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The Michigan football team kicked off their 2024 season with a win over Fresno State football on Saturday night. It wasn't pretty, but the Wolverines came out with a W, and that's all that matters. There were a lot of questions mark surrounding the offense heading into this season, and the inexperience definitely showed. Still, Michigan found a way to come out on top.
Things were a little more tense than Michigan football fans were hoping for on Saturday night. Fresno State is a good football team that has won nine or more games in each of the last three seasons, and they put the Wolverines to the test.
After everything that Michigan lost from last year, we knew that they weren't going to look perfect in week one. However, it was a bit unexpected to see the Wolverines hold just a six point lead in the fourth quarter at one point.
The Bulldogs scored a touchdown to make it 16-10, but the Wolverines put together their best drive as a response. A pick-six by Will Johnson after that put the icing on the cake, and Michigan won the game 30-10.
Now, we have seen the 2024 Michigan football in action, and we are getting an idea of how good this team really is. Here are three takeaways from the Wolverines' win over Fresno State.
The Michigan football defense is as advertised
The strength of the Michigan football team is definitely the defense. The Wolverines were smothering all night long and they made it incredibly difficult for Fresno State to move the football.
Michigan ended up creating two turnovers as Zeke Berry and Will Johnson both had interceptions, and Johnson returning his for a touchdown was the nail in the coffin. The Bulldogs were in this game and they competed with Michigan, but the defense kept the Wolverines on top.
The Michigan football offense has work to do
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Things were great on defense, but Michigan struggled mightily at times on the other side of the football on Saturday night. The Wolverines scored a touchdown on their first drive and things looked good, but they didn't have to move the ball very far as an interception set them up with great field position. After that, the Wolverines didn't score a touchdown until the fourth quarter.
One positive about the offense is that when Fresno State made things close in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines immediately put together their best drive of the game when it mattered most.
The crowd at Michigan Stadium became tense when it became a one-score game late, and based off the way the offense had played up to that point, there wasn't really reason to believe that Michigan would put together a good drive there. It was an impressive answer and something positive to take away from the offense.
Kalel Mullings might be RB1
Everyone kind of assumed that Donovan Edwards was going to be RB1 this season for Michigan football, and we all knew Kalel Mullings was going to get a good amount of carries as well. However, Mullings carried the ball 15 times on Saturday night and Edwards had 11 carries. Mullings also racked up 92 yards and averaged over six yards per carry. Edwards had 27 yards, averaging 2.5 YPC. It's going to be interesting to see who the Wolverines lean on more going forward.
The Michigan defense should be able to keep them in a lot of games, but this offense has a lot of work to do if they are going to beat Texas next weekend.
