Michigan began their 2024 season as defending national champions, rostering a team with vastly more questions than either of the prior two years. A new head coach, new assistant coaches, new names along the offensive line and considerable uncertainty at quarterback. The intrigue going into Saturday night was sizable and Saturday night responded by being... drowsy? A lethargic, sloppy game saw the Wolverines ultimately emerge with a 20-point win, right in line with the 21-point spread, but not exactly the sort of dominant showing fans were looking for. Lots of warts and lots of mess, a win is a win but questions remain unanswered heading into next week's marquee clash.
As the insider winds predicted in the closing days before the season, Davis Warren started at QB for Michigan and Dom Guidice started at C, which was confirmed in pre-game warmups. Fresno State got the ball first and Michigan's hyped defense looked up to snuff on the first series, quickly putting the Bulldogs in a 3rd & 6 ending in an interception for Zeke Berry. Mikey Keene sailed a throw intended for Chedon James, who got a piece of the ball but created a tip-drill INT for Berry. The young DB secured his first career takeaway and gave Michigan excellent field position.
The new-look offense took the field for the home side and for their first impression, things looked pretty good. Warren's first pass was a quick strike to the sideline to Colston Loveland, which picked up 13 yards and got Michigan to the Fresno 16. A jet sweep to Semaj Morgan got Michigan inside the 10, with an added targeting tacked on the end. That set Michigan up inside the 5, Sherrone Moore inserted Alex Orji into the game, who then went against tendency and threw the ball, dumping it off to Donovan Edwards for a walk-in TD, Orji's first career touchdown. 7-0 Michigan and a very comfortable start.
[Patrick Barron]
Things mostly continued smoothly on the next Fresno State drive. The Bulldogs did pick up a first down after Will Johnson got a bit greedy hunting an INT, jumping a route and missing, creating a chunk play. Michigan got the stop on the next set of downs though, killing the drive with a combined sack from Derrick Moore and Josaiah Stewart. Moore blew by the tackle and flushed Keene into Stewart, who secured the sack. Fresno State punted and all was going to plan.
Michigan gave the first touches to Kalel Mullings on the next drive, who rumbled ahead on two solid runs to nab a 1st down but things quickly fizzled. A swing pass to Semaj Morgan went nowhere, a pitch to Mullings was stuffed, and on 3rd & 10 from the Michigan 40, the Wolverines dialed up another screen that gained just three yards. It's plausible they may have gone on 4th down had the screen picked up enough yards, but it did not and Sherrone Moore surrender punted.
The defense continued doing their job, forcing a quick three-and-out after a beautiful hit from Jyaire Hill and tackle from Rayshaun Benny on a 3rd & short quick pass. Fresno booted it back and Tyler Morris authored a dazzling punt return to get Michigan into Fresno State territory. Davis Warren took the field and wanted his first deep shot, which did not go well. Though Fred Moore was initially open, Warren was a little late getting it out and underthrew the ball, which was intercepted by Fresno's Cam Lockridge.
[Bryan Fuller]
That was the first sign that something may be a bit amiss, but the defense kept doing its job. They again forced a 1st down & out, pressure forcing an overthrow on the decisive 3rd down, and Michigan got the ball back near the end of the first quarter, still leading 7-0. The Maize & Blue couldn't find any offensive rhythm, though. Two quick plays set up 3rd & 0.5 at the Michigan 22. Kirk Campbell looked to bully it forward, but Giudice got hammered 2 yards backwards at the point of the attack, thunking into Kalel Mullings and blunting his momentum. Fresno State stuffed it, and for the first time in what feels like ages, Michigan was completely stoned in short yardage. Blake Corum, no more.
Michigan punted and the defensive struggle ensued. Fresno State had their third 1st down & out of the game, picking up one on a slant but punting after another high throw from Mikey Keene on a 3rd down. Michigan took the ball back but continued to spin their tires in the muck. Warren made a good throw to Peyton O'Leary, which was dropped by the fellow walk-on wideout. After an Edwards rush was stuffed, Warren had no chance to even attempt a 3rd & 11 pass because of a massive protection breakdown. It seemed that Gio El-Hadi and Dom Giudice miscommunicated about a slide on the protection, letting an unblocked rusher up the middle right off the jump. Ezra Christensen wrapped up Warren and sacked him, ending the drive.
