Position by position report card: Wisconsin at Michigan

Quarterback: A-

Bryce Underwood played really well yesterday against the Badgers. Overall he completed 19/28 passes for 270 yards and 1 TD. He also had at least two passes dropped and another that went off a wide receiver's hands so his stat line could've been even better. He moved in the pocket nicely a few times before he could find his open man and Chip Lindsey did a really nice job of getting him cleaner reads in the second half. He also used his legs to pick up extra yards a couple times and he continues to show just how talented he is every single week. He's just scratching the surface of what he could be and it's very exciting to watch.

Running Backs: A-

Justice Haynes once again had a great game. He finished with 19 carries for 117 yards and 2 TD's. Jordan Marshall chipped in 9 rushes for 44 yards as well. Both ball carriers are good, Justice Haynes breaks off a big run every week at this point and they continue to be effective against every team they face. If there's anything to critique, it would be nice to see a few more 4-6 yards runs rather than going for 1-2 yards and then exploding for 50. A little more down to down consistency would make this running game truly elite but most of that isn't on the running backs.

Wide Receivers and Tight Ends: B+

The grade is boosted by top performers at wide receiver Donaven McCulley and Andrew Marsh. Both McCulley and Marsh had acrobatic catches near the sidelines for big plays and each was clearly featured more than they have been all season thus far. They combined for 10 catches for 192 yards and 1 TD and made several nice plays between the two of them. Outside of those two, this group did not play well. They had a couple more drops from Max Bredeson and Semaj Morgan that would've gotten them first downs. Kendrick Bell also had a ball go through his hands that would've been a tougher catch but if it goes through your hands you really should be able to make the play at this level. This group showed promise against Wisconsin with the performances of Donaven McCulley and Andrew Marsh but the rest of the pass-catchers need to continue to improve for this offense to reach its ceiling.

Offensive Line: C

The overall offensive stats look better than you'd think given how much the offensive line struggled in this game. The rushing statistics have been buoyed by explosive runs from Justice Haynes but outside of that, they really struggle to generate consistent rushing production. Wisconsin also gave them problems in pass protection which made Bryce Underwood's job tougher than it needed to be. This group did not play well this weekend and they need to get better as the season progresses if this team wants to achieve all of their goals.

Defensive Line: B

The defensive line was solid in this game. They didn't generate a ton of production in the sack or TFL department but a lot of that was because of Wisconsin's offensive game plan which was clearly to get the ball out early. Derrick Moore did have a sack and another .5 tackle for loss later on in the game. After that first drive the defensive line really rebounded to create that run wall that made life really difficult for Wisconsin offensively in the rest of the game.

Linebackers: B-

Overall I didn't think the linebackers played awful but they also missed a few tackles on that first drive from the Badgers. They did clean it up some after that but they clearly struggled early on when Wisconsin was having that offensive success. Jimmy Rolder played fairly well though as he led the team in tackles but I think there's room for improvement here out of Ernest Hausman and Cole Sullivan.

Secondary: B+

Overall the secondary played well. They had a bit of a hard time covering Vinny Anthony II, but he's just a good physical player out there at wide receiver for the Badgers. Jayden Sanders continues to improve and Zeke Berry made a couple of nice tackles after missing one early on in the game. Opponents continue to hit them with double moves however, as Zeke Berry got beat on a double move in the second half and that's been a trend for these cornerbacks the last season and a half. They'll have to correct that at some point or it'll come back to bite them against the better passing attacks they face later on in the season.

Special Teams: C+

Not the best special teams performance this weekend. Dominic Zvada missed another chip-shot field goal and you have to wonder if he's just going through it mentally right now. They need to find a way to help him get his confidence back up. The long snapper also had a couple bad snaps in this game which might've impacted Zvada's missed chip shot field goal attempt as well as an extra point attempt later on. Hudson Hollenbeck, though, had a really nice performance at punter for the Wolverines as he punted 4 times for 197 yards, with an average of 49.3 yards per punt. He also pinned Wisconsin deep inside their twenty twice and had a nice day overall. The special teams needs to get better so that Michigan can become a more complete team.

Coaching: B-

I didn't think this was Sherrone Moore's best coaching job as he once again made questionable time management decisions right before the half. With the clock running and Wisconsin facing a 3rd and medium, he elected not to use a timeout to stop the clock in the hopes of giving his offense a chance to go score again before the half. Instead, he let the clock run and his offense ended up with roughly 30 seconds left to try and put something together instead of what would've been around a minute had he used the timeout prior to that third down.

Wink Martindale had a really nice game, though, as he had a clear plan to send the linebackers in blitzes early on but then adapted really nicely after Wisconsin's first drive when the Badgers were having some success targeting the middle of the field in the pass game. He stopped blitzing them so much after that and it made life really difficult for the Badgers' offense the rest of the way.

Chip Lindsey on the other hand, had an odd game in my opinion. The offense just doesn't seem to flow smoothly like it should. He makes running an offense look difficult way too often as he is consistently running into stacked box looks from the defense and it puts the offense behind the chains and into obvious passing situations on third downs. The offense did look much better in the second half but the question is, why did it take a whole half for him to adjust his plan and help get the offense on track quicker? Against the better teams they'll face this season you just can't afford to throw away an entire first half's worth of drives and that's essentially what Chip Lindsey did this past weekend. It's pretty frustrating to watch at times but it also clicked much better in the second half so let's hope they can build on that moving forward.

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