What they’re saying about Michigan’s win over Fresno State, matchup with Texas

The Michigan Wolverines moved to 1-0 on the seaosn with a 30-10 win over Fresno State on Saturday night in Ann Arbor, ushering in the Sherrone Moore era with plenty to discuss on both sides of the football.

The local and national reactions were varied from optimism over the start to concern about the offense taking a step back from last season. Here is a sampling of what everyone is saying about Michigan coming off of its first victory in 2024.

Ryan Van Bergen, TheWolverine.com postgame show

Postgame reactions: Why Michigan’s Week 1 performance was a good starting point

“It’s exactly what you thought you’d get from having a new regime in Sherrone Moore, the first time as a head coach with full unbridled restriction on running the team and the program the way he sees fit,” Van Bergen said during the Week 1 postgame show. “We have a lot of new guys all over the place on offense. We have new guys on defense, a new defensive coordinator, same system, but new coordinator. So I think you expect some of the different mishaps that happened and I think you also have to realize that there were not as many big plays as there could have been considering the circumstances.

“I don’t think that you can take too much of what you saw offensively for what this offense is going to be and what it can be. I think there are so many weapons. There are so many things around the offense that you’re just gonna have to find this identity and what this team is going to be. And I thought that there were a lot of good takeaways. I think that this team, in my opinion, kind of established an identity in the second half. I think we are smashmouth with [Max] Bredeson getting a lot of reps at fullback and running Kalel Mullings between the tackles. And when they’re tired, that’s when you go to Donovan Edwards on the third down. That’s just the early impression that I have of what the offense was.

Defensively, I was super excited. I think Fresno State’s a good offensive team. I think Fresno State would beat the breaks off of Iowa’s offense. And Iowa has performed pretty well in the Big Ten, taking early shots there at them. But Fresno State’s going to be a team that I think wins eight, nine, maybe ten games. So a good test for Wink Martindale’s defense. And to me, I thought we stood up very well in that test.”

Chris Balas, The Wolverine

Michigan 30, Fresno State 10: Notes, quotes, and observations — a work in progress

That last drive, all on the ground until Warren found Colston Loveland on play action for an 18-yard score, featured 3 carries for 42 yards from Kalel Mullings. He’d finish with 15 carries for 92 yards and a 6.1 avg., and though Moore wouldn’t admit it, earned his spot at RB1 for the Texas game. 

The sooner the coaches admit it and find ways to get him and Donovan Edwards on the field together at the same time, the quicker this offense will reach its potential. 

“I thought Kalel was running extremely hard,” Moore said. “Look at his stats — he was 15 for 92, 6.1 per carry. That’s pretty good. He had three kick returns for 74 yards, so 166 all purpose. Pretty good performance by Kalel.”

Better than pretty good — very good. He hits holes harder, breaks tackles, carries defenders, gets extra yardage, and has better vision at this point. Good things happen when he’s on the field, and the odds of more drives like the last scoring drive vs. Fresno will continue if they put him back there with Edwards in the slot or as the second back, primarily as a receiver. 

John Borton, The Wolverine

Michigan wins, but questions remain

The good news? Michigan stands as advertised on defense. The scary news? Michigan stands as feared on offense — at least for now.

The Wolverines began their 30-10 opening-night win over Fresno State employing the absolute perfect formula. Michigan forces the football away from the opposition, on an interception by junior cornerback Zeke Berry. Given the short field, the offense scores in five plays from 31 yards out — 7-0 good guys, and the rout is on. Right?

Well, it’s not 2023, and it’s just not going to be that easy. Michigan spent the final 19 minutes of the first half going almost nowhere. Its 89 yards in the opening 30 minutes couldn’t even match FSU’s modest 97. The Wolverines scored only on a 45-yard field goal by junior placekicker Dominic Zvada, taking a 10-3 lead into the halftime locker room.

Cue the chorus of “I told you so,” from Michigan fans more nervous than an MSU couch after a big win over Florida Atlantic. THIS is what we worried about, they shouted at muted televisions, as if discovering one of the deep mysteries of overturned rosters.

Things didn’t get much better for much of the second half, despite 53- and 55-yard field goals by Zvada, Michigan’s instant Lou Groza Award favorite. The Wolverines’ job? Make sure it’s a tall order for Zvada, by scoring more touchdowns than it racks up his booming field goals.

Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News

Wojo: It was tedious but Michigan eventually found its toughness, and maybe its QB

It was rough and threatening to get rougher. Michigan was straining for every yard, unable to shake the underdog Bulldogs. The crowd was restless, and late in the third quarter, you even could hear a boo or two.

The defending national champs had lost a load of talent, including their head coach, their quarterback and their offensive line. But by the end of a tedious slog Saturday night, the Wolverines showed they hadn’t lost their identity. And they also hope they found their quarterback.

