Michigan Football: 5 things we learned from Wolverines loss to Ohio State

Ohio State had the better quarterback and it wasn’t close

If you really want to look at why Michigan football has only beaten Ohio State once since 2003, look no farther than the quarterback position. It’s been an issue for two decades and it still isn’t fixed.

Shea Patterson has had a great season. There is no debate about that. But Saturday against Ohio State, he was bad. He was nowhere in the same universe as Dwayne Haskins and it was apparent from the opening drive, which was a three-and-out.

Patterson did throw three touchdowns, but he missed so many easy throws. Yes, he was getting pressured all game long, I won’t dispute that, but still, you have to play better than that in the biggest game of your life.

His interception was terrible and the two field-goals on the first two scoring drives allowed the game to get away from the Wolverines. Essentially, if the Wolverines were going to win, Patterson was going to have to go toe-to-toe with Haskins and the reality is, in that fight, Michigan had no chance.

You can certainly argue the play calling had something to do with it. But Haskins was just better. He was just like J.T Barrett, Braxton Miller, Terrelle Pryor and Troy Smith have all been better than whoever the Wolverines trotted out and until Michigan has a better quarterback than the Buckeyes, it won’t win this game.