Michigan football picks QB Davis Warren, picks off Fresno State, 30-10

If Michigan football were allowed to choose its own start to the season, it likely would’ve looked exactly like its opening series Saturday night against Fresno State.

A stuffed run on first down by linebacker Jaishawn Barham, a big hit by safety Makari Paige, then an interception by new starting nickel back Zeke Berry, who returned it to the Fresno State 31 on the third play of the season.

From there, the offense took over and new quarterback Davis Warren threw a strike to his top target, tight end Colston Loveland for a first down before a Semaj Morgan end-around — with a penalty on the end of it— set U-M up with first-and-goal from the 3.

Two plays later, Alex Orji who lost the starting quarterback battle to Warren, checked into the game for the first time. Orji’s a well-known running threat, but new offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell pulled an okey-doke and called a play-action pass, where the junior floated it to a wide open Donovan Edwards for the game’s opening touchdown, sending the No. 8 Wolverines well on their way to a 30-10 victory over the Bulldogs.

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An early struggle

From there, however, Michigan came crashing back to earth for the better part of two quarters.

Michigan got just one first down on its next four drives and at the mid-point of the second quarter, U-M was ahead on the scoreboard, but was doubled up in total yards (88-42) and simultaneously losing the time of possession battle.

The Bulldogs even put together the best drive of the night, seven plays for 75 yards and a touchdown, to start the fourth quarter and get within a possession, until Michigan responded late in the fourth with the exact same drive length and an 18-yard strike from Warren to Loveland to get some separation.

The rest of the night, the defense looked every bit the part of one of the nation’s best units as it forced two turnovers, six tackles for loss, four pass breakups and three sacks while the special teams was exactly that as Michigan did just enough in Sherrone Moore’s head coaching debut.

The test will likely be even stiffer next week as U-M welcomes No. 4 Texas — a 52-0 winner in its opener against Colorado State — to the Big House next week (noon, Fox), with ESPN’s College Gameday on hand.

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Offense underwhelms, Loveland comes up large

It was tough sledding for U-M’s offense in the early going. After the quick score, the next four drives lasted 12 plays and amassed just 15 yards. 

Warren’s first three passes were less than 8 yards as Campbell tried to establish a rhythm with curls and screens. When he dialed up a deep shot on the first play of the third drive for Fredrick Moore — who had a step on a post route against his defender — Warren put too much air under it which allowed enough time for a Fresno defender to run under it and nab the interception.

“I thought Davis did a really good job putting the ball where it needed to be,” Sherrone Moore said. “We told our guys on the sideline at some point you’ve got to go up and play defense, you got to get the ball in the post, so I thought he did a really great job controlling the offense.”

It wasn’t until the final drive of the first half when Kalel Mullings got the offense moving forward again. The bulldozing running back picked up 17 yards in three plays before Warren connected on consecutive balls to Loveland for gains of 12 and 10.

It led to a 44-yard field by Dominic Zvada, putting U-M ahead 10-3 going into the half. Loveland (four catches for 40 yards and three first downs) produced nearly as much offense as the rest of his team (23 plays for 49 yards and four first downs) in the opening stanza.

“When it wasn’t clicking early on, we all just understood, ‘OK, keep throwing these guys punches,’ and it will come,” Mullings said. “As we were able to soften them up, I was able to crack some big runs, but there’s things I need to clean up.”

Loveland had three more catches for 28 yards on the opening drive of the second half — he led the Wolverines with eight catches for 87 yards and a score — as U-M marched into Fresno territory. Just when the Wolverines got to the edge of the red zone, a Josh Priebe hold derailed the drive, and they had to settle for a 53-yard Zvada kick to take a 10-point lead with 9:21 in the third.

The offense stalled again from there. Warren completed just one of his next seven passes for 3 yards and at one point the boo-birds came out, but a 9-yard strike to Semaj Morgan on third-and-6 got Zvada in range for another deep field goal look; he drilled it from 55 yards out to put Michigan up 16-3.

For as much as the passing game underwhelmed — and it certainly did as Warren and Orji combined to go 16-for-27 for 121 yards, two touchdowns and one interception — the run game was perhaps equally concerning through three quarters.

Michigan had more rushing yards in the fourth quarter than the first three combined. In fact, its two longest runs in the first 50 minutes of the game came from a quarterback and a wide receiver until Mullings ripped off consecutive rushes of 21 and 15 yards to get into Fresno territory.

Defense dominates in Martindale’s debut

If it weren’t for the early Berry interception, the Wolverines could have lost control of the Bulldogs. The young nickel was active early and often, as was Will Johnson, who had two tackles and a pass breakup in just the first quarter.

The whole unit was elite against a high-powered attack. Following the game-opening pick, U-M’s unit forced four consecutive punts and didn’t allow one drive beyond 20 yards or six plays in that span. It wasn’t until an eight-play drive in the second quarter —sparked by a 21-yard circus grab by Jalen Moss — set up Fresno State for a 40-yard field goal to cut its deficit to 10.

However each time FSU started to get something going, a different Wolverine came up with a big play. Rayshaun Benny was impressive in his return from an injured foot; he finished with five tackles, including two for a loss, and one sack. Edge Josaiah Stewart, who finished with five tackles (including three for loss) and had the game’s first sack to end Fresno State’s second drive of the night, was equally impressive.

“They were prepared, ready to play,” Berry said of the defensive line. “Their performance was outstanding.

Michigan had back-to-back interceptions (one by Quinten Johnson, the other by Paige) nixed in the fourth quarter; the first was overturned when it was ruled the ball was trapped, the other was called back on a questionable roughing the passer call.

The third time proved the charm, however, as Will Johnson read a telegraphed screen pass, jumped the route and took the ball 86 yards for the game-sealing pick-six.

Survive and advance

The Wolverines haven’t played many close games in recent years; Saturday was seemingly proof that a new era has arrived for the three-time defending Big Ten champions.

It wasn’t the dominance of the past three years for the Wolverines, but it was three phases working together which looked, at times, like Michigan football. The expectation is that will take another step in Week 2.

“Gonna get back on Monday and attacking this practice on Monday,” Mullings said. “Just continue to do that each and every week of the season and get better every week of the season.