Handing out game balls: Michigan at USC

Game Ball #1: Andrew Marsh

The biggest bright spot in this game, by far for Michigan, was true freshman wide receiver Andrew Marsh. He had a big 69-yard touchdown in the 4th quarter to pull the Wolverines back within two scores of the Trojans. On that play he did a really nice job of recognizing the defensive coverage and settling into the hole so Bryce Underwood could get it to him, then made a man miss and took it to the house after that. He showcased good speed as well as he outran the rest of the USC defense to finish off the play. Michigan has clearly made getting him touches a priority since their bye week and it looks like it's really paying off so far for Michigan's offense. He would finish the game with 8 catches for 138 yards and a TD and looks the part of a developing star out at wide receiver for the Wolverines as he finished the game as Michigan's leading receiver in just his second career start.

Game Ball #2: Jordan Marshall

Game ball #2 for the Wolverines goes to Jordan Marshall. He stepped up for Michigan when Justice Haynes went down with an injury and ran the ball really well. He always runs hard and I thought he made a couple nice cuts upfield as well to find more open space than it looked like he would find originally. Overall he ran for 84 yards on 14 carries, good for 4.9 yards per carry. He also caught a shovel pass and took it for 16 yards. 100 total yards on 15 total touches is a really nice line for a running back who didn't even play the whole game and he looks like he'll be fully capable of stepping in and playing admirably for Michigan if Justice Haynes has to miss some time.

Game Ball #3: Jaishawn Barham

I'll be honest, picking a third game ball for Michigan in this one was tough. I know his stat line didn't look great or anything but I thought Jaishawn Barham played a really nice game here actually. He had a couple plays where he made the offensive lineman who was responsible for blocking him completely miss and while he didn't actually record the tackle on either one, he blew up multiple plays so that his teammates could finish them off. He also forced a huge swing in yardage when he batted down that backwards pass for USC and it ended up being a huge loss that put them in a big third and long. He would finish this game with 4 tackles and 1 tackle for loss but made more plays than the box score would indicate in this game. He continues to look really good coming off the edge for Michigan's defense and you almost have to wonder why this switch wasn't made sooner.