Handing out game balls for Michigan Football’s Citrus Bowl loss to Texas

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Michigan’s season ended Wednesday evening in Orlando with a 41-27 loss to Texas in the Citrus Bowl. It was a messy, momentum-swinging game, but one that still offered a couple bright flashes for what Michigan can be moving forward.

Here are the two Wolverines who stood out the most in the loss and will take home game balls.

WR Andrew Marsh

If you’re looking for “shining hope for the future,” start here.

Marsh’s receiving line won’t jump off the page (three catches for 10 yards), but he still found the end zone with a four-yard touchdown grab in the second quarter — a key moment that helped Michigan build an early lead.

Perhaps more importantly, he was Michigan’s most consistent source of field position all day, racking up 153 kick/punt return yards and repeatedly flipping the field in a game where Michigan needed every hidden-yardage edge it could find.

Even in a loss where the offense struggled to stay efficient (and turned it over too often), Marsh continued to show why he’s becoming a centerpiece: reliable, explosive in space, and capable of changing a game without needing a dozen targets.

LB Cole Sullivan

Sullivan keeps showing up, and Wednesday was another example of his trajectory continuing to go up.

In a game where Texas’ offense ultimately hit the gas late — thanks largely to Arch Manning’s legs — Sullivan was one of the few Wolverines consistently around the ball. He finished with six tackles, a pass breakup, and forced a huge fumble, the kind of play Michigan needed to hang around.

No, it wasn’t enough to swing the final outcome. But Sullivan’s activity level stood out, especially in a bowl setting that featured plenty of lineup shuffling and unfamiliar rotations. When the dust settled, he looked like one of the defenders Michigan can build with under the new regime.

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