Analyzing the 2025 Michigan Wolverines

Bowl games are still around the corner for NCAA football. But for postseason purposes the Michigan Wolverines football season has come to an end. Michigan sits at 5th in the Big Ten conference and are so low in the top 25 rankings, the College Football Playoff is out of the question. While yes, the team finished 9-3 and they are bowl eligible. I think it’s more useful at this point to focus on what happened this year and what needs to be fixed for next season.

This team was very focused on the run and had great success all season long. They averaged over 213 yards on the ground per game and finished in the top 20 in all college football in rushing.

Michigan also featured a top 25 defense along with their rushing attack. Meaning the team really focused on winning the battles in the trenches. The team's offensive and defensive lines were the strongest parts of the team, and it went a long way to capturing 9 wins.

While Michigan was an effective rushing team, they severely struggled at having a balanced offensive attack. The team finished outside the top 50 in passing yards and only put up a measly 9 touchdowns behind true Freshmen Quarterback Bryce Underwood.

I’m not going to place the entire blame on Bryce Underwood as a true freshmen Quarterback. The system behind head coach Sherrone Moore is the most at fault. The system that Moore runs does not compliment Underwood’s skills at all. With a run-heavy scheme and lots of very predictable passing downs, Underwood was put in perhaps the worst situation for a 5-star quarterback out of High School.  

The Michigan Wolverines need to address some things if they want to return to a playoff caliber team. The most important adjustment is that they cannot remain a 1-dimensional team. They need to have a balanced offensive attack to be successful and that means tailoring an offense to Bryce Underwood not the other way around.

They need to recruit more heavily on receivers too, but that won’t matter if they don’t tweak the system. You can't win a National Title by just running the ball anymore. Let’s hope Michigan addresses these issues next season and we find ourselves back in the College Football Playoff.