Fresno State got the ball with decent field position and quickly drove into Michigan territory. Keene hit Jalen Moss on a fade over Myles Pollard, the seldom seen or heard from DB who rotated into the game at that juncture. A few plays later, Keene had Mac Dalena wide open for a touchdown after beating Will Johnson, but was unable to deliver an accurate ball on 3rd & 8. The Bulldogs were forced to settle for a field goal, trimming the lead to 7-3 with 7:35 to go in the 2nd quarter.
[Fuller]
Michigan worked at a snail's pace on their next drive, gobbling up all the remaining time in the first half in pursuit of points. Of note, Greg Crippen started the drive at center, in relief of the beleaguered Giudice (Giudice would return and play extensively later, to better results). Michigan continued to run into loaded boxes to start the drive before finally finding some rhythm in the passing game, beginning with a nice Warren throw off-balance to Kendrick Bell for a first down. Afterwards, Kalel Mullings got traction on the ground and a mix of Mullings runs with passes to Colston Loveland made this drive Michigan's most consistent of the game to date. Warren completed two passes to Loveland, who carved up the middle of the Fresno State defense, following several strong Mullings runs.
The drive ran out of gas after a jet sweep for Donovan Edwards was blown up for a 2-yard loss. Set behind the sticks, Michigan seemed to have little confidence in their ability to make it up. Alex Orji entered the game at QB and gave it to Mullings for a few yards before Warren returned on 3rd & long. The QB simply dumped it off to Edwards without really scanning the field for other options and Michigan sent out the FG team. Dominic Zvada drilled a 45 yard FG for his first make in a Michigan uniform to make the score 10-3. Fresno State oddly chose not to call timeouts to give themselves an opportunity at a two-minute drill, content to go into halftime down a touchdown after running out the little remaining time after the kickoff.
[AFTER THE JUMP: second half and more]
[Bryan Fuller]
Michigan got the ball coming out of halftime, one spent with considerable grumbling online among the fanbase. Davis Warren stayed in at QB and once again looked for Loveland over and over. He connected with Loveland three times on this drive, as well as a nice slant to Tyler Morris to convert a 3rd & 4. That took some pressure off the run game, which continued to struggle. When they finally got a 10 yard carry for Edwards on one of the Alex Orji plays (he continued to come in to run a play here and there), it was nullified by a holding call on Josh Priebe. Michigan was again set behind the sticks and this time Warren seemed to be somewhat at fault for not making it up, as he targeted a double covered Semaj Morgan rather than a wide open CJ Charleston on a stop route. The missed read appeared to be Fresno State changing their coverage post-snap, showing Cov1 pre-snap and shifting into Cov3, something Warren failed to recognize. His throw for Morgan was incomplete and Michigan opted to surrender on 3rd & 17, giving to Mullings for a couple yards. Zvada came out and nailed a 53-yarder to make it 13-3 Wolverines.
Fresno's first offensive series of the second half started well for Michigan, beginning with a Rayshaun Benny sack. The visitors made it up quickly, though, hitting a chunk gain to Dalena. They continued to find holes over the middle in coverage to get out near midfield before the drive unraveled after a marvelous play by Josaiah Stewart blew up a slip screen and forced a punt. The smarts of the defense don't seem to have gone away.
Michigan started their next drive buried deep in their own territory and began to find some success with the Orji package. The backup QB kept the ball and got 11 yards on the second play of the drive behind a good block from Marlin Klein. Following two solid Edwards runs (maybe the first two good ones all night), Orji gained 11 again on his next keeper. Warren came back out and looked for Tyler Morris deep down the sideline, this time delivering a good ball that Morris seemed to lose sight of, slowing down and killing his own route on what could've been a big time completion. Warren threw the ball away on his next rollout and on 3rd & 10, Michigan badly blew the pass protection, Edwards failing to pick up the blitzer, forcing another Warren throwaway and a punt.
[Fuller]
They'd get the ball back quickly, as Michigan's defense forced a prompt 3 & out, a Jaishawn Barham blitz forcing a throwaway on 3rd & long (a nice Jyaire Hill PBU on 2nd down included in the sequence). Michigan went out on offense and continued to find traction as in the last two drives, before sloppiness undid it. Warren made competent throws to Tyler Morris and Semaj Morgan for first downs, with solid runs by Mullings moving the ball ahead and Michigan trekked into Fresno territory. Alex Orji came on once they crossed the 40, rushing for three yards on first down before taking his second pass attempt on 2nd & 7. Orji rolled and looked for Tyler Morris... and threw the ball directly into the turf. Warren took the field for 3rd down and had Loveland open on a slant, delivering a good ball right into #18's chest, which was a clean drop by the star tight end. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. Dominic Zvada trotted out for his third and most impressive field goal, connecting on a 55-yarder to make it 16-7 Michigan.
