Michigan
Michigan Football: Offensive player grades vs. Arkansas State
Michigan got it’s second win of the 2024 season at home against Arkansas State in a 28-18 victory. The Wolverines still didn’t look like a defending national championship team, but they did end up getting the job done.
Michigan’s defense was almost reminiscent of last years squad, and looked dominant through three quarters. They ended up giving away two touchdowns to Arkansas State’s backup QB Timmy McClain with less than 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter during garbage time. Michigan’s run game looked phenomenal, but the passing game was nonexistent which led to changes at the QB position. Michigan’s top pass catcher Colston Loveland went out with a shoulder injury, and the Wolverines will need to monitor his status in the coming days.
There is plenty to review in the Week 3 victory, but here’s how some of Michigan’s offensive players graded out:
Davis Warren (F)
Starting QB Davis Warren had his worst game of the season through the air against the Red Wolves before eventually getting benched for backup QB Alex Orji late in the 3rd quarter. Warren threw three self-inflicted interceptions in only 14 attempts. Interestingly enough, he did move the offense downfield for three touchdowns, but they mostly included handing the ball to the running backs. Other than his three interceptions, he actually completed all 11 of his other passes. Overall he was a negative contributor to the Michigan offense and needed to be taken out of the game.
Alex Orji (B-)
Alex Orji ended up leading the offense after starting QB Davis Warren was taken out of the game following a third interception. Orji threw a touchdown to rookie TE Hogan Hansen on his first pass attempt on his first drive of the game. He also had a decent fourth quarter on the ground rushing three times for 27 yards totaling 9.0 ypc. He ended the game on two drives that included only one first down and a three-and-out on the last Michigan drive of the game which didn’t help his offensive output overall.
Donovan Edwards (A-)
Edwards took the backseat in the backfield this week putting up a solid performance against a shaky Arkansas State run defense. The senior and team captain ended the game with 17 rushes for 82 yards and a touchdown. He also added one catch for 11 yards. It was a solid game for the veteran who broke out for multiple chunk plays, but his performance was overshadowed by backup running back Kalel Mullings.
Kalel Mullings (A+)
Kalel Mullings had the best single game individual performance of the year so far this season. Mullings proved himself as a very efficient running back option for the Michigan offense taking less carries than Edwards with only 15, but turning it into 153 total rushing yards. He averaged an outstanding 10.2 ypc cutting through the Red Wolves defense for huge plays. We will see how his role changes next week following this monster performance.
Tight Ends (B-)
Colston Loveland was again the favorite target for Davis Warren before going out of the game with a shoulder injury late in the 2nd quarter. He ended up coming back and catching the first ball of the 2nd half before once again going to the sideline for his shoulder, and eventually leaving the field altogether. Loveland only totaled three catches for 30 yards, while the leading pass catcher for the Wolverines offense was Junior TE Marlin Klein (three receptions for 43 yards). Rookie TE Hogan Hansen had his first career catch which was also his first touchdown as a Wolverine. Hogan had the only Michigan receiving touchdown on the day.
Receivers (D)
The receiver room struggled once again to develop a rhythm with the QBs, which seems to have become a weekly occurrence. Fredrick Moore led all wideouts with just 38 receiving yards receiving. The only other wideout to catch a pass was Semaj Morgan, who turned two catches into just three yards. The struggles in the receiver room could be the result of the lackluster QB play through three weeks, which will hopefully improve with the change from Warren to Orji.
Offensive Line (B+)
The Michigan offensive line looked the best it has all season in Saturday’s game. They led the RB room to 255 rushing yards on 35 total carries. With Kalel Mullings leading the way, the Wolverines o-line created huge holes in the Red Wolves run defense which led to big plays on the ground. The only blemish on their performance was the below average pass block performance which led to both Michigan QB’s being forced to throw either on the run or outside the pocket on many occasions.
The Wolverines will look to double-down on Saturday’s performance when No. 11 USC comes to the Big House in a heavyweight ranked matchup on CBS at 3:30 pm EST
Sherrone Moore updates Michigan’s quarterback status following Arkansas State win
The Good, The Bad: Michigan defeats Arkansas State
Takeaways: Michigan defeats Arkansas State but leaves much to be desired
Authorities are asking for the public’s assistance to find a missing Oakland County teen who is considered endangered.
Adrianna Smith, 15, was last seen in the 3500 block of South Fenton Road, just south of the city of Holly in northwest Oakland County, according to Michigan State Police.
She is believed to have left her home in a 2002 Jeep Liberty with an adult male, possibly a man named Derek Girtman, MSP said.
Smith is described as having blonde hair and green eyes. She is about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and 160 pounds. She has one tattoo above her right knee and another on her left ankle.
Anyone with information about Adrianna’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the MSP Metro North Post at either (800) 495-4677 or (989) 370-8926.
The supreme court on Wednesday sided with Michigan in ruling that the state’s lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an ageing pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel will stay in state court.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for a unanimous court that the Enbridge energy company waited too long to try to move the case to federal court.
The case is part of a messy legal dispute about a pipeline that has moved crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953.
Dana Nessel, Michigan’s attorney general, sued in state court in June 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows Enbridge to operate a 4.5-mile (6.4km) section of pipeline under the straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel, a Democrat, won a restraining order shutting down the pipeline from Ingham county judge James Jamo in June 2020, although Enbridge was allowed to continue operations after meeting safety requirements.
