Connect with us

Michigan

Michigan football winners and losers: Sherrone Moore and QB play continue to doom

Published

on

Michigan football winners and losers: Sherrone Moore and QB play continue to doom


play

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia breaks down winners and losers for Michigan football after its 21-7 road loss Saturday to Illinois in Week 8 at Memorial Stadium:

Advertisement

Michigan football winners vs. Illinois

TE Colston Loveland

At this point, the names on the positive side of the ledger are not a surprise. It feels like Loveland is essentially the entire passing attack. The projected 2025 NFL draft first-round selection caught a team-high seven passes for 83 yards on Saturday and picked up four of Michigan’s eight first downs through the air. Jack Tuttle’s first two attempts toward Loveland fell incomplete, but seven of the final eight connected, which included a 29-yard downfield strike up the right sideline on fourth down to temporarily keep hope alive in the final quarter. Loveland also had consecutive catches for 16 and 10 yards on U-M’s lone scoring drive, and Pro Football Focus had him graded as U-M’s top rated offensive player with more than 15 snaps (75 grade).

RB Kalel Mullings

The next highest graded player with more than 15 snaps? Of course it was Mullings. Michigan’s standout running back was once again impressive, running 19 times for 87 yards and the team’s only touchdown. Mullings picked up Michigan’s only two first downs through the first four drives, and accounted for nine of the team’s 11 first downs on the ground throughout the day.

Michigan’s best drive came in the second quarter when it went 12 plays and 72 yards which ended with a Mullings’ 1-yard dive into the end zone on fourth down. It’s no coincidence he carried the ball on eight of the 12 plays, including the first four which helped set up a play-action pass. Even when factoring in the amount of short-yardage carries he got — seven came when U-M had two yards or fewer to gain for a first down — he still averaged nearly five yards per carry and 3.21 after contact.

Advertisement

DT Mason Graham

The box score never does justice to just how much of a game-wrecker Mason Graham is. He likes to tell reporters to “turn on the film,” and he backed it up vs. Illinois. U-M’s star junior interior lineman and projected first-rounder graded out as U-M’s top defender (86.2) in the game. He was third on the team with six tackles, which included a 5-yard tackle for loss on quarterback Luke Altmyer in the fourth. On the six plays where Graham made a tackle, Illinois amassed 4 total yards. He also made a big play on an early fourth-and-1, when he submarined the interior of the Illini front, which allowed Josiah Stewart and Jaishawn Barham to come around the edge, wrap up the tackle for loss and create a turnover on downs. Graham was also credited with four quarterback pressures, three hurries and one hit on 46 snaps.

Michigan football losers vs. Illinois

Head coach Sherrone Moore

Moore’s Wolverines (4-3, 2-2) are off to their worst seven-game start in a season since Brady Hoke’s 5-7 campaign in his final year in 2014. Yes, this was never going to look like 2023, not after losing 18 players to the NFL.

But to look like that after a bye week, feels like malpractice. Michigan lost the turnover battle to Illinois, 3-0, committed six penalties for 61 yards, got burned by a fake punt and missed a field goal for the first time all year among many issues.

Advertisement

U-M is back at a quarterback crossroads, something Moore must answer headed into a rivalry game against Michigan State. Moore says a lot of the right things. His players told athletic director Warde Manuel “you know who we want” when Jim Harbaugh ventured to the NFL, and Moore has seemingly worked well with players, coaches, donors, alumni and NIL collectives in the new era of college sports.

But the on-field product hasn’t worked. Before the games began, Moore implied there would be little-to-no falloff moving into this next chapter of Wolverines football. Clearly, that has not been the case.

REQUIRED READING: Sherrone Moore has a lot to prove in final 5 weeks of Michigan football’s season

QB Jack Tuttle

Tuttle’s No. 1 job was to protect the football. Instead, he has turned it over four times in the past five quarters, which included a fumble in the second quarter which led to an Illini field goal, and then a red-zone interception in the fourth which sealed the defeat. For the second time in as many appearances, Tuttle was the lowest graded Michigan player according to Pro Football Focus (28.7 overall), which included the worst passing grade for any U-M quarterback on the season (30.1).

Advertisement

The seventh-year signal caller completed 20 of 32 passes for 208 yards, but was 9 of 14 for 73 yards entering the final quarter down two touchdowns. It didn’t help he was under a lot of pressure and got sacked five times which lost 37 yards. Still, Tuttle took ownership for what happened postgame — namely an early attempt in the first quarter where he overthrew an open Loveland on a corner route.

“Can’t happen,” Tuttle said. “Terrible, it’s embarrassing … that changes the game, that’s one that gets you in your sleep at night.”

Michigan has started three quarterbacks through seven games, and looks no closer to the answer.

P Tommy Doman

In a game where 14 Illinois points came off a turnover or via a special teams trick play, every yard mattered and Doman didn’t help Michigan flip the field nearly enough. He punted three times, with a net average of 32.7 yards per attempt. His first, after an opening three-and-out, traveled 33 yards and Illinois began on its 40. His next, a shank, went 29 yards before his final attempt traveled 36 yards as Illinois began at its own 45. Its average field position was its own 36. For comparison, Illinois’ punter Hugh Robertson had four punts which averaged 46.2 yards per attempt, and three times U-M had to begin a possession inside the 20.





Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Michigan

2025 cornerback from Georgia gets Michigan State football offer

Published

on

2025 cornerback from Georgia gets Michigan State football offer


Michigan State football has found a new prospect in the 2025 recruiting class to extend an offer to. Notably, so late in the cycle, any new offer holds major significance.

Chaney was once committed to Georgia State, but has backed off of that commitment. After a solid fall, he has received offers from Eastern Michigan, Oregon State and USF, along with MSU to go along with his initial crop of offers.

