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| "And Justice for all." (Michigan Athletics) |
Bring me back in shacklesHang me long out in the sunExonerate meForget about me
--"Fully Completely" by The Tragically Hip, the title track of their 1993 album.
It was clear from reading all of the previews of Michigan football this summer that no one was quite sure what the 2025 Michigan team would be. They knew there would be an upgrade at quarterback, a potential step back on defense because of the losses of Johnson, Graham, and Grant, but maybe not, and some unknowns with a new OC, etc. It was a mystery box of mixed expectations, essentially agreeing that Michigan was a top-20ish team that, if things broke right, could slip into the College Football Playoff.
So when toe met leather for a prime time matchup with a Mountain West team, the biggest question immediately answered was "How was Bryce Underwood going to look?" Just the fourth true freshman to start at quarterback in Michigan history, the jokes about things like that he wasn't even legally permitted to buy lottery tickets and fireworks until two weeks ago were plentiful. But they were masking the hope that he would live up to, and perhaps exceed, the hype.
A strong running game, featuring Alabama transfer Justice Haynes, was a great place to start. After a couple of quick screen passes and an incompletion that was primarily because it came in too hot for Channing Goodwin, Haynes broke one for 56 yards and a touchdown, and things felt right and good. Michigan's defense forced a three-and-out, followed by a much more pedestrian, workmanlike, but clock-eating touchdown drive, putting Michigan up 14-0 before the first quarter was over. Some exchanges of punts between the teams occurred before a TJ Guy interception that led to a field goal and a 17-0 lead, and they were cruising.
And then what can only be described as "the bullshit" settled in.
New Mexico would empty out the playbook, using a classic college script, while Michigan played some backups on defense for reps and ran an audacious (and honestly, pretty cool) trick play to score a touchdown. OK, that happens. Sure.
Then Andrew Marsh reminded the crowd that, as talented as freshmen can be, they're also still freshmen, fumbling a kick return while he attempted to hurdle a Lobo, and New Mexico looked like they could go into the half only down three. However, Michigan's defense was stout, allowing New Mexico just two yards before forcing a field goal to cut Michigan's lead to 17-10.
You could be forgiven if, given Michigan's recent struggles with things like tempo and urgency, on late in the half drives, you didn't think the two-minute drill would amount to much, especially with Bryce helming it in his debut effort. You would especially be forgiven when the first two plays of the drive resulted in a pair of two-yard losses. But after a New Mexico timeout, Michigan dialed up an absolute beauty of a play, a 39-yard catch and run from Channing Goodwin to the New Mexico 40 and a complete reset of the expectations for the drive. Sure enough, six plays later, Underwood would find his favorite target, Marlin Klein, for a 15-yard TD pass, and Michigan was back up by 14 headed into halftime.
I ponder the endlessness of the stars
Ignoring said same of my father
Either it'll move me
Or it'll move right through me
Fully and completely
Coming out of halftime, and after forcing a four-and-out from the Lobos, Michigan's drive stalled and resulted in a field goal, pushing the lead back to 17. And then the serious business of bullshittery happened.
No one knows what targeting is, but I am reasonably sure that what was called on Jaishawn Barham's exceptional blind side sack of New Mexico quarterback Jack Layne was not it. I am willing to concede that it was not a fumble, negating the scoop and score, but it was not targeting, except that somehow, without a flag on the field, it was. Barham was ejected and excluded from the first half in Norman (hopefully not), and the Lobos proceeded on one of the most "fueled by referee decision making" drives you will ever see (the pass interference on the goal to go was fine, everything else, no.)
OK, so Michigan, just get the ball back and score, and...nope, three-and-out, and even with a ten-point lead headed into the fourth, all of this feels tenuous. Thankfully, Brandyn Hillman, he of the excellent quote about flipping the switch because New Mexico had the same colors as [expletive] Ohio State, remember the Jourdan Lewis rule, yes, you probably should have knocked it down. Still, interceptions are so much more mentally taxing. Justice Haynes paid off the field position situation with another long run that was inches away from being a 60-yard TD run, but instead was a 59-yard run, followed by a 1-yard TD run for his third score of the night, Michigan back up by 17. Cole Sullivan gets Michigan's third pick of the night, and even as the Lobos tried to cobble together a late TD drive, including calling a timeout with three seconds left to try and tack on a meaningless late score, only to see Layne get sacked by Troy Bowles to put that to rest, Michigan wins 34-17.
I do not think any of us can draw meaningful conclusions about this season from one game. Michigan looked good in some respects, sloppy in others, and incomplete in still others. It's a fool's errand to try to figure out what you have after one game, win or lose. But next week in Norman, GameDay is coming to town for a prime-time matchup with the Sooners in a helmet game, which should tell us a whole lot more. They can get it done, but as always, it starts in the doing.
- 34-17 is NOT a Scorigami as it has happened twice before (1995 Indiana being the most recent iteration).
- 110,648 were in attendance for the season opener, the 96th largest announced crowd in Michigan Stadium history.
- Michigan moves to 1-0-0 all-time against the University of New Mexico.
- Michigan moves to 8-1-0 all-time on August 30 (The loss was to 2015 Utah on the road in Harbaugh's debut.)
- Michigan improves to 39-0-0 when scoring exactly 34 points (I'll need to conduct further research, but this might be Michigan's most wins without a loss for any particular score).
- Michigan moves to 38-17-2 all-time when allowing 17 points to the opposition (including 2024's victory over Michigan State).
- Michigan has won 29 games all-time by precisely 17 points, most recently in the 2019 Illinois game.