If anybody knows what rough is, it’s Davis Warren. UM’s starter is a cancer survivor, a former walk-on and a guy surprisingly thrown into the lead role, and he handled it as if accustomed to it. Clinging to a six-point fourth-quarter lead, UM’s all-new line finally started shoving and Kalel Mullings started churning. The Wolverines pulled away for a 30-10 victory over Fresno State that wasn’t clinched until Will Johnson plucked an interception and raced 86 yards for a touchdown with 3:57 left.

All the concerns about a team that lost 18 of 22 starters were apparent at various times against the feisty Bulldogs. It shouldn’t be a surprise, although the Wolverines have been so dominant — this was their 23rd straight home victory — it’s easy to get fooled. They don’t have nearly the same depth, but they still have an aggressive edge and some high-end talent.

Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press

Michigan football met expectations in beating Fresno State. Texas is a chance to surprise

The eyes of the college football world will be in Ann Arbor next week for a likely top-10 matchup with the Longhorns, thanks to a noon start on Fox as well as a morning visit from ESPN’s “College Gameday” for the first time since November.

When those eyes review Saturday’s game, they’ll see some standout Wolverines: namely, Loveland, Mulllings and even Warren, who didn’t look overwhelmed by the spotlight. Indeed, he even joked about how he had to be held back on the sideline when Orji threw the opening touchdown pass. And that’s before getting into the defense.

They’ll also see some issues, between Edwards’ struggles, an offensive line that struggled to get push against a Group of Five defense and a pass attack without a pass more than 15 yards in the air.
But again, this was predictable. Many of the players from past three seasons are gone. The kinks in the machine were there; it’s now up to Michigan to get rid of them as quickly as it can.

David Hale, ESPN.com

College football Week 1 highlights: Top plays, games, takeaways

At Texas, the Longhorns sizzled in a 52-0 drubbing of Colorado State, but because some things never change, the real story was the backup quarterback. Arch Manning engineered a touchdown drive in his first action of the year, completing 5 of 6 passes and accounting for two touchdowns. Sure, none of that will mean much when the Longhorns head to Michigan next week, forced to rely on the starter. (What’s his name again? We want to say Quentin? We’re drawing a blank.) But Week 1 felt like a continuation of the always enjoyable “will they or won’t they” love affair between Texas and Manning. They really are the Jim and Pam of the SEC.
…
And what about Michigan? The defending champs went to battle without Harbaugh or J.J. McCarthy or a host of other players who won their rings before leaving for the NFL, but the Wolverines won anyway, using their trademarked brute force to upend Fresno State 30-10. Sure, Michigan found its replacement for McCarthy when Sherrone Moore put on a jacket he hadn’t worn in three years and found $20 and Davis Warren in the pocket, but isn’t this exactly the formula we’d expect from the Wolverines? Same as it ever was.

Austin Meek, The Athletic

Michigan title defense begins with unfamiliar doubt and quarterback questions as Texas looms

Think back to January, when the confetti was falling at NRG Stadium in Houston. If someone had said then that Davis Warren would take Michigan’s next snap at quarterback, the reaction would have been … what? Surprise? Disbelief? Concern? Panic?

Now that QB-hungry programs can find answers in the transfer portal, it’s rare for a program of Michigan’s caliber to enter a season with so little experience at quarterback. Warren has been a trusty backup in his career but was never regarded as the heir apparent to J.J. McCarthy. Alex Orji was considered a work in progress who needed to develop as a passer. Michigan gambled that its internal options were better than the options in the transfer portal, and it remains to be seen whether that was the right call.

Warren was Michigan’s primary quarterback Saturday night. He completed 15 of 25 passes for just 115 yards with an interception and a touchdown. Orji came on the field for a snap or two at a time and ran for 32 yards on five carries, with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Edwards on Michigan’s opening drive. Regardless of who was taking the snaps, Michigan had little success creating explosive plays through the air.

Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire

Five takeaways from Michigan football’s win over Fresno State

Listen, this was not the type of performance that will beat Texas, USC, Washington, Oregon, or Ohio State. Michigan didn’t pull away until the final minutes of the game, after Fresno State cut the lead from 16-3 to 16-10. But the team galvanized and ended up winning by 20 points, nearly beating the spread (good teams win, great teams cover).

But Michigan wasn’t playing those teams on Saturday, it was playing Fresno State. Teams often struggle early on — Oregon struggled to beat FCS Idaho, Michigan struggled in 2021 to beat Rutgers. The room for error is small, yes, but with the defense and special teams (also the return game looked explosive) anything can happen in a positive way for this team. Fielding an Iowa-esque offense in Week 1 isn’t great, but Alabama looked awful offensively in Week 3 last year against a Group of Five team in USF. Teams often make their most improvement from Week 1 to Week 2, so let’s see the focus of this team against the Longhorns and then we’ll figure out what exactly this team was capable of.

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