The game was now into the 4th quarter and Fresno State needed to get its offense moving if they planned a comeback. That's exactly what they did, all through the passing game. Jimmy Rolder had a thundering TFL on a Malik Sherrod run to begin the drive and that may have been what was needed to convince the Bulldog coaching staff to focus on the pass. On the next play, Keene dropped a dime to Jalen Moss despite strong coverage from Will Johnson. Good coverage, even better pitch and catch. Gain of 28 yards and Fresno was out to midfield. Next play, 16 yard completion on a rollout to Mac Dalena vs. Aamir Hall. Play after that, Keene evaded pressure by scrambling before hitting an open Nathan Acevedo down to the 19, a beautiful sideline catch that was initially ruled incomplete.
Now in the red zone, Michigan would string two solid plays together to set up 3rd & 7, where Wink Martindale showed his aggressiveness. The new DC called a Cover0 blitz, which Keene survived, throwing to Raylen Sharpe short of the sticks. Sharpe caught it at the 12 and made a quick stop and turn on a dime, which shook a very poor tackling effort from Ja'Den McBurrows. With green grass in front of him after the blown tackle, Sharpe ran into the end zone for an easy touchdown. 16-10 Michigan, now a one-score game with 10:06 to go.
[Fuller]
National interest began to turn to Michigan's performance, but that's when the offense put together one of their strongest drives. For the first time all game, Michigan began to impose their will on the ground, the offensive line creating opportunities and Kalel Mullings showing why he is (probably) Michigan's best RB. Donovan Edwards got it started with a pair of runs, before Alex Orji pulled the ball and kept it himself on 3rd & 1 for a 6 yard gain. Mullings then strung together 21, 15, and 6 yard runs, marching the hosts right down the field. Davis Warren's first attempt of the drive came on 2nd & 4 to the 18, a completed pass to Loveland open over the middle, who cut it up and rumbled into the end zone. 23-10 Michigan, a sigh of relief in the Big House. That drive went 75 yards, 57 of them on the ground. That's Sherrone Moore football.
The next drive for Fresno State was an all-time Ref Show drive. On the first play, Michigan appeared to secure yet another tip drill INT after a high Keene pass doinked off the hands of Jalen Moss and was intercepted by a diving Quinten Johnson. Or not, as replay showed that he failed to secure the ball. Nothing wrong with that. The Ref Show ensued on the very next play, as Keene airmailed Moss and threw it right to Makari Paige, who returned the pick to the Fresno State 12. However, it was nullified by one of the softest roughing the passer calls seen in recorded history on TJ Guy. Guy lightly tapped Keene from behind, who flopped like a Wisconsin men's basketball player and drew the flag. To add insult to clownery, another unsportsmanlike foul was applied, though I am not 100% sure what the reason for that was. The TV broadcast seemed to show Jaishawn Barham and a Fresno player "debating" the Bulldog stealing Barham's towel, but I am not sure if that was the foul because it was never clarified and StatBroadcast did not expand on the penalty.
The turnover was thus overturned and 30 yards of penalties were tacked on, turning the Michigan Stadium crowd into a chorus of boos and knocking Michigan a bit off kilter. Two plays later, another personal foul would be called but this time legit, as TJ Guy grabbed Keene from behind and horse collar tackled him. Keene hit Kamron Beachem on the next play and Fresno State was all the way down to the 10 thanks to all the fouls, but then the ball didn't lie. Will Johnson delivered justice by rectifying an off-night with a flashy 90-yard pick six. Johnson jumped a telegraphed route and took it to the house all the way down the sideline. 30-10 Michigan with 3:57 to go and that was pretty much curtains.
[Barron]
Fresno State got one more drive and picked up a couple more first downs, continuing to find soft spots in the defense, but a Josaiah Stewart sack killed the drive and the Bulldogs promptly threw in the towel. They punted with under a minute to go and Michigan kneeled it down to run out the clock. Final score: Michigan 30, Fresno State 10. On paper a comfortable win, but not as dominant nor as pretty as anyone would've wanted.
