Michigan Wolverines Stock Report: 3 Players Rising, and 3 Players Falling After Shocking Loss to Iowa

Who's stock is climbing for their performance against the Hawkeyes?

Iowa running back Kamari Moulton makes a catch against Michigan cornerback Zeke Berry during the first half | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

3-0 Michigan hosted the 3-0 Iowa Hawkeyes at the Big House. The Wolverines got on the board first late in the 1st quarter after both teams swapped punts for the first few possessions with an 18 yard touchdown catch by JJ Buchanan. Unfortunately on the ensuing kickoff, Iowa returned it all the way back for a touchdown and the game was tied again 7-7. Michigan would add on another field goal before the half and took a 10-7 lead into the break.

In the second half the teams started out swapping more punts back and forth, but the Wolverines were able to add another field goal in the 3rd quarter to make it a 13-7 Michigan lead. Iowa came right back after that score though, driving all the way down the field and scoring on a 16 yard touchdown catch by Reece Vander Zee. Michigan countered on their next drive however and Bryce Underwood connected with JJ Buchanan again on a 49 yard touchdown pass. Michigan went for two but wasn't able to convert, and that left the score at 19-14 in the 4th quarter.

Both teams went back and forth punting again before Iowa's last possession of the game where they were able to drive it down the field, through the air and penalty aided the whole way, and scored on a last second touchdown pass from Hank Brown to Reece Vander Zee once again. Iowa won the game by a final score of 20-19. Let's dive into who played well in this heartbreaking loss, and who didn't.

Stock Down: Zeke Berry

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I'll start with the stock downs this week because it was such a tough loss, but Zeke Berry is the name that really jumps out as the biggest stock down. On the last drive of the game, Iowa was in a tough spot with 28 seconds left as a pass sailed wide on a third and 12 but Zeke Berry shoved Tony Diaz after the play was over and gave Iowa a free 15 yards and a first down. It was a pretty soft call in my opinion and one that shouldn't be made in that spot because it was not a lot of contact, but it was still an extremely dumb penalty that gave Iowa a chance to win the game later.

It was a continuation of what's been a trend for the Wolverines so far this season, with just so many dumb penalties in critical moments. Zeke Berry has played a lot of football for Michigan and he simply needs to know better not to even give the referees a chance to make a call like that. No way around it, that penalty was a chief reason Michigan didn't win this football game and Zeke Berry has played way too much football to be making mistakes like that.

Stock Up: Bryce Underwood

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On the bright side, this is the 3rd game in a row that Bryce Underwood has taken a step forward passing the football. He's been so much better lately than he looked against Western Michigan, and he was arguably Michigan's best player in this game. He was calm and sharp all game long, completing 17/28 passes for 276 yards, with 2 touchdowns and one interception against a really good Iowa defense. Even the interception looked like a miscommunication between him and Andrew Marsh, so you can't really fault him completely for that one.

Iowa made a clear effort to keep Michigan's ground game contained and Bryce Underwood made them pay several times through the air. I know this was a loss, but Bryce Underwood looks like he's starting to blossom and that's a good sign for the rest of this season for the Wolverines.

Stock Down: Smith Snowden

The other worst play of the game besides the Zeke Berry penalty, was the very last snap. Iowa had the ball at the 16 yard line with 2 seconds left and Smith Snowden decided that was a good time to play press converage into the boundary when Iowa needed a full 16 yards and to get into the end zone to win it. I have no idea why he wouldn't be playing at least 5 yards off the receiver on a play like this and it is truly astonishing Michigan didn't even call a timeout to change things up with their defensive look.

Smith Snowden would go on to get beat on the play with a back shoulder throw and give up the game winning touchdown on the literal last play of the game. It was beyond dumb that he was even lined up the way he was because he gave Reece Vander Zee the chance to have that pass completed. If he would've been playing off coverage it makes it way easier to defend the back shoulder throw because your momentum isn't working against you like we all saw happen.

Michigan's secondary as a whole collapsed late in this game and it's quite shocking because they looked so good against Oklahoma's wide receivers. With the Zeke Berry penalty and the Smith Snowden poor coverage on the last play, this was a game to forget for the Michigan secondary.

Stock Up: JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh

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I'm kind of cheating here again by picking two but it's hard to separate them. JJ Buchanan played yet another great game in a Michigan uniform catching 5 passes for 130 yards and 2 TD's. He got open deep several times in this game and has truly emerged as a star for this offense.

Andrew Marsh likewise was good once again, catching 7 passes for 106 yards. He also was able to get open consistently against a good Iowa secondary and Bryce Underwood was able to find him several times for chunk yards.

Both of these two wide receivers playing at this high of a level makes their offense really tough to defend. So many teams want to stack the box against Michigan's run game but you simply can't do that anymore without paying for it because it allows JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh to get 1 on 1 chances outside. This passing game continues to look better and better lately and that's a good sign for Michigan's offense for the rest of this season.

Stock Down: Special Teams

I've picked on the defense twice with the secondary players, now it's time to pick on the special teams. You simply can not give up kickoff return touchdowns in games like this. Michigan was playing so much better than Iowa for the entire first half but was only up 3 because they gave up the kickoff return touchdown that let Iowa hang around. Kerry Coombs has done a pretty good job of getting these special teams playing better this season but this was a huge mistake by him and the players to allow this to happen.

It's simply inexcusable and along with the poor defensive plays late in the secondary was the reason the Michigan lost this game. If they would've been up 10-0 at the half instead of 10-7 it's hard to imagine Iowa would've been able to comeback and win the game late but the special teams blunder cost them the chance to bury the Hawkeyes early on.

Stock Up: Troy Bowles

Troy Bowles is really coming into his own at linebacker and that's a positive development for this Michigan defense. He only finished with 6 tackles but he had a couple nice plays in coverage that impressed me the most. He's been getting better and better the more he's played this season and I'm excited to see what he can do the rest of the way.

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