Michigan football defeats MSU for the third straight year

This year's display of the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry lacked some of the sparkle of previous years, but there was no shortage of drama Saturday night in Ann Arbor.

After a terrible start, the Wolverines settled in and made enough plays on both sides of the ball to outscore the Spartans with a 24-17 win for the home team. It was Michigan's third straight victory over Michigan State, the longest winning streak the Wolverines have enjoyed in this series since winning six straight from 2002-07.

Michigan improves to 5-3 overall and 3-2 in Big Ten play this season, dropping MSU to 4-4 and 2-3. Below we have listed a handful of positive and negative takeaways from the game “Stock Up, Stock Down”…

Michigan's ball security, discipline: The Wolverines' biggest enemy this season has been their inability to protect the football, but Michigan finally played a flawless game against the Spartans tonight. Offensively, things were anything but pretty for the Wolverines, as the run game was difficult to sled and the limitations of the air attack were ever-present. However, Michigan forced a crucial turnover in the final seconds of the second half when edge rusher Josaiah Stewart picked off MSU's Aidan Chiles. This led to a Wolverines field goal and the lead, even though UM was weak in the first 27 minutes. Michigan won the turnover battle (1-0) and was not penalized once in the entire game. It wasn't a pretty game for the Maize and Blue, but it was by far the cleanest game of the season.

Michigan's QB rotation: Listen, there won't be any more awards given out to the Wolverines' quarterbacks after today's game, but Davis Warren and Alex Orji did what this coaching staff asked of them and were mostly effective at it. Michigan's offense was still very limited, but Warren hit on just enough downfield throws and Orji was a nice change of pace in the run game. At least the coaching staff deserves recognition for this. Warren finished the game completing 13 of 19 passing attempts for 123 yards and a touchdown, while Orji added 64 rushing yards on six carries with a score on the ground. Is this level of play from both QBs sustainable this season? Who knows, but it was enough to get the job done against MSU.

Colston Loveland: As bad as this Michigan passing attack has been all season, it's hard to imagine how inept it would be without the All-American tight end. Loveland had another monster game in this game, with six receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns. One of the big travesties of this season was that we didn't really get to see how good the year could be for Loveland if he had more help. Still, he was a real catcher for the Wolverines.

Donovan Edwards' halfback passes: The stock of those was already sky-high, but Edwards added a fourth-down completion on his fourth career pass attempt tonight and found Loveland for a 23-yard touchdown on a fourth-quarter gadget play to extend Michigan's lead to two touchdowns. Edwards, the running back, threw for a remarkable 131 passing yards with two passing touchdowns in his Maize and Blue career.

Third-down defense and overall tackling: It's been a struggle all season for Michigan to get off the field on third down, and Saturday night was no different. The Wolverines seemingly had Michigan State on third-and-long the entire game, but kept giving up chunk plays on those crucial downs and allowing the Spartans to extend drives. Michigan State converted 8 of 15 third downs on the night and pounced on multiple conversions on those third-and-longs. To be fair, Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale was heavily outgunned by MSU offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren in those situations, and that happened quite often this season.

To be fair to the defensive coordinator, there were times when Martindale had his guys in the right position and they just couldn't make the tackle. It's been so rare for Michigan defenders to miss tackles over the last three seasons, but for this year's Wolverines it's been a chronic problem. This is due to the entire defensive coaching staff at UM.

Michigan's running game: In the past, this rivalry game was won by the team that rushed for the most yards, but the Wolverines bucked that trend tonight. Michigan was defeated 163-119 in that game, and running backs Kalel Mullings (1.4 yards per carry) and Donovan Edwards (2.7) were held in check by the Spartans. The Wolverines, as mentioned above, received a nice boost on the ground from quarterback Alex Orji, but were only held to 3.8 yards per rush attempt as a team tonight. As Michigan's limitations in the passing game become more apparent, opposing defenses are on the run, challenging the Wolverines to beat them in a different way.

Punter Tommy Doman: It's been an up-and-down couple of years for Doman, but his struggles Saturday night could have cost Michigan the ball. Not only did the punter mishandle a perfect snap on the extra point after UM's first touchdown, Doman also averaged just 36.6 yards per punt on five attempts against Michigan State. In tight ball games where both offenses struggle, field position is a critical factor. The Wolverines mostly won that battle Saturday night, but this came despite Doman's piece. We haven't seen Michigan with other punters this season, but the fumbled punts and mishandled snaps are too common to trust Doman any longer.

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