Michigan Football: Grading Harbaugh and the Wolverines 2018 season

Offensive grade: B-

There is a ton of criticism surrounding the offense right now and rightfully so. The Wolverines performed poorly in the last two games and the image of the offense struggling against Ohio State and Florida has to be stuck in the head of every Michigan football fan.

With Shea Patterson at quarterback, the offense was much improved, there is no question about that. Yet, the Wolverines also failed to reach their potential and with a passing game that features Donovan Peoples-Jones, Nico Collins and Zach Gentry there is no excuse for ranking 81st in passing yards and 43rd in total offense, even if it converted 49 percent on third down.

After the Florida game, Michigan football averaged 215 yards through the air and 203 on the ground. Of course, the rushing yardage probably would have been better against the Gators had Karan Higdon and Juwann Bushell-Beatty played, but I digress.

For his part, Patterson played well (see video above). He threw for 2,600 yards, averaged eight yards an attempt, threw 22 touchdowns and tossed just seven interceptions, although he had turnover issues in each loss. The development of Collins (632 yards, 6 TDs) and Peoples-Jones (612 yards, 8 TDs) was huge. Zach Gentry also went over 500 yards.

But if used correctly, Peoples-Jones and Collins should have been closer to 1,000. That’s how talented they are and the passing game behind Patterson should have been the focal point of the offense. Higdon was great and ran for 1,178 yards and 10 touchdowns. The offensive line was also much improved but struggled to open holes or protect Patterson against Florida, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

There is a ton of talent and many of the players got better, the offensive scheme just needs to be modernized. The playcalling also needs to be more aggressive. All in all, the offense earned a B minus.