CFN lays out biggest key to Michigan football's success in 2025

If the Wolverines want to get back to the College Football Playoff, they have to find this element of their game

Michigan wide receiver Donaven McCulley (13) watches a play as he signs autographs for fans during the second half of the spring game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 19, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan football ended Sherrone Moore's debut season as head coach last year on a high note by pulling off major upsets against Ohio State and Alabama.

Between those two wins, having major momentum on the recruiting trail and overall excitement that continues to build ahead of the 2025 season, vibes seem to be high and there is positivity flowing around the Wolverines' program, and for good reason.

However, about nine months ago, when the team was 5-5 in 2024, drastically underperforming expectations and in danger of missing a bowl game, the tone around the program was in a much different place.

If the Wolverines wish for sustained success and a chance to get back to the College Football Playoff in 2025, certain aspects of the team will have to improve to reach the consistency they need to beat the majority of their opponents on the schedule.

This past weekend, College Football News revealed what Michigan's key to the season will be to make a full turnaround as part of CFN's season preview for the Wolverines.

Key to the season: Find the downfield passing game

This seems like an obvious key to Michigan's success, but it holds true considering how bad the Wolverines were through the air in 2024.

Even some of Michigan's recent best teams under Jim Harbaugh weren't considered to have high flying passing attacks, but were efficient enough through the air to keep defenses honest—and obviously J.J. McCarthy took the position to a different level with his abilities when he was with the Maize and Blue.

However, last year, the quarterback situation was beyond a struggle while never being able to find stability at the position between Davis Warren, Alex Orji and Jack Tuttle.

Of course, more factors go into an offense struggling aside from quarterback play alone, but the fact the Wolverines ranked dead last in the nation in passing yards per attempt at just 5.4 yards per throw was a tell tale sign that the staff was uncomfortable with even the idea of throwing the ball down the field.

In fact, just three teams in the country averaged fewer passing yards per game than Michigan—which were Navy, Air Force and Army. That tells you about all you need to know about how non-existent the team's passing game was.

The good news is, despite the lack of ability to move the ball down field through the air, Michigan still got to eight wins and have more than enough talent on each side of the ball to improve upon that number this season

For Michigan to do so, it will need to be much more potent through the air, and with the addition of true freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood and Indiana transfer Donaven McCulley, who is capable of being a playmaker at the receiver position and being a leader of the group, the passing attack suddenly has potential.

As the CFN article points out, senior transfer quarterback Mikey Keene also provides depth and stability at the QB position if Underwood struggles to figure things out early on:

"This hasn’t been an easy decade for Michigan when it comes to finding high-end quarterbacks, but JJ McCarthy finally broke the cycle - even if he was along for the ride at times - and now, the program has another one. Maybe. It’s going to be Bryce Underwood. He’s the big get in the recruiting cycle. He’s the one who has the potential to carry the offense and be the program’s signature star. But he’s really young and really inexperienced, and Keene, when healthy, is a good enough passer to be a steadying veteran early on to let the eventual main man get up to speed. At the very least, Keene can be a great second option if Underwood gets the starting gig and struggles."

If Michigan can figure things out through the air under first-year offense coordinator Chip Lindsey, the Wolverines have enough for everything else to start to fall into place from there en route to what it hopes will be a successful 2025 campaign.

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