Offense notes: Michigan turns the ball over five times in win for first time since 2010

CHICAGO — For the first time since 2010, Michigan Wolverines football turned the ball over 5 times and won, beating Northwestern with a walk-off field goal by senior Dominic Zvada. The Maize and Blue actually did so in back-to-back victories over Illinois (67-65) and Purdue (27-16) that year.

Freshman wide receiver Andrew Marsh fumbled on an end-around in the second quarter, junior Semaj Morgan lost the ball on a punt return in the third, freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood threw 2 picks and had a handoff exchange with junior running back Bryson Kuzdzal go wrong on a fourth-down read-option.

“Just got a lot of things to work on, watch back on film to see where I went wrong at,” Underwood said of his costly turnovers. “But, overall, just coming back next week, being better and not making some mistakes.”

Michigan put up 496 yards of total offense — 280 passing, 216 rushing — but couldn’t get out of its own way.

“We’ve got to fix it, but that’s something that hasn’t been a huge piece to our game,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said of the turnovers. “So, we’ve got to just clean that up right now, and that’s decision making … and continue to do that as we go through practice, giving those hard, hard looks, doing those things to help our guys make those decisions, not fumbling the ball on the punt return.

“The people that feel the worst about those turnovers are the guys that had them. We’ll talk to them, we’ll continue to coach it, but again, the win is what we’re really proud about.”

But still, after three-consecutive turnovers in the fourth, Underwood led the Maize and Blue on an 11-play, 50-yard march to set up the game-winning, 34-yard kick by Zvada.

“They’re a resilient group,” Moore said of his Wolverines. “That’s how it is. They’re just resilient. We try to put them in hard situations, but I’d like to credit their families, their upbringing, how they’ve been brought up. The situations we put them … because they just never flinched, and that was awesome to see.”

The Wolverines’ resilience shined through in a number of ways.

“Just finish the game, find a way to win,” Underwood said of Michigan’s mentality. “That was the main message, main goal for the end of the game.”

Underwood finished 21-of-32 passing for a career-high 280 yards and the 2 interceptions. He rushed 9 times for 30 yards and a score, taking 3 sacks.

Andrew Marsh helps save the day

The 6-foot-0, 190-pound Marsh put together a performance for the ages, hauling in 12 catches for 189 yards. Of Michigan’s 32 passes, Marsh was the target 15 times.

“Just did what we thought,” the Michigan head coach said of Marsh. “I didn’t know he’d have 12 for 189 … didn’t think it’d be 12 for 189. I thought he’d have a good day just because of how he practices, how he prepares, but he’s just taking that next step as that playmaker that we want, and we want to see on the outside lanes.

“Bryce had the turnovers, but there are some throws in there, some incredible plays that he’s making. The throw he made down to Andrew on the right side was a dime. It was a dot, and there are so many positive things to reflect on with this young group. You talk about … we’ve got 6 freshmen starting, redshirt freshmen or freshmen starting. It’s wild. It’s an unbelievable ride.”

The biggest play came on Michigan’s final drive that led to the field goal — third-and-10 from the Wolverines’ own 37-yard line. With timeouts remaining, it wasn’t necessarily do-or-die, but the chances of winning would’ve gone down significantly if U-M didn’t move the chains.

Underwood looked left and found Marsh along the left sideline. He made an incredible effort and caught the ball, getting his feet down and surviving the ground for a 21-yard gain to the Northwestern 42-yard line, putting the Maize and Blue near the edge of field goal range.

“It felt great,” Marsh said of his big play. “Really just happy Bryce gave me a chance to go catch it. Really just had to make something happen.”

“I didn’t see the catch until I looked up [at the video board],” Underwood said with a smile. “When I saw his first foot down, I knew it was a catch.”

Moore gave Marsh a game ball for his huge performance.

“It means a lot to me,” the Michigan wideout said. “This is actually my first true game ball, so it actually means a lot to me to be able to come out here and make plays for the team.”

Marsh is now easily Michigan’s leading receiver on the season, after entering the day second in both catches and yards. He’s hauled in 37 grabs for 565 yards and 2 scores.

Bryson Kuzdzal steps up

Michigan was short-handed without junior running back Justice Haynes, and sophomore back Jordan Marshall knew he’d have to carry a heavy workload. The Wolverines’ ground game wasn’t all that effective early on, but Marshall broke a 65-yarder — his fifth 50-plus yard rush on the season — that led to a 9-yard touchdown run from Underwood on the next snap in the rthird quarter, putting the Wolverines up 14-6.

Marshall ran 19 times for 142 yards and 2 scores, posting his fourth-consecutive 100-yard rushing day. He went down with what appeared to be a right hand injury in the fourth quarter, though, and Kuzdzal had to step in. He rushed 15 times for 53 yards, including 18 yards on the Wolverines’ final drive to win the game.

“I think that’s just the belief that comes with being a Michigan running back,” Kuzdzal said. “Justice goes down, Jordan steps up. Jordan goes down, I step up. That’s just what we do. That’s the standard for the room.”

“To come out and run so fast, run so physical, it was awesome to see, and you could see him turning the corner these past couple of weeks,” Moore said. “And we really needed him. We had full faith that he’d go out there and compete in a big way.”

Marshall got X-rays after the game, and Moore said the results were positive.

The Ada, Mich., native played a role in the last game against Purdue, but these were even bigger moments.

“My phone’s blowing up,” Kuzdzal said with a smile. “I haven’t even checked it yet, but I’ll get to it on the plane.”

That’ll be on a “happy flight” home to Ann Arbor, Moore said.

Miscellaneous Michigan football notes

• This was the first time Michigan turned the ball over 5 times in a game since a 26-19 loss to South Carolina in the Jan. 1, 2018 Outback Bowl.

• U-M has racked up 49 plays of 20-plus yards on offense this season, including seven in today’s contest.

• Michigan has 27 rushing touchdowns on the season.

• The Wolverines had 5 negative plays on offense, after entering the game averaging 3.7 per game.

• Marshall made his fourth career start (third this season) in the backfield and put forth the 11th different 100-yard rushing performance by a Wolverine this season. It was Marshall’s fourth 100-yard outing this year and his third straight (133 yards, 185 yards at Michigan State, vs. Purdue).

• Both Marshall and Haynes have 4 runs of 50-plus yards this season.

• Michigan’s offense put up 496 total yards, the second most it’s had in a contest this season. The most was 616 in a 63-3 win over Central Michigan.

• That was the first time Michigan posted 496 total yards against a Power Four opponent since a 51-45 loss to TCU Dec. 31, 2022.

• Marsh is the first U-M freshman-eligible wide receiver to record multiple 100-yard performances since 2009 (Roy Roundtree, redshirt freshman).

• Marsh’s 12 catches and 189 yards are single-game records among Michigan freshmen (since at least 1979).

• Marsh’s 189-yard total is tied for the sixth-most receiving yards in a game in U-M history and most since Bryalon Edwards posted the same total in a 2004 matchup against Michigan State. His 12 receptions tie three other Wolverine pass catchers (Brad Myers, 1958; Tai Streets, 1996; Edwards, 2004) for fifth-most in program history.

• Junior tight end Deakon Tonielli notched his first career start.