’s pass protecting to help Bryce and not get those turnovers.

“… I think I ran well, but there’s some stuff in the pass protection I have to clean up, and the room has to clean up. I’m very hard on myself.”

Michigan passed for only 86 yards in a 31-20 win over MSU last weekend, and posted only 145 yards through the air Saturday night. But the Wolverines remain confident the aerial attack can be opened up. Zack Marshall also explained how head coach Barry Odom and Purdue made it challenging.

“You go on the sideline, you look and you’re like, ‘Ah, maybe this angle, this route could’ve been a tiny bit different,” Marshall explained. “Maybe the window was over here instead of over here like we drew it up.’

“Those guys [have a] rolodex of coverages. They played literally every coverage in the book. You don’t really get a beat on teams like that, where their head coach is their defensive play caller. They’re a legit team when trying to trick you.

“They brought a lot of different blitzes. They changed up a lot of different things, so we have to be alert to check plays on the line, be able to feel out who their main blitzers are, who’s going to drop. Just little by little, we’re getting more comfortable playing in kind of very unique situations, and that’s all football is, situational.”

Michigan football miscellaneous offense notes

• Zack Marshall led Michigan with 58 receiving yards, hauling in 3 catches.

• Marsh had 4 grabs for 25 yards on 5 targets. Graduate wideout Donaven McCulley, meanwhile, left the game early and recorded just 1 catch for 5 yards on 3 targets.

• Underwood ran 7 times for 44 yards with a 12-yard long. Four of them went for first downs, including 2 third-down conversions.

• Michigan converted on 6 of its 11 third-down opportunities, compared to 5-of-12 from Purdue.

• That was Marshall’s fourth career game with 100-plus rushing yards and third of the season. Wolverine starting running backs have surpassed the century mark with at least one touchdown in eight of nine games this season, with the lone exception coming against USC, when Haynes went down with an injury in the second quarter.

• Marshall’s 185 rushing yards tie the most by a Wolverine since Donovan Edwards posted the same total against Purdue in the 2022 Big Ten Championship Game. His total is the most by a Michigan player since Edwards rushed for 216 yards against Ohio State the previous week.

• Marshall is the second Wolverine running back to post a three-touchdown game this season, after Haynes did so in week one against New Mexico.

• Marshall’s first-quarter 54-yard touchdown run was his third score of 50 or more yards this season. The play came immediately after he caught a 25-yard pass — the longest reception of his career.

• U-M has now reached 23 rushing touchdowns through nine games this season.

• As a team, the Wolverines rushed for 253 yards, marking their fifth game of 200 or more rushing yards this season. Michigan improved its per-game rushing average with the effort after entering today ranked 11th nationally on the ground (221.8 yards per game).