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Offense notes: Jordan Marshall pushes piles, Bryce Underwood is 'as clean as he's played' in Michigan win over Washington

clayton-sayfieby: Clayton Sayfie10/18/25CSayf23
Jordan Marshall
Michigan Wolverines football running back Jordan Marshall scored a touchdown in a win over Washington. (Photo by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines football dominated the second half in a 24-7 win over Washington Saturday at The Big House, scoring 17 points while playing complementary football by taking advantage of big plays by the defense.

The Wolverines were without junior running back Justice Haynes (abdominal injury), the Big Ten’s leading rusher entering Saturday, and lost junior left tackle Evan Link (left leg) in the first quarter. Yet Michigan still put up 417 yards of offense and was balanced, with 230 coming through the air and 187 on the ground.

Michigan’s offense struggled to sustain drives and put points on the board in the first half, outside of its 7-play, 80-yard touchdown on the third possession, but the Wolverines had three-straight scoring drives in the second half to take control.

“It felt like Michigan football,” head coach Sherrone Moore said of the balance. “[That’s] what it should feel like when you have a win.” It feels like that.”

But Michigan still has a ways to go offensively. The Wolverines stalled out a few times, one of the drives resulting in a missed field goal and another with a turnover on downs after failing to pick up fourth-and-2 from the Washington 6-yard line.

“There are still things you look through, and offensively we’ve got to be able to get those third-and-1s, fourth-and-1s. We’ll go back to the drawing board on that and what we’ve got to do to get better there, because there are going to be games where it’s going to come down to that and we’ve just got to do a better job there.”

Jordan Marshall carries the load

With Haynes down, Michigan turned to sophomore running back Jordan Marshall to carry the load in the run game, and he delivered with a 25-attempt, 133-yard, 1-touchdown performance. The physical runner pushed the pile and picked up extra yardage, averaging 5.3 yards per carry and moving the chains on 7 of his rushes on top of the touchdown.

“I just pride myself in running hard,” Marshall said. “That’s how I practice. That’s how I’m going to play. I’m going to push piles, I’m going to hit people. I’m just going to play hard. That’s what my team asks from me every single play.

“I’m going to give it my best, and I think I did that for not only Justice, who was on the sideline today, but for [Michigan running backs] Coach [Tony] Alford, for our whole room, just to run hard.”

Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood has a unique view, watching the 5-foot-11, 216-pound Cincinnati native after carrying out his fake, and isn’t surprised anymore when he sees the yards after contact.

“It’s getting to the point where it’s expected, handing off the ball and seeing him get wrapped up a little bit. I’m like, ‘Yeah, a couple more yards are coming after that,'” Underwood said with a smile. “It’s just an expectation now, for real.”

The Wolverines’ offense really got going once the defense put them in a great position on the third-quarter interception by sophomore linebacker Cole Sullivan, who returned it to the Washington 14-yard line. On the very next play, Marshall went 14 for a touchdown to put U-M up 14-7. Those were the first seven of 17 unanswered points to conclude the contest.

As a team this week, Michigan stressed cohesion between the offense and defense, and supporting one another, during games.

“This entire week, we talked about sideline motivation,” Underwood said. “Whenever we make a big play on defense, you want to be on the sideline, hear the sideline. That’s what we did and we transferred it on to offense.”

Bryce Underwood brought his best stuff

The 6-foot-4, 228-pound Underwood connected on 21 of his 27 throws for 230 yards and 2 touchdowns, adding 7 rushes for 25 yards while taking 1 sack.

Of Underwood’s 6 incompletions, at least 3 of them were dropped — 1 from each of junior tight end Zack Marshall, junior tight end Deakon Tonielli and junior wide receiver Semaj Morgan. There were very few misses, and Underwood took a lot of the underneath routes and checkdowns that the Washington defense gave him.

“It was as clean as he’s played,” Moore said. “You look at the stats, he was 21 of 27, 70 percent, 2 touchdowns. He continues to take care of the football, which is huge, especially as a true freshman. So, he’s doing everything possible on the field, off the field to reach their potential, and he just continues to do it, and I’m proud of him.”

Underwood had 2 touchdown passes, the first being a 22-yard middle screen to freshman wide receiver Andrew Marsh to put Michigan up 7-0 late in the first quarter. It was so open that Wolverine lead blockers didn’t have anyone to hit.

“For the last few weeks, we’ve been working on the screen play,” Underwood revealed. “When I turned my back, I kind of just smiled because I knew it was a touchdown, because we worked that play to perfection and it came out and worked out.”

Marsh also had a sick one-handed catch later in the game.

“The one-handed catch, I didn’t know he caught it with one hand until after the game,” . It’s amazing.

“We both got here at the same time, which was late-December, early-January. We just worked every single day, have had a connection since then, so it’s just all coming out now.”

Zack Marshall got on the board with his first career touchdown, putting Michigan up 21-7 early in the fourth quarter with a 10-yard reception. He was wide open on the play-action pass, after making the defensive back believe he was going to block.

“A lot of grass,” Marshall said of what he saw while being so wide open. “It was pretty fun. You make it look like a crack, and then you go take a corner out of it. I got attached to the back and I got open. That’s how you draw it up.”

Miscellaneous Michigan football offense notes

• Michigan’s 417 total yards are the fourth-most it’s amassed in a game this season, behind the contests against Central Michigan (616), New Mexico (452) and Wisconsin (445) — all wins. When Michigan has failed to hit the 320-yard mark, it has lost (USC, 316; Oklahoma, 288).

• Michigan’s 4.7 yards per carry are the third-least it’s accumulated in a game and the fewest it’s had in a win.

• The Wolverines turned it over on downs and settled for a field goal on two of their four red-zone trips. U-M has scored touchdowns on 15 of its 24 red-zone opportunities this season.

• Marshall had a career-high 3 receptions and career-best 20 receiving yards. He totaled 154 yards from scrimmage.

• Tonielli didn’t have a catch in his career before this game, but poted 3 for 38 yards in this one.

• Underwood’s 21 completions are a career high. His 78 completion percentage is the highest of his career.