Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from the Wolverines loss to Notre Dame

Patterson was a disappointment

Look, there is no question that Patterson was better than John O’Korn or Brandon Peters would have been, yet he still wasn’t good enough in his first big test as Michigan quarterback.

Patterson finished the game going 22-of-30 for 227 yards. Yet, he threw an interception and also fumbled the ball away on what could have been a game-tying drive. More than that, UM squandered two other trips inside the Notre Dame 30. Get a touchdown and a field goal on those drives and Michigan wins the game.

Part of the issue seemed to be the playcalling. For some reason, Michigan called an extremely conservative game. Patterson dinked and dunked but created just three plays beyond 20 yards. His longest was a 52-yard pass to Nico Collins, which led to a botched field goal.

The protection certainly wasn’t great but Patterson’s pocket awareness was also poor at times. On the second drive of the game, he took a terrible sack, one that cost UM a chance at a field goal.

Add all those things together and it was a bad night for Patterson. It was his first start, so he deserves more time to prove himself, but no doubt he was disappointing.