Donovan Edwards hopes to rally Michigan for a big second half of the season

Trent Knoop | Oct 6, 2024

Oct 5, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Michigan Wolverines running back Donovan Edwards (7) rushes for a touchdown against the Washington Huskies during the second quarter at Alaska Airlines Field at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Michigan took its second loss of the season after falling to Washington 27-17. The Wolverines tried to spark their offense by putting in seventh-year quarterback Jack Tuttle who replaced Alex Orji following three scoreless drives. Tuttle capitalized on his opportunity and scored the first three drives he was in the game. Michigan took a 17-14 lead, but the Wolverines faltered after that.

Tuttle turned the ball over twice and Washington scored twice off of those. The Huskies downed the Wolverines and Michigan is left with more questions than answers which is a common theme to the season. The Wolverines' defense hasn't lived up to the billing and Michigan has one of the worst passing defenses in college football after six weeks.

Entering a bye week, Michigan has some self-assessing to do. The coaching staff and the players both need to do a better job if the Wolverines hope to contend for the College Football Playoff for a fourth straight year. Michigan is now in a must-win mode from here on out and it's not going to be easy with games against Illinois, Oregon, Indiana, and Ohio State left on the docket.

Running back Donovan Edwards is hoping to ignite the Michigan offense and team this week. Edwards had his best game of the season in the loss against Washington after he carried the ball 14 times for 95 yards and a score.

"It's a collective thing," Edwards said. "Coach meets with us every Monday, and we're gonna get back to the drawing board come Monday, but ultimately, it's the captain's job to continue to keep this team's morale up."

Edwards got things started for the Wolverines on Saturday when he ran in a 39-yard touchdown to get Michigan on the board. The senior captain has had his share of downs since coming to Ann Arbor when he sat behind Hassan Haskins and then Blake Corum for three years. Coming into the season, he was supposed to be the lead back, but after a strong start by Kalel Mullings -- Edwards has been the backup for the past two weeks. He knows about adversity and the hard talks that come with it.

"I'm gonna continue to uplift everybody the best that I can, but also, at the same time, just like being a coach, you have to point out the bad things, too," Edwards said. "And there's a couple things that we have to clean up, but ultimately it's us. It's a collective offense, collective defense, collective special teams, and we're Michigan football. So, just me being on the offensive side of the ball, just gotta continue to morale the guys, continue to keep guys' confidence up, and just keep doing what we're doing."

Michigan will hope to get some things in place this week before heading back on the road against Illinois.

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