Plenty of players stood out in Michigan’s win over Michigan State, but these are the four we believe stood out the most and will take home a game ball (along with Paul Bunyan’s trophy) for their efforts:
Michigan’s offense as a whole was pretty bottled up in the first half. Justice Haynes was especially having a hard time trying to find running lanes in his return to action, but things started to open up a bit more in the second half. and he wound up providing the spark that the Wolverines needed to get out of their offensive rut.
Haynes finished the night with 152 total yards, including 64 rushing yards and a touchdown on Michigan’s first series of the second half. Perhaps we’d forgotten a bit how good Michigan’s run game has been at times this year when Haynes has been 100 percent health, and his return to form in the second half was inspiring for what the Wolverines hope to do in the final third of the season. Between big performances from both running backs though over the last two weeks, things are looking up for the offense.
Much like Haynes, the offensive line didn’t have the strongest start in this game. It appeared Michigan State’s defense came in with quite a bit of energy, but as the second half continued on, the Michigan front slowly asserted more and more dominance and was able to push the Spartans around, helping ultimately make for smoother sailing for the offense in the final 30 minutes and helping bulldoze the way for 278 rushing yards.
This marks two weeks in a row the offensive line held its own and helped the Wolverine offense salt away an opponent late in the game. It might not be back to the peak dominance of Michigan’s offensive lines of a few years ago, but the group is getting hot at the right time, which is an encouraging sign for how the rest of the season might go. A big shoutout goes to Blake Frazier as well, who held up well filling in for Evan Link for the second week in a row.
Derrick Moore has slowly been making a bigger and bigger impact for Michigan’s defense as we get into the second half of the season. After recording a sack against Washington last week and looking like the best player on Michigan’s defense, he repeated the effort by recording two sacks and six total tackles.
Even though it took him a little while to get started this year, Moore’s impact has been really noticeable for the Wolverine defense during the second half of the year. By taking this step forward, he’s helped to take some pressure off Jaishawn Barham and the rest of the defensive line, making Michigan’s pass rush better as a whole. The pass rush made life difficult for Aidan Chiles, never letting the talented quarterback settle into any sort of groove. Moore and the line will get some more meaningful reps in the weeks to come before being tested on the big stage again against Ohio State in a few weeks.
Jimmy Rolder was one of a few player’s on Michigan’s defense that had a strong performance against Washington last week, and he carried that momentum right into Saturday’s game against Michigan State. He made an impact right from the first series of the game, recovering a Chiles fumble to set up an eventual Michigan field goal.
Rolder finished with the fumble recovery, plus 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. He added a key pass breakup on fourth down in the fourth quarter as well with Michigan State threatening to make it a one-score game. His impact was even more magnifies considering Cole Sullivan left the game with an injury in the first quarter. The beat has gone on for Michigan’s linebacker group so far this year despite some shuffling of personnel, but Rolder’s breakout in his senior season has been a big reason for the group’s overall success.
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