Michigan Football: An Elephant In The Huddle?

After watching Michigan football’s offense struggle for a second straight week, there’s obviously an elephant in the huddle.

Start of the second half. Michigan up by THREE over Cincinnati? Home crowd on the first home game of the season booing the home team? What the heck is up with Michigan’s offense?

Related Story: Ty Isaac has earned his role

The defense did its job again and again. Yet another tip of the helmet to Tyree Kinnel (nine tackles, a sack and an interception), Khaleke Hudson (six tackles, two sacks). Rashan Gary and Devin Bush were all over the field. Add Lavert Hill’s pick-six, Quinn Nordin’s two field goals, and a safety on a bad snap, and that’s the edge over Cincinnati.

Final score: 36 – 14.

The offense accounted for two touchdowns,14 points. If the defense hadn’t done the offense’s job and Nordin hadn’t hit two field goals, it’s a tie game. Nice job Ty Isaac (133 yards rushing), nice catch Grant Perry and Kokoa Crawford. Michigan was very lucky to get on the board.

We could be reading about the upset of the season this morning. We could be going into the Air Force game hoping against hope that somehow Michigan’s offense might find momentum, promise, something.

Oh, wait! We are going into the Air Force game hoping against hope.

Stuff happens. We get that. Bad bounce. Bad call.

That’s not Michigan’s problem. Michigan’s problem becomes obvious when viewing any of the other notable games this weekend.

Penn State-Pitt?  Yes, Trace McSorley threw three touchdown passes, including a beauty to Saquon Barkley on a 46-yard touchdown that effectively ended Pitt’s bid to knock off the Nittany Lions. What distinguished McSorley, however, was his ability to move out of the pocket, run when necessary, and effectively scramble long enough to find a second or third target.

Oklahoma-Ohio State? Sure, Baker Mayfield threw for three touchdowns, found nine different receivers, and picked up 386 yards in knocking off Ohio State, but many of those yards were earned the hard way as Mayfield scrambled and dodged, ducked and ran, spotting the open receiver and making the time and space to deliver a pass that threaded the needle. Ohio State’s defense is very good, but Mayfield found a way.

And that’s not all. After the last whistle, Mayfield grabbed the Oklahoma flag from the band, sprinted to midfield and planted the Oklahoma dagger right in the middle of Ohio State’s heart.

From Yahoo Sports:

“Mayfield took a hard left turn to midfield, sprinted to a mob of teammates congregated at the block ‘O’ and planted the Oklahoma flag there. Mayfield threw over the Buckeyes secondary for 386 yards and three touchdowns, freelanced through the defensive line to extend plays and ended the night piercing both Ohio State’s soul and field. The moment capped a historic and humiliating night for Ohio State, which suffered its worst home loss since Illinois thumped them here in 1999.”

That speaks volumes. Mayfield is a hell of a quarterback and a hell of a leader. You beat Oklahoma and sing your fight song on our logo at midfield? We’ll come up to Columbus, beat you, then plant it all the way in.

Sounds like the kind of feisty, soul piercing leader Michigan needs to put itself in the company of the big-time programs. Sounds like Tom Brady, Jim Harbaugh.

Wilton Speight can throw a long ball when he has time in the pocket and an open receiver in the end zone, but even when he has the ideal circumstances, he chucks the ball over his receiver’s head. He explains his overthrows as “sloppy feet” and explains the fumble by saying that he and Crawford “weren’t on the same page.”

That’s just not going to cut it.

Harbaugh is the greatest human of all time and a great coach of quarterbacks. He’s stuck with Speight in order to establish what he calls “the system” or “the process”.  Something’s up.

Here’s Harbaugh after the Cincinnati game, according to Detroit’s CBS affiliate:

“He’s taking the other hand off the ball and trying to do a one-hand (handoff),” Harbaugh said. “I’ve been telling him, ‘It’s a matter of time until it slips out of your hand.’ Today was the day. Today was the day that it just slipped right out of his hand. It’s a bad habit, keep working hard to break him of that. Got us today.”

Excuse us?  “I’ve been telling him”?  “Bad habit”?

Speight is the elephant in the huddle, and for some reason, Harbaugh thinks Michigan can’t do any better.

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Hey, Dylan McCaffrey is sitting on the bench. He may be untested and young, but he has the leadership gene, and without some leadership, this Michigan offense is going to be depending on the Michigan defense to keep games close.