The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1537777
2024-25 YEAR IN REVIEW BY CLAYTON SAYFIE W hile Michigan finished 13th in the Learfield Directors' Cup standings, its lowest since coming in 19th in 2014‑15, the Wolverines won championships and had a successful 2024‑25 athletic year. Michigan won the national championship in men's gymnastics, and saw three of its athletes win individual national championships, with Fred Richard and Paul Juda in men's gymnastics and Savannah Sutherland in women's track and field all doing so. The Wolverines also captured Big Ten champi‑ onships in field hockey, men's basketball, men's gymnastics (regular season and conference tour‑ nament), women's tennis and softball. We highlight the best of the best with our annual list breaking down team and individual accomplishments: 28 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2025 THE THE BEST BEST OF THE BEST OF THE BEST Superlatives For Michigan Athletics' 2024-25 Year BEST WINS OF THE YEAR MALE SPORT BEST WIN OF THE YEAR FOOTBALL AT OHIO STATE Michigan achieved bowl eligibility with a 50-6 win over Northwestern Nov. 23, one week before heading to Columbus as massive underdogs in a showdown with archrival Ohio State, the No. 2 team in the nation and a 19.5-point favorite. Michigan had won at Ohio Stadium only once since 2000 — a 45-23 triumph in 2022 — and the 2024 Wolverines were a shell of what they were just two years earlier. U-M wasn't given much chance to win by the pundits or anyone else paying attention, but the Wolverines came to play in a big way. The performance in a 13-10 win was one for the ages, but it wasn't perfect. Michigan threw for only 62 yards, quarterback Davis Warren tossed 2 intercep- tions and the offense produced only 4 yards per play. Led by stalwart defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, the defense got stop after stop, though, holding Ohio State to a season-low 252 total yards and forcing 2 turnovers of their own (interceptions by cornerback Aamir Hall and nickel back Makari Paige, who also laid the boom with a mas- sive hit on quarterback Will Howard in the first half). Michigan limited the Buckeyes to 10 points, OSU's fewest in a regular-season game since a 24-6 loss to the Miami Hurricanes on Sept. 17, 2011, when Luke Fickell was the interim head coach. The offense controlled the ball when it mattered, too, and U-M won the special teams battle, with kicker Dominic Zvada nailing a 54-yarder to make it 10-3 and the game-winner from 21 yards out with 45 seconds left after running back Kalel Mullings' incredible efforts allowed U-M to run clock and get the ball in close. Linebacker Jaishawn Barham and Michigan's suffocating defense led the Wolverines to a 13-10 victory against Ohio State in Col- umbus. It was the Buckeyes' lowest offensive output in the regular season since 2011. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL