Michigan

Week 2 college football winners and losers: Michigan and Notre Dame have real work to do to make the playoff

Published

2 years ago

September 7, 2024

Week 2 college football winners and losers: Michigan and Notre Dame have real work to do to make the playoff

Michigan and Notre Dame are far from playoff ready. Especially on offense.

The two top-10 teams will tumble down the AP Top 25 on Sunday after embarrassing losses. The No. 10 Wolverines were manhandled by No. 3 Texas in a 31-12 loss that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. And No. 5 Notre Dame followed up its 10-point win at Texas A&M in Week 1 with an embarrassing 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois. The Fighting Irish entered the game as 28.5-point favorites.

Both teams sit 1-1 largely because of their inability to pass the football effectively. Michigan didn’t add a transfer after J.J. McCarthy’s departure to the NFL and held a quarterback competition between Davis Warren and Alex Orji. After adding a transfer QB in Sam Hartman a season ago, Notre Dame went the transfer route again and signed Duke’s Riley Leonard for 2024. In addition to Leonard, Notre Dame re-hired former offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock from LSU, where he coordinated an offense that included Heisman winner Jayden Daniels and first-round picks Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas in 2023.

Neither Warren, Orji or Leonard has been an effective passer so far this season. Warren was named Michigan’s starter as Orji has seen limited playing time for the second straight season. After throwing for just 118 yards on 25 pass attempts against Fresno State, Warren wasn’t much better against the Longhorns. He was 22-of-33 passing for 204 yards, but many of those yards came after Texas went up 31-6. A big reason for that deficit? Warren’s two interceptions.

Warren’s story is phenomenal. The senior was diagnosed with leukemia in 2019 while he was in high school. He spent more than four months in the hospital getting treatments and is now starting games for the defending national champions. You cannot question his desire or perseverance.

But you can question the performance of the Michigan offense over the past two weeks. The Wolverines have scored just three touchdowns and 36 offensive points over the first two games of the season. Yes, Michigan lost a lot from its offense a season ago. Given the offseason change in Ann Arbor, it was realistic to expect some early growing pains as offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore took over as the team’s head coach.

It’s hard to find offensive bright spots, however. Jim Harbaugh’s offense was predicated on play-action pass plays off a dogged run game. So far, Michigan has recorded 57 carries for 228 yards. Are teams loading up even more to stop the run knowing that McCarthy is now in the NFL? Warren averaged 4.7 yards a pass against Fresno State and only surpassed that mark against Texas after the Longhorns knew the game was out of reach.

Leonard, meanwhile, has not displayed the traits that make some draft analysts believe he’s a possible first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s averaging just over five yards per pass attempt over the first two games of the season and his second interception of the game on Saturday ended up being the pivotal moment.

With Notre Dame facing a second-and-short up by one with less than six minutes to go, Leonard fired this pass across the middle into a two-high safety look.

🚨UPSET ALERT🚨
Don’t count out Northern Illinois just yet 👀
Riley Leonard’s second interception puts the Huskies in BUSINESS
pic.twitter.com/HQKbOlMyaR
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) September 7, 2024

Northern Illinois then drove down the field and kicked the go-ahead field goal with 31 seconds to go.

The expanded playoff isn’t out of reach for either team. Alabama made the playoff a season ago after losing in Week 2. Notre Dame has a schedule that includes just two top-25 teams the rest of the season as of Saturday and Michigan will have opportunities for big wins against USC, Oregon and Ohio State.

But the margin for error for either team is pretty much zero. We’re not counting out Notre Dame and Michigan from the postseason, but we’re a lot more pessimistic than we were at the start of the season unless the passing offenses take a huge step forward.

Here are this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

Syracuse QB Kyle McCord: The Orange took down No. 23 Georgia Tech 31-28 on Saturday thanks to a strong performance by the former Ohio State QB. McCord was 32-of-46 passing for 381 yards and four touchdowns. McCord threw his first two TDs to Trebor Pena before hitting Oronde Gadsden II for two more scores. His TD throw to Gadsden with 8:39 to go turned out to be the winning score as Syracuse ran out the clock after Tech cut the lead to three with 2:31 to go.

