Michigan’s offense is finding its groove at the perfect time with Oregon, Ohio State looming

Michigan’s offense has struggled for most of the season, but things finally started clicking on Saturday night. With teams like Oregon and Ohio State looming, the offense could very well be finding its groove at the perfect time:

“I ain’t the next Tom Brady but I’m an athlete — I don’t need a warmup,” Michigan running back Donovan Edwards after Saturday’s win over Michigan State .

Edwards couldn’t hide his joy as he recounted his passing touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Spartans. The touchdown marked the second in his career. As a passer, he now has four career completions on four attempts for 131 yards. That equates to a 540.1 career passer rating. Not so bad, as he couldn’t help but point out in Saturday’s postgame press conference.

“Dono has a perfect QBR rating,” he exclaimed with a big grin.

The laughs and the smiles were something that fans haven’t seen much of from Michigan this season, and especially not in the weeks leading up to the matchup with Michigan State. Cycling through three quarterbacks has been a bad look for the program, but by going back to the original QB1, Davis Warren, on Saturday, the offense finally found its footing.

We saw Warren look much more comfortable in the pocket as the game progressed, while Alex Orji’s running packages were much more effective than what we’d seen earlier in the season. Tight end Colston Loveland was nearly impossible to guard as well, which certainly makes things easier for the quarterbacks.

While Saturday’s game still wasn’t perfect from an offensive standpoint, it was a big step in the right direction. The Wolverines were coming off their worst offensive performance in a decade in the loss to Illinois, and when head coach Sherrone Moore was asked if it been getting tense behind the scenes after back-to-back losses, he admitted it had been.

“I think just when you lose in general, you’re not having fun,” Moore said, “We’re competitors — we don’t want to lose.”

That tightness continued into Saturday’s game after the offense scuffled on its first three possessions. But following a spirited pep talk from Moore on the sidelines, the offense got clicking and eventually helped Michigan grab the lead before halftime.

Moore and Michigan also showed they wanted to break out of their shell a bit and have some fun on offense with some trick plays. The first came in the third quarter when the Wolverines attempted a flea flicker that resulted in Warren fitting a pass into a tight window to hit Tyler Morris on the sideline. Later, it was the aforementioned Edwards passing touchdown to Loveland.

“We had some in the hopper for sure,” Loveland said when asked if he expected to run multiple trick plays in the game. “In a crucial time if we need to get it off the (play) sheet, we’ll get it off the sheet. Shout out to coach (Kirk) Campbell for that.”

Moore added it was nice to use the trick plays, especially as a means of helping the players have fun during what’s been a rather rough patch of the season.

“I always love trick plays because these guys are kids, and when you introduce one, they always smile and they’re always happy,” Moore said. “I wanted our guys to play free and have fun. It was good to see those guys have fun.”

In addition to the fun, we saw some more out of the passing game to offer some inspiration for upcoming weeks. As previously mentioned, Davis Warren and Colston Loveland had solid showings, while Semaj Morgan, Tyler Morris, Kendrick Bell, and even Peyton O’Leary all made plays of their own.

Michigan will need to keep the positive vibes going and show this offensive success was more than a flash in the pan. The schedule ramps up significantly for the last four games of the season, as Michigan will play Ohio State and two currently undefeated teams, including Oregon next week. The Wolverines are welcoming the challenge next week, but we’ll see if they’re ready for it.