The term must-win game is overused. But for Michigan football, Washington is a must-win game.
Michigan is 4-2 and 2-1 in the Big Ten. Every goal is still ahead of the Wolverines, but they have lost all margin for error in the Big Ten race and the race for the 12-team playoff.
There are five games to go before Ohio State, which looks like a juggernaut, especially on defense. Win out, including a win over OSU and Michigan football will be in the playoff.
Lose a game, and the Citrus Bowl or something along those lines would be the best-case scenario. Coming off a 31-13 loss to USC, this program feels like it's at a crossroads. Sherrone Moore showed up to his Monday press conference in a blue-collar jacket.
The idea was clear. This team needs to get back to work. Will that be enough? Looking ahead to a game Michigan football has to win, here are the five biggest questions facing the Wolverines against Washington.
Can Michigan contain Demond Williams?
The USC game exposed a dirty secret: Michigan's defense isn't good.
In the three most difficult games on the schedule, against Dylan Raiola, John Mateer and Jayden Maiava, the Wolverines have allowed an average of 284 passing yards per game.
That's Don Brown territory. Michigan has allowed just over 27 points per game in those contests. That's just bad defense. It's not even close to the standard of Michigan football, and the issue isn't just the players.
It's Wink Martindale. He's back to doing all the stuff that got him in trouble at the start of last season. Michigan's defense, with Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, wasn't good for most of the season because Wink was blitzing constantly.
Demond Williams, the Washington quarterback, throws for 271 yards per game. He's completing 74 percent of his passes, has 10 touchdowns, and just one interception. Williams, a redshirt freshman, has also rushed 74 times for 382 yards (63 yards per game).
Michigan hasn't offered much resistance against a quality quarterback all season. That needs to change on Saturday or the Wolverines will suffer back-to-back losses.
Will Michigan tighten up the rotation?
It's one thing to put your best foot forward and get beaten. That's an easier pill to swallow than Michigan leaving some of its best players on the sideline for key plays due to what seems, at times, like a pre-determined substitution package.
Michigan's best pass rushers are Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham. That's not debatable. Barham makes some mistakes, especially against the run. Yet, he's a playmaker. Moore and Barham should play the majority of snaps.
Yet, Moore and Barham played 71 snaps total. Neither was on the field at the start of the final drive of the first half, after Michigan tied the game up at 7-7. The Wolverines had momentum, then subbed out two of its best defensive players, along with Rayshaun Benny to start the drive.
After USC was past the 50, the lineup changed, but this is something Michigan has done for years. It worked in 2023. It's not working in 2025. The best players need to play more. Dominic Nichols and Cameron Brandt don't need 59 snaps. That number should be closer to 30.
Cole Sullivan, one of the most impactful players on the defense, played 32 snaps in a game where his athleticism could have been used.
The scheme is one issue. Not utilizing your players correctly, like putting Rayshaun Benny on the EDGE, as if that didn't fail with Mason Graham trying to do it, turning an effective player into an ineffective player, is another.
Not much that Michigan does on defense makes sense. But the Wolverines need to stop being so exotic and they need to stop playing so many players. The arrogance is killing them.
Will Michigan unleash Bryce Underwood?
This offense scored tied for the fewest points scored against USC with 13. Michigan State scored 31 for goodnes sakes. Part of that was the way USC shortened the game, but it still feels like the Wolverines are limiting themselves when it comes to their use of Bryce Underwood.
Underwood needs to play better and he will. All offseason, we pointed to the fact that there would be growing pains. We saw that on Saturday night. Bryce missed some throws and some reads. He's also an 18-year-old true freshman.
The most frustrating thing about Michigan's use of Bryce is how they haven't activated him in the run game. Over the past two games, he's only had six rushing attempts, not counting sacks.
That's not enough. We haven't seen the QB counter since the Central Michigan game. It feels like there could have been a draw or a designed run with Max Bredeson as the lead blocker.
The Wolverines also need to allow Underwood to throw more drop-back passes. Most of his pass attempts are RPOs, screens and play-action fakes, along with rollouts which are usually simple reads.
That's all well and good. It makes sense to have that stuff, but with Andrew Marsh, Donaven McCulley, and Marlin Klein, Michigan has weapons to drop-back pass on early downs. It has been doing it mostly on third and long, which doesn't do the offensive line or Bryce any favors.
Running the ball will be key. Justice Haynes is questionable, so at some point, you wonder if Michigan will realize it needs to run Bryce to win, at least against good teams, and Washington, which should be ranked, is a really good team.
Washington's quarterback has 65 non-sack rushing attempts. Bryce Underwood has 24. Imagine if Texas or Auburn had only run Vince Young or Cam Newton 24 times midway through the season.
It's crazy and if Michigan is going to have any chance of making the playoff, it needs to let Bryce be Bryce, which is what we have been saying all season, outside of the Central Michigan game.
Can Michigan win the rushing battle?
This is a legit question. Oklahoma nearly out-rushed Michigan in the second game of the season. USC had more than double the rushing yards of the Wolverines 224-109.
As disappointing as it was, Michigan football couldn't stop power. It couldn't tackle and didn't do a good job of fitting gaps in the run game. The same was true for the Wisconsin game.
Jedd Fisch and the Huskies might have a reputation for being pass-happy, yet they rush for 188 yards per game. Jonah Coleman leads the Big Ten in rushing touchdowns (11), has 518 total yards (86.3 per game) and averages 5.4 yards per attempt. He's also got 247 receiving yards.
Washington has a stout run defense, allowing just 3.1 yards per attempt and 82.8 yards per game. Whether Haynes is back or not, Michigan needs to have more rushing yards, by a decent margin, if it wants to get back in the win column on Saturday.
Will Michigan be more physical?
There is a simple recipe for winning this game. It was the same recipe USC used to beat Michigan in Los Angeles last week: be the more physical team.
USC was that last week. The Trojans pass rush got after Bryce Underwood. They gave up some stuff in the running game but their offensive line imposed its will.
That's twice this season that Michigan was out-toughed by another team. The fact that it happened against USC is bothersome. The Wolverines have a young quarterback, but it was also supposed to be able to push teams around in the trenches.
Michigan did that against Nebraska and despite allowing 308 passing yards, including a Hail Mary, the Wolverines won the game. U-M doesn't need 286 rushing yards on Saturday, although it wouldn't hurt, but it does need to be the more physical team or it will be 4-3 for the second year in a row.