Army: The Black Knights had no issue with Florida Atlantic. Army won 24-7 as it ran 58 times for 405 yards. FAU was helpless to stop Army’s rushing attack and also allowed a 44-yard TD pass on Bryson Daily’s only completion of the day.

The real highlight came from backup punter Matthew Rhodes, however. Look at his wheels on this 23-yard fake punt TD.

South Carolina: The Gamecocks were dominant on defense in a 31-6 drubbing of Kentucky in the first SEC game of the season. Kentucky quarterbacks Brock Vandagriff and Gavin Wimsatt were just 6-of-17 for 44 yards as South Carolina recorded five sacks and forced two turnovers. It was a huge win for South Carolina and coach Shane Beamer as the team looks to bounce back from a disappointing 5-7 season in 2023.

Louisiana-Monroe coach Bryant Vincent: The Warhawks got a huge 32-6 win over UAB. The loss drops UAB to 3-9 against FBS opponents in former NFL coach Trent Dilfer’s time as head coach. Dilfer was hired ahead of the 2023 season after Vincent spent 2022 as the team’s interim coach when he was promoted following Bill Clark’s retirement. Instead of keeping Vincent after a 7-6 season, UAB chose Dilfer. On Saturday, Vincent got a bit of revenge.

Losers

Cincinnati: Things were looking good for the Bearcats during the third quarter of their game against Pitt. Cincy had a 27-6 lead and looked to be on the way to an easy win. Instead, Pitt scored 22 unanswered points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, to steal a 28-27 win. Pitt’s game-winning points came with 17 seconds left on a 35-yard field goal by Ben Sauls as Cincinnati’s final four possessions ended in three punts and last-ditch fumble as time expired.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze reacts during the second half of an NCAA college football game against California, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill) — Auburn and Hugh Freeze are now 1-1 after losing to Cal in Week 2. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

Auburn: The Tigers’ offense is far from a finished product in Hugh Freeze’s second season. Cal went to Auburn and got a 21-14 win on Saturday after forcing five Auburn turnovers. The Tigers fumbled once and QB Payton Thorne threw four interceptions. His final two picks came on Auburn’s last two drives of the game after the Tigers cut the Cal lead to seven with 6:06 to go. With a schedule that includes Oklahoma, Georgia, Missouri and Alabama, a win over Cal would have been a huge step for bowl eligibility. Instead, Auburn needs to get at least three wins in the SEC to make the postseason.

Arkansas: You were so, so close, Razorbacks. Arkansas was up 21-7 on Oklahoma State in the first half before the Hogs were outscored 24-10 in the second half in a 39-31 OSU win in double overtime. OSU’s first score came on a pick-six and Arkansas fumbled twice in the second half. Those turnovers led to 10 points by the Cowboys as they slowly crept back into the game. It’s a bad loss for the Razorbacks, but there’s still some reason for optimism. Oklahoma State is a Big 12 title contender and Bobby Petrino’s offense is working. Arkansas racked up 648 yards of total offense after scoring 10 TDs in 10 possessions in Week 1.

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Michigan

Wojo: May’s Wolverines complete rivalry sweep and historic Big Ten run, rile Izzo

Published

8 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Wojo: May’s Wolverines complete rivalry sweep and historic Big Ten run, rile Izzo

Ann Arbor – The Wolverines were pushed, pushed hard. As they have all season, they pushed back even harder.

This was Dusty May’s vision of his Michigan program bathed in maize, in a packed, loud Crisler Center. The Wolverines completed one of the most dominant regular seasons in Big Ten history by going 29-2, 19-1 in the conference. And almost as important, 2-0 against their rivals.

May brought Yaxel Lendeborg for this reason and this season, and specifically for this game. Roughed up last year by Michigan State, the Wolverines toughened up and loaded up, and completed a season sweep of Tom Izzo’s squad with a 90-80 victory Sunday.

The outcomes – 83-71 in East Lansing in January – belied the competitiveness of the games. The Spartans battled and led by four midway through the second half Sunday, but UM came in waves, led by Lendeborg’s 27 points and 5-for-6 shooting from 3.

Michigan deserves its plaudits for a historic run, and MSU (25-6) deserves credit for setting the standard and stoking the motivation. This is how rivals can push each other when they’re not busy pounding each other and swearing at each other. In his second season, May has picked up quickly on what the game means, and how it’s won.