The final score was rather lopsided but the yardage was quite even. Fresno State gained 247 yards on 58 plays, Michigan gaining 269 yards on 61 plays. Michigan gained 4.4 yards per play, Fresno State gained 4.3. Most discussion will focus on the offensive side of the ball, where Davis Warren seemed to be pretty clearly the QB. Things could change, but Warren took the vast majority of snaps, with Orji being used more as a gadget player to run specific plays, rather than an equally good QB who got his own drives. Pass attempts being 25 to 2 seems to speak an awful lot to me about who will be the QB this season. Given that one of Orji's two attempts was a short target that was thrown directly into the turf, it does not appear that he is ready to be a serious passing QB.
As for Warren, the stat line 15/25 for 118, 1 TD, 1 INT, 4.7 Y/A does not look good. I don't think he was particularly great but I also struggle to name players on the roster who gave him much help on offense. Mullings certainly did and Loveland mostly did, but even Loveland dropped a would-be 1st down on 3rd down that Warren delivered into the bread-basket. By my count, 3 of the 10 incompletions Warren had were drops, a couple were pressure-induced throwaways, and Tyler Morris killed his own route on a decent ball Warren gave him. Pass protection was up and down, the running game was inconsistent, and the receivers weren't making many big plays and occasionally dropping passes they got. Warren needs to improve (especially his post-snap reads) for Michigan to get where they want to go, but also the theory of surviving with Davis Warren at QB rested on the other pieces on this offense being far better than they looked tonight.
[Fuller]
At running back, I thought Kalel Mullings looked very strong in the rushing game and was decisively the better back. Mullings' 15 carries went for 92 yards, while Edwards' 11 carries went for 27 yards. Says a lot. While Loveland was mostly excellent in getting himself open and catching what was thrown to him (8 catches, 87 yards, 1 TD), the WRs left a lot to be desired. Morris, Semaj Morgan, and Kendrick Bell were targeted 12 times, catching the ball only 6 times for a grand total of 34 yards. That's 2.8 Y/A... not going to get it done. It was a questionable roster spot coming into the season and tonight did not allay any concerns.
The offensive line will be a position I'm curious about on UFR, because it is hard to see at the time. Whether issues in the run game were RPS related or issues with blocking, I'm not sure. The run game certainly had much more oomph in the second half, where Michigan's OL seemed to get more push and Mullings was leaned on more heavily. Pass protection was choppy, with a couple glaring mistakes leading to throwaways and sacks. It looked like an OL with 5 new starters (perhaps because it is).
Defensively I don't have much to say. Fresno State's run game was completely throttled as expected, 19 non-sack carries going for 39 yards. The pass game had some success, Keene going 22/36 for 238 (6.6 Y/A), 1 TD but also 2 INT. Michigan forced another interception that didn't count for ~reasons~ and they got consistent pressure, so that's all good. The success Fresno found seemed to be a mix of an off night for Will Johnson (probably not going to happen often) and heavy rotation that you expect in a non-conference game, like the chunk catch over Myles Pollard (not something you expect in big games). As a whole this looked like a very good and talented defense, which it is. Don't think there's much reason for concern here, though I'm sure Brian will be dour about Martindale's unsuccessful Cover 0 blitz.
[Barron]
On special teams, Dominic Zvada was a star of the show, making three field goals including the 55 yard bomb (and another 50+ yarder!). He looked every bit the excellent kicker Michigan thought they had gotten out of the portal when he committed from Arkansas State. Tommy Doman seemed to be himself, albeit with many more punts than he often got last season. Morris broke off the one solid punt return and Kalel Mullings had a couple respectable kick returns. Overall, a solid night for JB Brown's first game as ST Coordinator.
In all, this was a choppy game, but it was a first game. We need to see more from this team to know how to feel about the trajectory of the season and we will definitely see more next weekend. A top tier Texas team comes to town after obliterating Colorado State, boasting a returning QB in Quinn Ewers, a veteran OL, and plenty of talent on both sides of the ball. Tonight Michigan did okay against a pretty good mid-major team. Next week they will face the teeth of a national title contender. They will have to be much better than tonight, but they also may have been holding a few tricks back for the Horns. Only time will tell. That game against Texas is scheduled for Noon EST next Saturday and will be broadcast on Fox.
