Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia looks back at Michigan football's 27-24 victory over Minnesota and looks ahead to the Wolverines' first road trip of the season, a College Football Playoff championship game rematch against Washington in Seattle:

NEW RANKINGS: Michigan in updated college football rankings: Wolverines No. 10 after surviving Minnesota

Next up for the Wolverines: Washington Huskies

Matchup: No. 10 Michigan (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) vs. Washington (3-2, 1-1).

Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Husky Stadium, Seattle.

TV/radio: NBC; WXYT-FM (97.1).

Line: Wolverines by 1½.

Know the foe

The Wolverines will leave the friendly confines of Ann Arbor for the first time since their CFP title game in Houston in January; funnily enough, they will see the same program they met on the field that night.

No. 10 Michigan heads out to Seattle to face Washington after the two met on Jan. 11 when Michigan won, 34-13, to cap its undefeated season and claim the 2023 national championship. Much has changed for both teams since then. Former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer left the Pacific Northwest to take over for Nick Saban at Alabama, so the Huskies poached former Michigan offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch (who'd just led Arizona to a top-25 season) to take over the program.

There was an expectation for Washington to fall off with dozens of players coming in and going out, but it's been decent for the Huskies so far. Naturally, they're upset about the way things went down last week. Washington controlled the game against Rutgers, outgaining the Scarlet Knights by more than 200 yards (521-299), which included averaging 7.1 yards per rush.

Even more to the point, graduate transfer quarterback Will Rogers (Mississippi State) had a fantastic day, completing 26 of 36 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns. U-W turned the ball over on downs twice, including once at the Rutgers 2-yard line, and also missed not one, not two, but three field goals (from 42, 37 and 55 yards) and converted just two of 12 third downs as they fell 21-18.

Washington is No. 21 in total offense (469.8 yards per game), but just No. 89 in scoring offense (25.5 points per game) as they've struggled in the red zone at No. 116 in the nation, scoring just 13 times (nine touchdowns and four field goals) in 18 trips inside the opponent 20. Rogers has been fantastic to this point, completing 110 of 147 passes (74.8%) for 10 touchdowns and no interceptions through five games. His two favorite targets are Denzel Boston (30 grabs, 412 yards and seven touchdowns) and former Wolverine Giles Jackson (34 receptions, 401 yards and one touchdown). In addition to the passing game, keep an eye on running back Jonah Coleman. The former Arizona back who came with Fisch has already run 72 times for 521 yards (7.2 yards per carry) and four touchdowns, numbers on par with U-M's Kalel Mullings (77 rushes, 540 yards and six TD for perspective).

Meanwhile, Washington has been very good on defense under new defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, son of legendary coach Bill Belichick. The Huskies are No. 10 in the nation in both scoring defense (12.4 points per game) and total defense (249.8 yards per game) and as a team, U-W is tied for No. 50 in turnover margin (plus two).

Tony Garcia's 3 things we learned vs. Minnesota

Loveland remains the passing game: Quarterback Alex Orji went 10-for-18 for 86 yards against Minnesota, topping the stats from his first start by three, six and 54, respectively. It's no coincidence, that was similar to Colston Loveland's final stat line, as he caught four passes for 41 yards in his return from an upper-body injury which sidelined him at the end of Week 3 and all of Week 4's win vs. USC. For the third time in as many Loveland starts+finishes, he led all U-M pass catchers in targets, receptions and yards. "Having Colston on the field is like jumping in the water with a life vest on," Orji said after the game. Loveland converted the initial first down of the game, when he caught a 6-yard out route on third-and-4 from Orji, one of the better timing routes of the day. Of the five first downs which Orji converted via the pass, Loveland was responsible for four of them.

WHERE'S THE PASS GAME: Ground-and-pound style leading to wins, but Michigan football knows it needs more balance

Offense still boom or bust: Not counting the final few plays when the Wolverines ran out the clock, Michigan had 11 possessions against Minnesota on Saturday. The vast majority didn't follow the team's ideal game plan. With the current construction of the offense, the goal is to possess the ball, win time of possession, control field position and generally dictate the terms of the game. This time around, U-M's attack didn't do this consistently as it only had three possessions which lasted more than 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Those three drives took 18:53 off the clock while the other eight (before running off the final 1:36) lasted just 12:48. Sure, two of those were quick trips that ended in touchdowns because the defense and special teams set the offense up in the red zone, but the vast majority of the possessions were far too quick with six non-scoring drives ending in four plays or fewer.

Margin for error exceedingly thin: For the second week in a row, Michigan led a game by multiple touchdowns in the second half only to see the contest come down to the final minutes. That could be because the Wolverines are too one-dimensional on offense. The passing game has accumulated 118 yards through the air in eight quarters with Orji at quarterback and in the second half, after teams have made schematic adjustments, Michigan has just 19 points in the final four quarters combined. When U-M isn't chewing up clock and flipping the field, it has been able to lean on the defense to create takeaways. (Michigan's defense had an interception and a forced fumble to set the offense up inside the 20 while the special teams blocked a punt to set the offense up at the 11.) But the past two games show that's not a perfect plan. The Wolverines defense got tired by the end of the game, having to defend a short field as well as two long possessions, and for the second week in a row it feels clear that if Michigan hadn't had the ideal start (which it deserves credit for) that the game would have gone another way.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football: What we learned vs. Minnesota with Washington next