Heartbreaking: Michigan football top key player announces his departure leaving with a…..

Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia breaks down winners and losers for Michigan football after its 21-7 road loss Saturday to Illinois in Week 8 at Memorial Stadium:

At this point, the names on the positive side of the ledger are not a surprise. It feels like Loveland is essentially the entire passing attack. The projected 2025 NFL draft first-round selection caught a team-high seven passes for 83 yards on Saturday and picked up four of Michigan’s eight first downs through the air. Jack Tuttle’s first two attempts toward Loveland fell incomplete, but seven of the final eight connected, which included a 29-yard downfield strike up the right sideline on fourth down to temporarily keep hope alive in the final quarter. Loveland also had consecutive catches for 16 and 10 yards on U-M’s lone scoring drive, and Pro Football Focus had him graded as U-M’s top rated offensive player with more than 15 snaps (75 grade).

The next highest graded player with more than 15 snaps? Of course it was Mullings. Michigan’s standout running back was once again impressive, running 19 times for 87 yards and the team’s only touchdown. Mullings picked up Michigan’s only two first downs through the first four drives, and accounted for nine of the team’s 11 first downs on the ground throughout the day.

Michigan’s best drive came in the second quarter when it went 12 plays and 72 yards which ended with a Mullings’ 1-yard dive into the end zone on fourth down. It’s no coincidence he carried the ball on eight of the 12 plays, including the first four which helped set up a play-action pass. Even when factoring in the amount of short-yardage carries he got — seven came when U-M had two yards or fewer to gain for a first down — he still averaged nearly five yards per carry and 3.21 after contact.