Game balls from Michigan football's 45-20 win at Maryland

The Michigan Wolverines won their fifth straight game on Saturday in a 45-20 drubbing of the Maryland Terrapins in College Park, improving their record to 9-2 on the season.

There were several standout performances from the win over the Terps on both sides of the ball. Here are the guys who get the game ball nods this week.

The rushing attack led by Bryson Kuzdzal

No Justice Haynes or Jordan Marshall, no problem for the Wolverines. Michigan revved up its run game against a bad Maryland defense to the tune of 50 carries for 228 yards and 4 touchdowns. Junior Bryson Kuzdzal led the group with 20 carries for 100 yards and 3 touchdowns, while sophomore walk-on Tomas O’Meara had 71 yards on 8 carries. Freshman Jasper Parker added 8 carries for 23 yards and a touchdown, while Bryce Underwood and Micah Ka’apana chipped in with 20 and 14 yards, respectively.

Perhaps one of the reasons Michigan was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award was on display tonight, with three redshirt freshman starters up front and running backs No. 3 through 6 combining for Saturday’s output. It was a heck of a job all around for two position groups that are undermanned late this year.

Freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood

It felt like another mostly mature step forward for Underwood, who played a clean game with no turnovers outside of a near-pick six early on in the contest. He finished 16-for-23 for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns on the afternoon, and looked like the guy we saw for the first three quarters of last week’s game at Northwestern.

Coming into the day, Underwood had committed 5 turnovers in two games that were much closer than they needed to be. His rapport with classmate Andrew Marsh was on display again, and he completed passes to seven different receivers on the night, including the tight ends. He was the better of the two freshman starting quarterbacks in the game.

Michigan defensive linemen from Maryland

After a no-sack effort against Northwestern last week, Michigan put 3 of them on the board against a Maryland team that had only allowed 3 sacks all season. They all came from guys who were born in the state, too. The Wolverines got sacks from seniors Jaishawn Barham and Derrick Moore and graduate defensive tackle Tre Williams. Not a bad way to finish out your college playing career close to home.

Honorable mention

Freshman wide receiver Andrew Marsh: 5 catches, 76 yards, TD

Graduate wide receiver Donaven McCulley: 2 catches, 46 yards, TD

Michigan tight ends: 6 catches for 74 yards

Sophomore defensive back Mason Curtis: 6 total tackles, INT