Handing out game balls from Michigan's last-second win over Northwestern

Michigan escaped with a narrow win against Northwestern at Wrigley Field by a score of 24 to 22 on a last-second field goal by Dominic Zvada. It was not a pretty game by any means for the Wolverines as they turned the ball over 5 times, but still managed to come out with a win thanks in large part to a great game by the defense. At the end of the day, a win is a win, and Michigan will just need to play much cleaner moving forward. Let's get into handing out some game balls below.

Game Ball#1: Andrew Marsh

Andrew Marsh was fantastic in this game. He was clearly Bryce Underwood's favorite player to target, as he caught a career high 12 passes for a whopping 179 yards. He beat a Northwestern defender deep for a 32-yard reception to put Michigan in the red zone which ended up setting up Michigan for their 1st touchdown of the day.

He also had an incredible catch on third down near the sideline to extend what would end up being the game-wining drive. He was consistent, reliable, and dynamic and he even stepped in to catch punts after Semaj Morgan's fumbled punt return in the second half. He was terrific the whole game for the Wolverines and looks like an unquestioned star wide receiver already as a true Freshman.

Game Ball #2: Jordan Marshall

Jordan Marshall was one of my players to watch in this game against Northwestern coming into it, and he did not disappoint for the Wolverines. It took him a while to get going against this physical Northwestern defense but he ended up finishing with 19 carries for 142 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. He broke out and had a 65-yard run that set up a Bryce Underwood rushing touchdown one play later and also scored twice himself in this game.

He's been excellent stepping in for the injured Justice Haynes in these last few weeks and he's inching closer and closer to 1,000 rushing yards on the season despite not even starting half of the games. Unfortunately he also left this game due to what looked like an injury to his right shoulder. It didn't look good for Marshall and we'll have to see what the injury diagnosis ends up being for the young man but nonetheless he earned a game ball with his performance in this game for Michigan.

Game Ball #3: Ernest Hausmann

The box score won't show how good Ernest Hausmann truly was in this game as he finished with just 2 tackles with 1 tackle for loss and 1 quarterback hit. He was flying all over the field for this Michigan defense and multiple times made plays that led to his teammates finishing off the play for him. He's been really playing well his last few games and he's looking to close out his Michigan career on a strong note in these last two games.