Stock up and stock down from Michigan's last-second win over Northwestern

Michigan was able to sneak out of Wrigley Field with a last-second field goal to beat Northwestern 24 to 22. They overcame a whopping 5 offensive turnovers in the game in what was a very sloppy performance from Michigan overall. Let's dive into who played well and who didn't from this game against the Wildcats.

Stock Up: Andrew Marsh

Andrew Marsh played about as well as you can possibly expect a true Freshman to play. He ended up totaling 12 receptions for 189 yards as he was clearly Bryce Underwood's favorite target. He has really emerged as a legitimate wide receiver 1 for this offense and he's only a true Freshman, which is obviously very impressive. He got open against both man and zone coverage and has shown excellent ball skills as well throughout the year. He's such a good player already and I can't wait to see what's in store for him in the future as a Michigan Wolverine.

Stock Down: Michigan's Special Teams

This has been an issue for Michigan all season really, and it certainly hurt them in this game as well. Semaj Morgan fumbled another punt return and was later replaced by Andrew Marsh in that role. That decision should've happened a long time ago if we're being honest and it's a wonder it took them this long to actually make the change.

Dominic Zvada also struggled in this game as he missed field goals from 34 yards and 60 yards before making the game-winning kick from 31 yards out. After being perhaps the best kicker in the country last year, he's really struggled this year with kicks of all kinds and it's clearly gotten into his head. Hopefully this game-winning kick can help boost his confidence back up and get him right as Michigan enters these last couple games.

Another aspect of special teams that struggled in this game was Joe Taylor deciding to try and take a kickoff from the end zone and return it. He only managed to get it back to the 20-yard line when a touchback would've given Michigan the ball back at the 25 yard line. It doesn't always matter in the grand scheme of the game, but it is a mistake and it's been going on all season for Michigan on special teams. They are just clearly being poorly coached on special teams and you'd have to think that means special teams coach J.B. Brown is on the hot seat for how badly this group as a whole has struggled.

Stock Up: Jordan Marshall

Jordan Marshall was his usual great self in this game again for Michigan. He finished the game with 19 carries for 142 yards, averaging 7.5 yards per carry, and 2 touchdowns as well. He broke one for 65-yards too in what was just a great all around effort for Michigan's redshirt Freshman tailback. He did appear to leave the game with an injury late but Head Coach Sherrone Moore said in the post-game press conference that they escaped with more of a minor injury to Marshall and that's a great thing to hear. They need to keep him healthy for the game against Ohio State in two weeks.

Stock Down: Zeke Berry

Zeke Berry did not have his best game for Michigan in this one. He was beat in 1 on 1 coverage multiple times in this game, and usually, he was actually in a good position coverage wise he just failed to locate the football and break up the pass. He clearly struggles with ball skill issues and it's a really bad sign for the game in two weeks when you think about what Ohio State's two great wide receivers might do to him in coverage. Northwestern was able to pick on him in contested catch situations and he needs to clean it up if he hopes to keep Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate in check in a couple weeks.

Stock Up: All of Michigan's defense

It's hard to just pick one guy for this as the entire group outside of the ones already mentioned previously in this article played a great game overall. Michigan's offense continuously put their defense in bad positions in this game as they turned it over 5 times in total and Michigan's defense really picked up the slack. They only gave up 22 total points despite the turnovers and they are the only reason Michigan was able to come away with the narrow win in this game. Wink Martindale has this unit playing really well right now and that's a good sign as Michigan looks to finish the year on a high note in 2025.

Stock Down: Bryce Underwood

This one is an unfortunate aspect of the game as in total Bryce Underwood actually played quite well. The reason I have him as a stock down as because in the 4th quarter with Michigan leading in a close game he threw 2 INT's that gave Northwestern a really good chance to come back and win this game. Both of them were just bad reads that he made the wrong decision on, the first one being an RPO that he should've handed off based on how the defense reacted and the second one he just failed to locate the linebacker underneath his targeted pass-catcher. Fortunately, he was also able to bounce back from the mistakes and made a great throw to Andrew Marsh near the sideline on Michigan's game-winning drive, but the two mistakes were critical errors on his part. This is the third game in a row now of Bryce Underwood failing to have a passing touchdown and he's also turned the ball over much more as of late. Hopefully this game can be a learning experience for him and he learns to take better care of the football for the rest of his career because it almost cost them this game and could as well in the future if he doesn't get it cleaned up.