The Wolverines will head to the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed, and assuredly a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. After the confetti fell and the Big Ten championship banner was raised, May took a moment to relish it. Just a moment, though.

“This journey, everything comes at you so fast,” May said. “We just did something incredibly difficult together, so rewarding and gratifying. And our journey is only three-fourths of the way done.”

UM among national title favorites

Michigan will be one of the favorites to reach the Final Four and win the national championship. Especially if Lendeborg elevates as he did on this day, taking over the game just when the Spartans seemed primed to wreck UM’s fun.

That’s what should be extracted from a rivalry that gets needlessly toxic at times. Of course there were more flashpoints, including yet another technical foul on Jeremy Fears Jr., after a leg kick to the groin of UM guard Elliot Cadeau. Izzo defended his star by saying there was no intent, but there have been too many incidents to dismiss. Izzo should be as miffed at Fears as anyone, although he insists it wouldn’t have become an issue if May hadn’t publicly pointed it out after the first meeting.

You can’t just call it rivalry gamesmanship when there’s ample video evidence. UM also has been called for several technicals – notably by Aday Mara – without disagreement.

If the Spartans made the Wolverines tougher and angrier, perhaps UM is returning the favor. While Michigan has risen in remarkable fashion under May, Izzo certainly isn’t retreating, as fired up after the game as he was during it. At the end, the student section serenaded the Spartans with “Little Brother!”, an old taunt that was especially biting this time.

It’s what happens in a rivalry, no different than the jeers the Wolverines have endured at the Breslin Center. Izzo has had so much control, he’s not accustomed to the other side getting edgy too.

“I guess the crowd didn’t watch the game because I’m nobody’s damn little brother, and neither is my team,” Izzo snapped. “I’m at Michigan State, and no matter what those people think, we’ve done it longer and better than most. … They’ve had a hell of a year. We’ve had a hell of a year.”

Izzo hasn’t encountered a UM coach willing to play the rivalry game as smoothly and passive-aggressively as May, so perhaps the tension was unavoidable. After this game, they shook hands for about two seconds, approximately 1.5 seconds longer than the postgame encounter in East Lansing.

“I didn’t know how big this rivalry was,” May said. “Rivalries are awesome for sports. When they swept us (last year), they earned it, they kicked our butt. They made us better. … Trust me, they’re gonna be coming after us next year, and we’re gonna be coming after them.”

It actually could happen sooner if they collide in the Big Ten tourney. Frankly, it might be better if they go their separate ways for now, because both teams have bigger goals than settling rivalry scores. Both can do significant damage in the tournaments.

The Spartans have a battle-tested threesome – Fears, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper – and a physical, tenacious defense. The Wolverines have an imposing frontline of Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr. and Mara (when he’s not in foul trouble), and a physical, tenacious defense. This was a terrifically combative clash, with the Wolverines not pulling away until the final minutes.

Lendeborg and Fears are the favorites for Big Ten Player of the Year, and the best player on the best team seems the logical choice to me. Lendeborg made the big plays at the big moments, 8-for-12 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. His season numbers aren’t overwhelming – 14.3 points, 7.3 rebounds – partly because UM has a deep nine-man rotation. It’s down to eight with the loss of L.J. Cason, which requires more from others.

More from Yaxel? He didn’t need to be asked twice.

“There’s no way in heck I was letting the seniors come out and lose their last game here,” Lendeborg said. “We all had goals and hopes of being the best Michigan team ever assembled, but now that we’re in the middle of pretty much accomplishing that, it’s amazing. Nobody has any selfish motives. It was just my time to be aggressive.”

Lendeborg ‘has a lot more in his tank’

Lendeborg, a pricey 6-9 portal addition who chose UM over the NBA, said he came here with three goals: Win the Big Ten; win Player of the Year; win the national title. For it to happen, he has to be the engine.

“Yaxel has a lot more in his tank,” said Roddy Gayle Jr., who scored 15. “It’s kind of my responsibility to keep pushing him. He’s an incredible player, especially when he’s out of his head and playing ball freely. I truly believe Yaxel is the best player in the country.”