Enbridge moved the lawsuit into federal court in 2021, arguing it affects US and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel from the sixth US circuit court of appeals sent the case back to Jamo in June 2024, finding that the company missed a 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions.
The pipeline at issue is called Line 5. Concerns over the section beneath the straits rupturing and causing a catastrophic spill have been growing since 2017, when Enbridge engineers revealed they had known about gaps in the section’s protective coating since 2014. A boat anchor damaged the section in 2018, intensifying fears of a spill.
The Michigan department of natural resources under Gretchen Whitmer, the state’s governor, revoked the straits easement for Line 5 in 2020. Enbridge filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the revocation.
Enbridge won a ruling from a federal judge blocking the move, but Whitmer, a Democrat, has appealed to the sixth US circuit court of appeals. In March, the supreme court rejected Whitmer’s appeal claiming that she couldn’t be sued in federal court.
It was unclear how the federal ruling blocking Whitmer’s revocation attempt would affect Nessel’s case in state court. The company said in a statement that the judge in the Whitmer case had already decided federal regulators, not the state, are responsible for Line 5 safety and they had found no issues that would warrant shutting it down.
Enbridge also is seeking permits to encase the section of pipeline beneath the straits in a protective tunnel. The Michigan public service commission granted the relevant permits in 2023, but a coalition of environmental groups and Michigan tribes has filed a lawsuit seeking to void state permits for the tunnel. The state supreme court is weighing that case.
Enbridge also needs approval from the US army corps of engineers and the Michigan department of environment, Great Lakes and energy.
The pipeline is at the center of a separate legal dispute in Wisconsin as well. A federal judge in Madison last summer gave Enbridge three years to shut down part of Line 5 that runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior’s reservation. The company has appealed against the shutdown order to the seventh US circuit court of appeals, but it started work in February to reroute the line around the reservation.
The Bad River Band and environmental groups have filed a state lawsuit seeking to halt the work, arguing regulators have underestimated the damage the reroute construction will cause. That case also is pending.
Porter Martone becomes first teenager to score game-winning goals in his first two NHL playoff games.
Porter Martone becomes first teenager to score game-winning goals in his first two NHL playoff games.
Three Michigan State recruits will represent Team USA at the world U18 hockey championships in Bratislava and Trencin, Slovakia.
The U.S. opens against Czechia on Wednesday (10 a.m., The Hockey Network).
The future Spartans are: defenseman Nick Bogas (Royal Oak), defenseman Tyler Martyniuk (Washington Township) and forward Brooks Rogowski (Brighton).
Other local commits include: defenseman Abe Barnett (University of Michigan) and goalie Luke Carrithers (Western Michigan).
Team USA’s head coach is Nick Fohr (Dexter) with Kevin Porter (Northville) and Dan Darrow (Livonia) among the assistant coaches.
The tournament features 10 countries with the final scheduled for May 2.
Bruins tie series with Sabres
The visiting Boston Bruins scored three second-period goals and held off a late Buffalo Sabres rally to post a 4-2 win on Tuesday and even their Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series at one victory apiece.
Viktor Arvidsson scored in the last two periods, giving the Bruins 1-0 and 4-0 leads. Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha also lit the lamp for Boston, which heads home for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Thursday.
Jonathan Aspirot, Casey Mittelstadt and David Pastrnak each dished out two assists for the Bruins, and Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.
Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs scored as Buffalo climbed within 4-2 in the closing minutes.
Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 19 shots before Alex Lyon entered in relief following Arvidsson’s second marker, which came just 16 seconds into the third period.
Buffalo had a 36-26 shot advantage, including 20-8 in the third period, but its power play went 0-for-5. Boston finished 1-for-6 on the man advantage.
The physical contest featured 47 penalty minutes for each team.
Following a scoreless opening period, the Bruins took over in the second, scoring on three of their 11 shots against Luukkonen.
Arvidsson broke the deadlock 4:54 into the middle frame, taking Aspirot’s lob pass in ahead of the defense and beating Luukkonen five-hole with a backhander from the left circle.
A gaffe by Luukkonen helped Boston double its lead with 3:31 left in the period, as Geekie’s high backhanded dump from the far side of center ice eluded him over the glove.
The Bruins’ power play got in on the action 1:41 later. After Geekie’s one- handed keep-in at the blue line extended the play, Zacha tipped in Pastrnak’s shot from the top of the right circle while stationed in the bumper position.
Arvidsson made it 4-0 early in the third, prompting Sabres coach Lindy Ruff to change goaltenders. Aspirot banked a long feed off the boards to set up the play, leading Arvidsson down the left wing to score on a 2-on-1 rush with Zacha.
The Sabres struck twice in a 1:14 span to make things interesting. Byram accepted Beck Malenstyn’s back pass for a wrister from the top of the right circle to break Swayman’s shutout bid with 6:06 left.
Krebs soon made it 4-2, batting down and scoring the rebound of a Rasmus Dahlin point shot that caromed off the post and back into the crease.
Detroit Red Wings received six A’s in The Detroit News’ final grades for the 2025-2026 season.
Grades and key takeaways for Finnie, Gibson, Seider, Larkin, Raymond and DeBrincat after the Wings’ late collapse.
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