The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 24-10 at the Big House on Saturday and moved to 4-1 on the season.

While Michigan took an early 10-7 lead over the Badgers led by a 43 yard run from Justice Haynes and a 40 yard field goal by Dominic Zvada, through two and a half quarters the offense looked extremely flat and concerning. However, with a little over 5 minutes left to go in the third, the offense finally woke up as Bryce Underwood hit Donaven McCulley for a 33 yard pass that got Michigan down the field and led to his 29 yard touchdown pass to McCulley. Michigan’s passing game continued to improve throughout the final three Michigan offensive drives as Bryce Underwood and the receivers seemed to gain more confidence in themselves and with each other.

The biggest positive from this game was the emergence of two of the wide receivers for Michigan. Donaven McCulley recorded the first 100 yard game by a Michigan receiver since Roman Wilson’s performance against Purdue in 2023. Freshman Andrew Marsh also had a huge catch and finished the day with 4 catches for 80 yards. Justice Haynes also had another great day against the #1 ranked rushing defense in the country finishing with 19 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns. 

The defense started off shaky as they allowed a 12 play, 75 yard touchdown drive to open up the game. However, the defense tightened up after that and only allowed 3 points throughout the remainder of the game. Rod Moore’s return has been a huge addition for the defense as he had a fantastic day, recording a 94.9 PFF grade when he was on the field.

The offensive line, mainly Andrew Sprauge struggled against Wisconsin who consistently got beat inside which led to tackles for loss and pressure on Bryce Underwood. If Michigan wants to make a run for the college football playoff, the offensive line will have to be the strength of the team. Michigan also had another troubling day with drops with there being at least three of them on Saturday that took Michigan off the field.

The Wolverines travel to the LA Memorial Coliseum to face the Trojans next Saturday, opening up as 2.5 point underdogs. If Michigan can control the game with the running backs and the offensive line while getting a solid defensive performance, they can get a big win over USC and move to 5-1.