When it comes to Michigan football against Michigan State, you can't get wrapped up in style points. It's always ugly.
There was that 49-0 domination by the 2023 team, but that was one of the best teams in Michigan history. This 2025 Michigan football team is still finding itself.
The Wolverines haven't reached their ceiling. With four games to go, that's an exciting thought. They are finding ways to win, though.
At the start of the season, it was obvious that Michigan would need to win on the road to have a chance at the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines lost at USC and Oklahoma, but won at Nebraska and Michigan State, with a true freshman quarterback.
The Wolverines are 6-2. They clinched a bowl game three weeks earlier than in 2024. Everything is on the table heading into November, and here are five things we learned from their 31-20 win.
Michigan can still impose its will on Sparty
This was the difference in the game. Michigan started strong and grabbed an early 10-0 lead. However, the offense struggled in the first half after that. The running game wasn't getting much traction, and the Spartans ripped off a 49-yard run that allowed them to score a touchdown.
At halftime, Michigan State had more rushing yards. It was disconcerting. You knew that needed to change in the second half for Michigan to win the game.
So the Wolverines changed it. Justice Haynes had two chunk plays on the opening drive of the third quarter, before finishing the drive with a touchdown run. Soon enough, another explosive run by Haynes had Michigan in business again.
The Wolverines picked up a few short-yardage runs in the second half and scored three rushing touchdowns. They had nearly 200 yards on the ground in one half, while MSU finished with 115 for the game compared to 276 for Michigan.
Michigan football allowed one sack compared to four allowed by MSU. This game usually comes down to the team that wins in the trenches. Saturday, that was that U-M.
Jimmy Rolder is a heck of a player
This has been apparent for a while this season. Jimmy Rolder, a senior, and a national champion, was one of Michigan's best players in East Lansing.
Rolder forced a fumble on the opening drive for the Spartans. That allowed Michigan football to take an early lead. Cole Sullivan exited the game due to injury, and Rolder responded. He finished with 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack.
Rolder even did a good job in coverage. He's become a three-down linebacker, which could be essential down the stretch if Sullivan is out for an extended period of time.
Winning on the road isn't easy
When this team plays on the road, you can see the youthfulness. Michigan struggles to put teams away and had numerous chances to separate from Michigan State before finally doing it late in the third quarter.
It just feels like this is how it's going to be on the road. Against a poor pass defense, it felt like Michigan didn't want to throw. After getting a 10-0 lead early, the mindset was likely to avoid mistakes, which is why Michigan was so conservative on third downs, especially third and long.
It's still frustrating, though. Michigan State faced 2nd-and-19 and converted. Michigan probably would have run two times and punted. To be fair, the Wolverines are averaging 281 rushing yards per game in their two road wins.
It's a formula that works, yet Saturday was a reminder that even against mediocre teams, it's hard to win on the road in the Big Ten.
Don't assume anything about Northwestern or Maryland.
Michigan has to learn to put people away
There are times when Michigan football looks like a top-10 team. The pass rush can be lethal. The Wolverines have as good a running back duo as any team in the country, and when Bryce Underwood is comfortable, he can make plays most freshmen can only dream of.
Yet, consistency is the biggest problem for this team. The defense was stellar until it gave up a 50-yard run. Then after going up by 17, Michigan let Aidan Chiles complete 7 of 7 pass attempts on a touchdwn drive.
It took two fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter to help ice the game. A 56-yard touchdown run by Jordan Marshall made it feel more comfortable, but the Spartans were within stirking distance for most of the night.
Red-zone scoring continues to be a problem, although the Wolverines scored on four of five attempts. The first one stands out, though.
It was too obvious at times in the second half that Michigan was going to run or throw a screen. Maybe Sherrone Moore was worried about the pass rush. It didn't feel like Bryce Underwood was seeing the field that well, so either way, Michigan was guarding against mistakes.
They need to be careful about that in the future, though. Michigan has played with its food too much this season, and eventually, it will come back to bite them.
Derrick Moore takes the defense to another level
We can talk all we want about Wink Martindale. He has called the defense more conservative the past two weeks. It was a good course correction, and it worked. Why? Players like Derrick Moore.
If you are going to drop seven into coverage, you have to be able to win up front. Michigan did last week, in part, because of two sacks by Moore. The Wolverines don't hold Washington to seven points without his pressure.
The same could be said for Michigan State. Moore had two sacks. Michigan wound up with four total. They also applied a ton of pressure on Aidan Chiles, who completed just 14 of 28 passes for 130 yards. That's 4.6 yards per pass attempt.
Moore isn't the only one getting to the quarterback. Jaishawn Barham and T.J. Guy have played much better the past two weeks, too.
If you're going to play conservative on defense, the defensive line has to win. Derrick Moore has done that at a high rate the past two weeks and when plays like that, the defense is just different.