A 6’1″, 185 pound cornerback, be on the lookout for Michigan State to potentially make a move here if things do not work out with a couple of other prospects.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Michigan

UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26

Published

on

UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26


As the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates amid a cooling job market, the economy is poised for moderate growth in Michigan and nationally over the next two years, according to University of Michigan economists.

The national economy is projected to grow 2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024 with the unemployment rate averaging 4.2%, while growth may ease slightly in the near future due to a slowing labor market, the UM economists said in a U.S. Economic Outlook for 2025–2026.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s economy has slowed since spring, with heightened uncertainty due to the recent elections, the economists wrote in a Michigan Economic Outlook for 2025–2026. Both reports were written by Jacob T. Burton, Gabriel M. Ehrlich, Kyle W. Henson, Daniil Manaenkov, Niaoniao You and Yinuo Zhang.

“The U.S. economy has gone through times of great uncertainty before and emerged intact,” the economists wrote. “We are projecting that both Michigan and the nation will follow that path over the next two years.”

Advertisement

Job growth in Michigan is expected to decline in the second half of the year, but grow moderately in 2025 and 2026.

“We believe the election results have amplified the uncertainty surrounding Michigan’s economic outlook,” the economists wrote. “We project a small dip in Michigan’s job count in the back half of 2024 to give way to moderate job gains in 2025 and 2026, but the outlook depends critically on uncertain policy decisions and the subsequent market responses.”

The economists expect job growth in the state to be strongest in health care, leisure and hospitality and government, while sectors including manufacturing and professional services are expected to remain stable.

“We are projecting the state economy to return to growth over the next two years as easier monetary policy and another round of tax cuts boost medium-term growth,” the economists wrote. “Michigan adds 19,000 payroll jobs next year and an additional 26,700 in 2026. The unemployment rate in Michigan is projected to fall from 4.6% in late 2024 to 4.3% by the end of 2026.”

The Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor metro areas showed a downward trend in job growth, with Detroit and Grand Rapids seeing 0.1% growth during the past year. Ann Arbor saw relatively stronger job growth of 1.3% as of September, according to the report. Metro-level data for October was not available for the report, officials said.

Advertisement

The report attributes the underlying cause of the slowdown in Michigan’s job market as the Federal Reserve’s policy of monetary tightening to control inflation.

“Although the Fed has recently pivoted toward reducing short-term interest rates, we believe that real interest rates remain at a restrictive level and that the effects of the Fed’s past tight monetary policy continue to impact Michigan’s economy,” the economists wrote. “Indeed, in many ways, the national rebalancing in the labor market is precisely what the Fed hoped to engineer with its policy actions. Unfortunately for Michigan, our relatively rate-sensitive industry mix means that higher interest rates have taken a larger economic toll than nationally.”

The Michigan outlook points to stronger personal income growth, with per capita income increasing to $64,000 in 2024 and reaching around $68,500 by 2026, up 41% from 2019.

Inflation is expected to slow to 3.3% in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025 before increasing to 2.7% in 2026 due to new tariffs that the incoming Trump administration is expected to impose.

The U.S. and Michigan economic outlook reports follow the presidential election, which economists say will result in significant changes in U.S. economic policies. In the reports, the economists shared their thoughts on about the impacts of a second Trump administration.

Advertisement

The recent election of Donald Trump as well as the Republican majorities in the U.S. Senate and House will likely to result in a continuation of tax cuts Trump enacted during his first term, the economists said. Also expected is a sharp rise in tariffs on imports from China to take effect by 2026. 

While rising tariffs on Chinese imports and tax cuts for corporations and individuals are expected in upcoming years, revenue increases from tariffs are unlikely to offset revenue losses generated by tax cuts, according to the report. This could result in slower revenue growth and a sharp increase in federal deficits.

“As the stimulative effects of the expected tax cuts dominate the drag from the anticipated new tariffs, we project quarterly GDP growth to accelerate modestly during 2026, reaching a 2.5 percent annualized pace by 2026 Q4,” the economists wrote.

The report notes that the Federal Reserve has started cutting interest rates after keeping them at a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% for 14 months. The rate was reduced by 50 basis points in September and 25 basis points in November, bringing it to 4.5% to 4.75%.

Additional cuts will depend on economic data, with the economists expecting another 25 basis point cut in December.

Advertisement

Looking ahead at next year, the economists say they expect the Fed to make four more 25-basis-point cuts in 2025 and reach a range of 3.25–3.5% by the end of the year.

“In our view, the temporary uptick of inflation related to tariffs will not prompt the Fed to tighten policy in 2026,” economists wrote. “We believe that risk management concerns related to the potential negative growth effects of tariffs, which played a role in the 2019 rate cuts, will balance the upside risks from new tax cuts, prompting the Fed to stand pat.”

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

@CWilliams_DN



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Michigan

Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76

Published

on

Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76


Associated Press

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Quandre Bullock scored 20 points off of the bench to lead South Dakota past Western Michigan 80-76 on Wednesday night.

Bullock also contributed three steals for the Coyotes (5-1). Paul Bruns scored 18 points, shooting 6 for 13 (3 for 8 from 3-point range) and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Cameron Fens had 16 points and shot 7 of 9 from the field and 2 for 4 from the foul line.

Advertisement

The Broncos (2-4) were led by Markhi Strickland, who posted 20 points and six rebounds. Western Michigan also got 13 points and six rebounds from Owen Lobsinger. Javaughn Hannah also recorded 12 points.

Bullock scored 12 points in the first half and South Dakota went into the break trailing 34-33. Bruns’ 18-point second half helped South Dakota close out the four-point victory.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending