Yes! No. Maybe? UM’s upset, MSU races away from EMU in 2nd half, CMU battles FCS foe

Welcome to the first 2026 edition of Yes! No. Maybe? a Sunday recap piece from Mitten Football replacing the artist formerly known as Fantastic, Functional, Forgettable (which was clunky and, in this publication’s opinion, a dumb placeholder name.) It also took off last week due to events unforeseen at the end of WMU-Michigan. 

This will look much the same, diving into five good bits from the weekend, five that were not good, and five that have us waiting for more. 

So, without further adieu, here is the Week 2 edition. 

Yes!

Michigan’s defense: The Wolverines came up with a gem of a defensive showing in flustering Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon. Michigan allowed fear than 300 total yards, just one touchdown, took the ball away twice from OU, and set up the offense with a 1-yard field to score the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter after a Jyaire Hill interception. The pass rush also started to look like a dialed-in group that can change games with Dom Nichols and John Henry Daley combining off the edge. Michigan had three sacks and eight tackles for loss on Saturday in the 17-10 win. 

MSU QB Alessio Milivojevic: Milivojevic went 12-of-20 for just 170 yards and two touchdowns, but it was his arm that carried MSU through the first 35-ish minutes of a 35-7 win over Eastern Michigan before the run game took over against a worn-down Eagles front. He made some great throws, chief among them the opening touchdown pass of the game, rifling a throw up the seam to pin it on Fred Moore in the endzone before a closing defender could interfere with the window. He also made some clutch 4th down throws, including a 4th and 11 conversion to help MSU extend an eventual touchdown drive. 

Michigan State’s special teams: A shoutout is deserved for LeVar Woods’ group, which has been sterling through two weeks, outside of allowing a field goal to be blocked vs. Toledo in the opener. The punting and kicking from Rhys Dakin and Liam Boyd, respectively, have been excellent, and the punt coverage unit came up with a nice down inside the five on Saturday. And the return game has been clutch in both games to date, with Chrishon McCray on Saturday returning a punt in the first half to the EMU 24 yard line, setting up one of two first half touchdowns for MSU. This group has been giving MSU a clear edge so far. 

WMU QB Broc Lowry (and his receivers): The offseason for Lowry and WMU’s offense largely revolved around trying to get the passing game a bit more fleshed out and explosive after a lean 2025. As evidenced by what Michigan did to Oklahoma, the controlled performance in Week 1 by the Broncos made sense and then gave way to Lowry lighting it up vs. Monmouth: 14-of-20 for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Lowry also added four carries for 40 yards. And three different Broncos caught touchdowns: WR Egypt Nelson, WR Baylin Brooks (who had two) and TE Ryan Brotherton, who caught his from backup Trey Petty. WR Aveion Chenault also went over 100 yards for the first time in his career. Strong showing from the WMU passing attack Saturday evening. 

WMU LB Domanick Moon: After a sterling performance from LB Dillon Moore in the opener, it was Moon’s turn against Monmouth, putting forth a 12 tackle performance that also featured a sack and a forced fumble. Those 12 tackles led the WMU defense on Saturday evening. Moon also had a pass breakup. And WMU’s starting linebacker tandem playing so well early is a nice sign for the defense. And it’s a pleasant turn for Moon to be healthy and playing so well, as he played as a rotational linebacker in 2025 with a club wrap over a hand injury for much of the season. Now he’s free and clear and playing like it. 

No.

Michigan’s non-Underwood run game: Outside of Underwood, it was not exactly a stellar day for Michigan’s run game, with the other ball carriers combining for 65 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries outside of the 18 for 87 and a score that Underwood put up. There were some nice runs that could’ve added to the total, but got wiped out by holds (more on that in a second), and the run blocking fronts generally were not climbing up to the second level. That’s maybe understandable against a defense as good as Oklahoma’s, but the Wolverines struggled similarly against Western Michigan. This young and talented offensive line will need to figure out how to play as well or better than the sum of its parts to really get Michigan’s rushing attack going. 

Central Michigan’s offensive upside: The Chippewas were bullish on how the offense could grow and evolve out of 2025, and this here publication didn’t doubt much how that side of the ball could and would look different. There is doubt now. Despite running enough to churn out a win on Saturday against an FCS team, Central Michigan has just been roundly disappointing on offense through eight quarters this season. Getting shoved in a locker against New Mexico might’ve been a one off, but struggling at home against Colgate is indicative of an offense that’s not playing in sync, from an offensive line that’s not playing like a veteran, experienced group to quarterbacks who don’t appear to be seeing things cleanly or clearly and ergo aren’t playing with urgency and decisiveness. This isn’t to say it can’t get better and CMU can’t dial in its offense and playcalling tendencies to seize the initiative and play off the front foot, but so far the offensive outlook for CMU has been, plainly, bad through two games in 2025. 

Eastern Michigan’s 2nd half vs. MSU: After navigating to a 14-7 halftime deficit, EMU came out hoping to get a stop and score and level the game vs. MSU early in the third quarter. Instead the game utterly unraveled on the Eagles in three drives. MSU scored a touchdown, EMU fumbled and MSU recovered, then MSU scored again. With 5:46 left in the third quarter, what had been a one-score deficit less than 10 minutes ago was suddenly a 28-7 hole that EMU couldn’t climb out of. On the wrong end of that brutal game script, the Eagles got teed off on by the MSU pass rush and couldn’t throw their way back into the game. EMU did a lot of promising things that they’ll take away from Saturday’s performance, namely the ability to defend the run in the first half and the performance of its own running game, but the second half ended up being a tough 30 minutes of football. 

Penalties: Michigan committed 11 penalties for 90 yards. Western Michigan got called for eight for 71 yards. Central Michigan even got tagged for six for 62 yards. MSU and EMU managed to play rather penalty free, so they can escape this. But for the aforementioned trio, cleaning up sloppy penalties will be paramount, and for Michigan especially. The Wolverines in two weeks have been absolutely hamstrung by penalties of all stripes, from a spate of holding penalties to presnap procedurals, it’s just been sloppy and self-inflicted in the penalty department in Ann Arbor, especially. Penalties happen, but rashes of them that cost upwards of 50 and 60 yards in a contest, start to cost teams. 

Protecting the football: EMU and MSU each had a turnover. Michigan put the ball on the deck twice but recovered both times, and Underwood himself a few turnover-worthy throws. Central Michigan saw both Angel Flores and Jadyn Glasser throw interceptions. In EMU’s case, that turnover ended up being the play the game swung hard against them, while MSU did manage to dodge issues, but the late turnover in the red zone kept EMU’s chances alive. CMU allowed Colgate into the game in no small part because of the turnovers and Michigan managed to edge a victory over Oklahoma in part by winning the turnover margin — which it easily could’ve made even if those fumbles aren’t self-recovered. Congrats to Western Michigan: Two games, no turnovers and some clean offensive performances. 

Maybe?

Bryce Underwood: Still a long, long way to go to reach any sort of acceptable upside as a passer, but the Cam Newton-ified game plan for the sophomore quarterback looked good in moments against OU. Underwood finished with 198 total yards (111 passing, 87 rushing) and a touchdown, which came on a nifty 38 yard keeper where he showed some solid vision and some long-striding speed down the left sideline. His 87 rushing yards led all rushers on Saturday. And, while not the most important bit but a useful bellwether, it looked like the Michigan offense might’ve even had some fun at times. A far cry from Week 1, but still plenty of room to grow. 

Central Michigan’s run game: More on the quarterbacks and passing offense in a bit, but the run game churned out a productive day against an FCS defense on Saturday. It wasn’t the sort of margin one would like to see when an FBS team hosts an FCS foe, but 200 net yards on 42 carries and two touchdowns is a functional performance at worst. The good of it is that Angel Flores looks just as effective as a rusher as he did at his best last year. But the running backs need to get going more, and the offensive line needs to be a bit cleaner and play with more push. The ability to grind out productive run plays saved CMU from an embarrassing upset, but it was far from impressive, either. 

Western Michigan’s defense: The end result was quite fine, especially as Monmouth’s scoring occurred in the second half in a game that was largely out of hand. But Monmouth did move the ball with some effect on Saturday evening, highlighted by the fact that Monmouth actually outgained WMU, 431-414, outrushing and passing the Broncos. And giving up 431 yards is mostly the problem here, despite WMU forcing myriad punts, turnovers on down and a fumble until Monmouth finally broke through on its eighth drive of the game. All told, giving up 27 points across two games to open the season is a solid outcome for Greer Martini as the new defensive coordinator, but there’s definitely things to clean up after Week 2. 

Eastern Michigan’s 1st half vs. MSU: Trailing 14-7 at halftime to MSU, outgaining the Spartans and looking like the defense could hang in slowing down Michigan State on the ground, EMU was in good shape for the final 30 minutes. Had it not been for a long punt return given up, it could’ve easily been 7-7 at half, or EMU could’ve finished a drive and been tied, 14-all. Either way, behind a defense that made life difficult for MSU and a run game that finally started clicking for EMU — 67 of the 78 yards on its touchdown drive came on the ground — the Eagles showed up and hung around with MSU with a real chance to play to win in the second half. There was lots of promise from the first half of the performance — and more on the lacking second half in a moment. 

Michigan State’s run game, offensive line: The second half? That’s what you want, with blockers getting up to the second level, hitting their landmarks and running backs storming into open space as backside defenders hustle across the field to chase them down. That's the good news for MSU, which finished with 258 net rushing yards on Saturday. The bad news? At halftime, MSU had just 60 yards on 17 carries, and a touchdown. Not a bad half, per se, but EMU consistently got into the backfield or redirected ball carriers with block destruction at the point of attack on Saturday. And while it’s produced so far this season, MSU’s run game will need a dose of better efficiency to be as successful against Notre Dame and the Big Ten defenses to come. MSU also gave up two sacks and seven tackles for loss.