SEATTLE — Free Press sports writer Tony Garcia breaks down the winners and losers for Michigan football following the Wolverines' 27-17 loss, which snapped its conference-record 27-game Big Ten winning streak on Saturday:

Winners

RB Donovan Edwards

It has been a while since Edwards looked like that. The Michigan captain put together the best game of his season, running 14 times for 95 yards and a touchdown (and making two catches for another 23 yards). Much of Edwards’ struggles the past 20 game have been just plain inconsistency — he has often gotten stuck for runs of less than 3 yards. On Saturday, seven of his touches fit that category, for 7 yards. But he also had three went for more than 10 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown run to get U-M on the board. as he picked up a season-best six first downs.

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EDGE Josaiah Stewart

Michigan's star edge was once again a game-wrecker in his return from injury as Pro Football Focus graded him (at 91.2) as the best Wolverines defender. Stewart pass-rushed 25 times, defended the run 21 times and dropped into coverage on seven other occasions, while finishing with six pressures, five hurries, four tackles, three stops, two tackles for loss and one sack. The sack came on first-and-10 in the third quarter when he beat the Huskies' left tackle with a speed rush around the outside. His other tackle in the backfield came when he dropped running back Jonah Coleman for a 2-yard loss on the next set of downs (which set up a third down that led to a punt). This marks the second consecutive game Stewart's PFF grade has topped 90.

QB Jack Tuttle

Perhaps it's damning with faint praise, but perhaps Washington coach Jedd Fisch said it best in his halftime interview , telling NBC sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen that the Huskies would have to play “a normal defense” against Tuttle, instead of selling out to stop the run. Simply put, U-M's offense went from one-dimensional to functional with the seveth-year signal-caller in the game. Still, he had a costly fumble, then threw an interception (after Washington scored the go-ahead touchdown) to seal the defeat — he graded out even worse overall (49.2) by PFF's metric than Orji did in his first start (54.2) this season. But it's impossible to ignore how much better U-M looked in his first three drives, with 17 straight points. He finished 10-of-18 for 98 yards, one touchdown and one interception, including Michigan's first explosive pass play (a 22-yarder to Amorion Walker) in nearly a month. Tuttle pretty clearly appears to be U-M's best option moving forward.

Losers

DBs Zeke Berry and Jyaire Hill

The U-M pass defense allowed 315 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Berry and Hill were the big targets. Right from the beginning, Denzel Boston toasted Hill on an out-and-up for 36 yards. Hill had some decent moments, with seven tackles and a sack, but he allowed seven completions for 89 yards (and 27 yards after the catch), per PFF. Berry, meanwhile, was also picked on for seven catches for 92 yards (91 after the catch!). Hill (47.0) and Berry (40.9) received the two lowest marks on the defense, per PFF.

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QB Alex Orji

The Orji experiment appears over, at least in a starting capacity, after his first three drives went for a combined 16 plays and 47 yards Saturay. Orji is 23-for-43 for 148 yards on the year and has not completed a pass with more than 15 air yards to date. By all accounts, the junior handled the benching well. He smacked Tuttle on the helmet after his touchdown, and remained engaged on the sideline, but this is hardly what U-M had hoped for at the position. Orji also became surprisingly ineffective in the run game, as he took his 35 carries for 124 yards and a long of 15 yards.

P Tommy Doman

Doman continues to have an inexplicably inconsistent season. After he was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week two weeks ago for his performance against USC, Doman was back to struggling in Seattle. He averaged 37 yards a punt on his five boots, with not one of the attempts traveling 50 yards. He pinned Washington inside its 20 just once. Michigan has no margin for error this year, and if it can't maximize the field-position game, it’s going to be a long second half for J.B Brown’s unit.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football winners & losers vs. Washington: QB choice is clear