Lendeborg is part of a four-man portal class that turned the Wolverines from a good team into a powerhouse. They haven’t been bashful about their ambitions, ever since they launched an incredible run with three November victories in Las Vegas – by 40 over San Diego State, by 30 over Auburn, by 40 over Gonzaga. They’ve won 24 games by double-digits,10 by 30-plus and seven by 40-plus (Big Ten record).

May doesn’t fire back often, but he does chafe at the notion the Wolverines simply bought a bunch of talent. Some have called the Wolverines “mercenaries” and questioned his program-building methods, an odd complaint in the world of NIL and rampant transfers.

“We’ve heard a lot about this super team we had,” May said. “But we looked at (the analytics) – KenPom had us 11 preseason, AP had us No. 7. Not typical for a super team. Our secret sauce is how great of teammates these guys are. Period.”

He doesn’t waste time worrying about it, but his boss has something to say. AD Warde Manuel stood at the edge of the Crisler Center court as the team celebrated and was asked if he hears the gripes.

“That bothers me,” Manuel said. “There’s a lot of people across the country spending a lot of money not having the success we’re having. You have to look at why. And the why is the pieces of the puzzle that have come together, and the way Dusty leads.”

May led them from 8-24 the year before he arrived to 29-2 and the Big Ten championship. He’s shown he’s willing to take on all challenges, including from a storied rival and an iconic coach. Sure, it can get caustic at times, but wherever the Wolverines and Spartans go from here, they’ll know what helped push them.

bob.wojnowski@detroitnews.com

@bobwojnowski

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Michigan

Michigan trooper hospitalized after car hits patrol vehicle on Detroit’s west side

Published

20 hours ago

March 8, 2026

Press Room

Michigan trooper hospitalized after car hits patrol vehicle on Detroit’s west side

Nick Lentz

March 8, 2026 / 3:47 PM EDT
/ CBS Detroit

A Michigan State Police trooper is recovering after the patrol vehicle they were in was hit by a car on Detroit’s west side Sunday morning, the state agency said.

Troopers were investigating a fatal collision on Interstate 96 near Outer Drive when a crash involving a semitruck and an SUV happened at a nearby exit ramp, officials said.

The trooper who was hurt was sitting in the patrol car with its emergency lights on during the investigation into the exit ramp crash when the car hit the passenger side of the law enforcement vehicle, according to the state agency. The trooper was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Officials said the driver of the car that hit the patrol vehicle, identified as a female of undisclosed age, refused medical treatment. Troopers determined while interviewing her that she was “impaired by both alcohol and narcotics,” according to the state agency.

The female was arrested and taken to the hospital for a blood draw, according to officials.

“Please slow down, focus on the roadway, move over for emergency vehicles,” Michigan State Police First Lieutenant Mike Shaw said in a written statement.

Charges against the female are pending.

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Michigan

How to watch Michigan vs. Michigan State as the rivalry continues

Published

1 day ago

March 8, 2026

Press Room

How to watch Michigan vs. Michigan State as the rivalry continues

The Detroit News
| The Detroit News

Michigan and Michigan State conclude their regular seasons with another game in their long and intense men’s basketball rivalry.

Tip-off is Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, and the game will be televised by CBS.

No. 3 Michigan (28-2, 18-1 Big Ten) has already clinched the Big Ten regular-season championship outright, but No. 8 MSU (25-5, 15-4) will look to put a blemish on the Wolverines as both teams head to conference and NCAA Tournament play.

In the first meeting this season, Michigan prevailed 83-71 at the Breslin Center on Jan. 30, snapping a four-game losing streak in the series. It was UM’s first win in East Lansing since January 2018. Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg had 26 points and 12 rebounds, while Jeremy Fears Jr. scored a career-high 31 for the Spartans.

The Michigan vs. Michigan State rivalry began in 1909 and the Wolverines lead the all-time series 98-92.

Michigan State at Michigan

▶ Tipoff: 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Crisler Center, Ann Arbor

▶ TV/radio: CBS/760, 94.7

▶ Records: No. 3 Michigan 28-2, 18-1 Big Ten; No. 8 Michigan State 25-5, 15-4

▶ Outlook: This is the regular-season finale for both teams. Michigan won the first meeting, 83-71, on Jan. 30 in East Lansing and is seeking its first sweep since 2014. The Wolverines will celebrate senior day and their outright Big Ten regular-season title during a postgame ceremony.