Michigan played its cleanest game of the season when it needed to most

Mistakes have doomed Michigan too many times this year, but against Michigan State, the team was locked in. After a turnover-free, penalty-free win, perhaps this team is turning the corner:

Of all the adjustments the Michigan Wolverines have had to endure this season, perhaps the most jarring has come in the ball security department. After top-five finishes in 2022 and 2023, Michigan is currently 115th in the country in turnovers committed with six fumbles and nine interceptions already this season. Even good teams will struggle to win games with numbers like that, let alone rosters with numerous holes.

However, the Wolverines were determined to reverse this narrative on Saturday night. Against the Spartans, Michigan protected the ball and won the turnover battle, while not even committing a penalty for the first time since Nebraska last September. Michigan State might not be the most prolific team at taking the ball away, but it has logged at least one takeaway against all other Big Ten opponents — including Ohio State and Oregon (twice picking off Dillon Gabriel in the red zone). By avoiding disaster and protecting the ball, Michigan secured the rivalry win.

Turned tides

Davis Warren lost the starting job after throwing six interceptions in the first three games, but after Alex Orji could not throw the ball and Jack Tuttle turned into an even more turnover-prone player than Warren before injuries forced him to medically retire , Michigan returned to square one. While Warren seems to offer the offense’s best chance at moving the ball, he comes with a pretty low floor with mistakes seemingly at the ready.

Those mistakes are still likely coming, but for one night at least, Warren was shockingly effective. He rarely put the ball in harm’s way and completed 68.4 percent of his passes. His passes did look short most of the time and he did not rack up gaudy yardage, but if he can hit those routes consistently — and keep the ball safe — that is a worthwhile tradeoff.

While Warren’s picks against Fresno State and Arkansas State did not ultimately cost Michigan, his interception against Texas did end in point. So too did Donovan Edwards’ fumbles against USC and Illinois, and Colston Loveland’s rare turnover against the Longhorns; no one needs a reminder of how big Tuttle’s giveaways were at Washington, and he followed that up with two more in Champaign.

Not only are the turnover numbers up significantly from the previous three years, but they are simply giving games away to the opposition. A decent portion of the Michigan defense’s issues could be traced back to the terrible starting field position it is facing, with turnovers gifting the ball to the opponent in plus territory. The past two losses saw Illinois and Washington start possessions on the plus-side of the field and convert those turnovers into points that effectively put the game out of reach.

One step forward

Pretty simple right, just avoid turnovers? Though easier said than done, I think the clean performance against Michigan State gives a couple reasons for optimism going forward, even with a difficult schedule remaining.

First is the human side. Warren lost the job and was not sure he was going to ever get it back. In receiving a second chance, he knows absolutely what must be done.

“From those first two games, I feel like 90 percent of what I did was good. But playing quarterback is 100 percent of the plays, so you gotta be on it 100 percent of the time, which I took to heart,” Warren told the media earlier this week. “It was something that I had to work on, and I think that was something that I did a good job in camp of and got away from a little bit.

“That was really the message, just protect the football. The ball is the program, and that’s pillar No. 1 of our offense, and something that we didn’t do, and that’s the number one goal of the quarterback.”

That sounds like a player who knows he does not have much margin for error. His play against the Spartans backs that up, and there is no doubt he has spent the past month thinking about what went wrong to start the year, while figuring out how to avoid those mistakes should he ever be given another chance.

It should be mentioned that while the passing game was conservative — and rightly so — Warren still has the confidence to air it out. His throw on the flea flicker was neither close to being intercepted, nor overly safe to the point of limitation.

The other benefit of ball security is it forces the opposing team to drive the entire field. Yes, the Spartans annoyingly were able to do that a few times, but only one drive started past their own 40-yard-line, and that was due to a baffling Tommy Doman punt. Meanwhile, Washington and Illinois both scored 10 points from Michigan giveaways in dangerous parts of the field. Removing those from the opponent’s ledger at least gives Michigan’s offense a chance.

Maybe the turnovers will return against the stingy defenses coming up, but at least we have seen what happens when the offense does a good job of protecting the ball. We already know what happens in the opposite scenario, and certainly Warren does as well. Job No. 1 is taking care of the football, and Michigan’s ability to do that (or not) will dictate how the rest of the season goes.

At least for one night it proved it can happen.