CHICAGO — It was far from a home run, but Michigan football walked out of Wrigley Field victorious on Saturday.
The Wolverines narrowly kept their Big Ten and playoff hopes alive with a 24-22 win over scrappy Northwestern, overcoming a wild five turnovers to run their win streak to four games.
Michigan moves to 8-2 and 6-1 in Big Ten play, and will still need to clean up a ton, because this game was far from a pretty one. Four second-half turnovers nearly doomed the Wolverines, who watched a double-digit lead fade away and needed a 31-yard field goal from Dominic Zvada to win the game as time expired.
Freshman receiver Andrew Marsh turned in a career day, totaling 12 receptions and 189 receiving yards, leading a reinvigorated Michigan passing attack. Quarterback Bryce Underwood completed 21 of his 32 passes for 280 yards, a career high for the freshman who combined for just 231 yards in his previous two starts.
Donaven McCulley added four catches for 59 yards.
Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Jordan Marshall turned in his fourth straight triple-digit game on the ground, rushing for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He opened the second half with a 65-yard run, setting Michigan up for a 9-yard Underwood touchdown run. He exited the game in the fourth quarter with an injury, forcing third-string back Bryson Kuzdzal (15 carries, 53 yards), a former walk-on, into duty.
The Wolverines played without their leading running back, Justice Haynes, for a second straight game, one of six players ruled out due to injury.
Defensively, Michigan kept the slow, plodding Wildcats out of the end zone for much of the game. Until the turnovers took hold, at least. Northwestern had to settle for a pair of field goals in the first half, even after Marsh fumbled the football on a reverse gone wrong near midfield.
Northwestern quarterback Preston Stone finished just 13 of 27 for 184 yards, while the Wildcats’ rushing attack was held to 61 yards on a meager 2.3 yards per carry.
Still, Michigan couldn’t get out of its own way. Zvada missed a pair of field goals, one from 34 yards out and another from 60 yards, sailing both kicks wide right, Marsh fumbled a handoff on a drive the Wolverines crossed midfield on, and Semaj Morgan’s punt return troubles resurfaced.
Morgan, who’s had his opportunities at receiver diminished in recent weeks due to drops, fielded a punt in the third quarter, worked his way up field and had the ball dislodged. While Northwestern took over at the Michigan 36-yard line, the defense got a stop on third-and-long to force a field goal.
It wasn’t until early in the fourth quarter when Northwestern finally scored a touchdown, marching 75 yards on eight plays and a pair of deep passes.
That’s when the mistakes started piling up. Underwood threw interceptions on back-to-back drives, gifting Northwestern its second touchdown that gave the Wildcats a 22-21 lead.
Kuzdzal fumbled a handoff on fourth-and-1 that resulted in a turnover on downs, but the Michigan defense forced a three-and-out that set up the game-winning, 11-play, 50-yard scoring drive.
After this latest tight-rope act, Michigan will hit the road again next week, Nov. 22, to play Maryland.
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