Michigan Football: Are the Wolverines a Top-25 team?

With the way the offense is playing right now, it’s worth asking, does Michigan Football deserve to be ranked in the top 25?

Ouch. Well, that was a nasty drop in the polls. One week Michigan football was riding along in the top 10, within striking distance of a playoff spot, needing only a couple of wins against Penn State and Ohio State, and then, well, Saturday night happened.

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Michigan’s 14-10 loss at home to Michigan State dropped the Wolverines out of the top 10, all the way to no. 17 in the AP poll – and to no. 16 in the Amway Coaches poll. No other team dropped that far in the current polls.

To add insult to injury, Michigan State moved ahead of Michigan to no. 14, and the only Big Ten teams remaining in the top 10 are Penn State at no. 3 and Ohio State at no. 8.

It’s possible, of course, that Michigan never really belonged in the top 10 and was never really a no. 7 team, which is where we were coming into the game against the Spartans. It’s possible that we made way too much of that season-opening win against Florida and allowed ourselves to dream too big.

And now, sadly, our team has been exposed. Maybe no. 17 is still too generous. With only half a team – there was no offense against Michigan State – it’s becoming much harder to make a case that Michigan belongs in the top 25.

The John O’Korn who stepped up after Wilton Speight’s season-ending injury two weeks ago at Purdue didn’t show up against little brother. His three interceptions killed any chance that Michigan had for a come-from-behind win. His loss of confidence during the game, which was painful to watch, makes it difficult to see how Jim Harbaugh can send him back out next week against Indiana.

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If O’Korn gets the start, that will speak volumes about Harbaugh’s confidence in the new back-up, Brandon Peters.

But let’s not lay all of this on O’Korn who, we shouldn’t forget, is no stranger to this situation. (He also lost his starting job in Houston a bunch of years ago before transferring to Michigan.) The offensive line has shown no discernible improvement from the beginning of the season.  Quarterbacks – first Speight, now O’Korn – are getting hit much too often from leaky pass protection, with catastrophic consequences.

When O’Korn wasn’t getting hit on Saturday, he was making bad decisions because he appeared to be afraid of getting hit. That can’t continue.

And then there is the coaching.

At this point we can no longer say that the play calling is unimaginative. That’s too polite. The real problem, it’s becoming clear, is that the coaching staff on the offensive side isn’t up to the job. They’re not putting their guys in a position to win. They’re not finding ways to use the talent we have.

Michigan’s problems are almost entirely on the offensive side of the ball. That was the reason for the loss on Saturday night, and that was the reason for the dizzying drop in the national polls.

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Until Michigan football gets its act together offensively, the remaining games on the schedule are going to be painful to watch.