Michigan football rolls UTEP in 2nd half, Tommy Carr throws TD pass

Michigan football rolls UTEP in 2nd half, Tommy Carr throws TD pass

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Michigan football rolls UTEP in 2nd half, Tommy Carr throws TD pass

Michigan football looked like two different teams Saturday, Sept. 19, against lowly UTEP.

The No. 19 Wolverines were disjointed for the majority of the first half. There were two turnovers, too many penalties and blown assignments.

What there wasn’t, this time, was the need for a miracle game-winning play. 

The Wolverines’ defense took over in the second half and ran it up against UTEP for a 52-17 victory at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor in Week 3 of the season.

Michigan scored 38 straight points after falling behind 14-7, and now moves to Big Ten play where it will open with No. 20 Iowa (3-0) next Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS).

This is the first time since the national championship season in 2023 that Michigan went undefeated in the nonconference schedule, even if early it didn’t look like that group.

Michigan’s defense, which was great through two games, got beat on a pair of play-action passes for touchdowns in the first half. Then it seemed to take things personally. 

Jay Hill’s group forced three consecutive three-and-outs to open the third quarter and closed it with a 6-yard pick-six by defensive tackle Jonah Lea’ea. The group finished with 11 tackles for loss and four sacks, with 11 players getting in on at least part of a tackle behind the line of scrimmage.

The passing attack had its best game of the year. Bryce Underwood looked poised against on over-matched opponent, and completed 19 of 25 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns, one each to his top wideouts, JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh.

Those two combined for 17 grabs for 192 yards.

Michigan Wolverines quarterback Tommy Carr (14) receives the ball in the fourth quarter of a game against UTEP at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.

Even freshman backup quarterback Tommy Carr, grandson of former Michigan national title-winning coach Lloyd Carr, made his collegiate debut midway through the fourth quarter and shined. He completed both passes for 23 yards, including a 19-yard fade in the left corner to four-star freshman receiver Salesi Moa. Mother Tammi Carr was shown jumping for joy in the press box, one row below Lloyd. Carr also ran twice for 23 yards.

Michigan outgained UTEP 431-150, and had more points (35) than UTEP had yards (28) in the second half.

However, it was far from a perfect game.

Michigan ball-carriers combined to run 42 times for 185 yards (4.4 yards per carry), but much of that came in the second half after the defense flipped the momentum.

TRENDING: Bryce Underwood gets best grade yet in Michigan's win vs UTEP

Michigan Wolverines running back Savion Hiter (5) fights his way into the end zone for a touchdown in the second quarter of a game against UTEP at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.

Before the break, Michigan had 22 carries for 66 yards with more fumbles (two) than touchdowns (one). That score came from 6 yards by five-star freshman Savion Hiter, the first of his career to tie the score at 7 early in the second quarter.

However, he fumbled his next touch, which set up a 1-play, 18-yard touchdown drive when EJ Colson found Lamar Sperling on a play-action pass to put UTEP up 14-7.  From there, it was all Michigan.

It was over when …

Michigan forced three consecutive three-and-outs to open the second half and its offense went on a trio of touchdown drives, before a defensive touchdown. Jordan Marshall ran in a 6-yard score, Hiter ran in from 8 yards, Marsh caught a 34-yard slant for a touchdown and then Lea’ea had the pick-six to cap a 28-0 quarter.

Player of the game: JJ Buchanan

Michigan Wolverines wide receiver JJ Buchanan (6) celebrates a touchdown during the second quarter of a game against UTEP at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.

Buchanan has been a sorely needed playmaker. He had a memorable day Saturday with a career-high seven catches for 92 yards (the second most in his career, behind his 126 in the opener) and a touchdown.

Most of his work came in the intermediate area with an out-route and curl in the first half, before his next two grabs went for 17 and 21 respectively, the second for a score to tie the game with 1:31 left in the first half. His 9-yard curl late on the next drive helped set up a go-ahead field goal as time expired at the half.

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Trending up: Andrew Marsh

Michigan Wolverines wide receiver Andrew Marsh (3) is tackled by UTEP Miners safety Xavier Smith (2) in the first quarter of a game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.

After catching five passes for 28 yards through two games, Marsh was a focal point of the attack, catching a game-high 10 passes for 105 yards and a score. He was targeted 12 times (the second most in his career), including the first two plays of the day on a swing pass and a bubble screen to the left that picked up 21 yards.

The highlight came on Michigan's first scoring drive, when he made a circus catch on a third-and-7 pass high in the air on the left sideline and somehow dragged his toe as a defensive back attempted to shove him out of bounds.

He showed good awareness on a drag route on third-and-4 on the second scoring drive, when he stopped his route short and found a soft spot in the zone to pick up 9 yards and move the sticks.

He later added a 34-yard touchdown on a slant route for his first touchdown of 2026.

Trending down: Michigan playing mistake-free

Michigan was always going to overwhelm UTEP. But what happened early has to stop. Its first drive appeared to get down to the UTEP 2, but a hold on tight end Eli Owens negated the big gain, and two plays later Underwood fumbled. On the ensuing drive, Dominic Nichols had a sack negated by an offsides call, then Michigan gave up a 45-yard score on the next play.

Hiter later fumbled leading to the Miners again grabbing a short-lived lead.

Michigan football schedule: Big Ten season on deck

The Hawkeyes, ranked No. 20 entering Week 3, visit next week to open conference play for Michigan. Iowa (3-0) crushed FCS-opponent Northern Iowa, 55-0, on Saturday.

  • Week 1: W, 13-12 vs Western Michigan.
  • Week 2: W, 17-10 vs Oklahoma.
  • Week 3: W, 52-17 vs UTEP.
  • Week 4: vs Iowa, Saturday, Sept. 26 (3:30 p.m., CBS).
  • Week 5: at Minnesota, Saturday, Oct. 3 (time and TV TBA).
  • Week 6: Bye week.
  • Week 7: vs Penn State, Saturday, Oct. 17 (time and TV TBA).
  • Week 8: vs Indiana, Saturday, Oct. 24 (time and TV TBA).
  • Week 9: at Rutgers, Saturday, Oct. 31 (time and TV TBA).
  • Week 10: vs Michigan State, Saturday, Nov. 7 (time and TV TBA).
  • Week 11: at Oregon, Saturday, Nov. 14 (time and TV TBA).
  • Week 12: vs UCLA, Saturday, Nov. 21 (time and TV TBA).
  • Week 13: at Ohio State, Saturday, Nov. 28 (Noon ET, Fox).

Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football rolls UTEP in 2nd half, Tommy Carr throws TD pass

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