Michigan Football: Grading the offensive disaster against Alabama
Offense
Shea Patterson had at least SEVEN overthrows. Any one of them could have changed the game.
Quarterback
Grade: D +
Being Joe Burrow is incredibly difficult, maybe not as a person, but to do what he has done in college football is nothing short of amazing. Throughout his Heisman winning season, Joe threw 478 passes and completed 78% of them with only six interceptions to 55 touchdowns.
Against Alabama, Burrow completed 31 of his 39 passes for nearly 400 yards and no interceptions. The point is, having favorable statistics when playing a really good – maybe even great – defense is possible. That’s not the case for Shea in his outing.
Patterson finished the day with 233 yards, two interceptions, and one touchdown. It was an effort, just not a very good one.
Running backs
Grade: B+
Zach Charbonnet shined in his final contest with 13 carries for 84 yards. A few weeks ago, Zach managed seven yards on four carries in what was one of his worst outings this season, but the bowl game sparked something in the freshman who had the hot hand.
Hassan Haskins didn’t perform too bad himself with 61 yards and a catch for 19 although his 3.4 yards-per-rush average could use some improvement.
Wide receivers
Grade: B
The up-and-coming receivers freshman Giles Jackson and sophomore Ronnie Bell played some solid football combining for eight catches and 110 yards. They showed their elusiveness and route running abilities and laid out expectations for Michigan football’s WR room for next season.
Tight ends
Grade: B-
Nick Eubanks and Sean McKeon were awfully quiet outside of Nick’s seven-yard touchdown from Shea. While Sean will leaving for greener pastures, Nick has another opportunity to show his skill set for another year, and he might need it considering he didn’t have the breakout performance likely necessary to fall into a late-round draft pick situation.
Offensive line
Grade: A-
What a wonderful first half for this position group. Patterson, at times, could have taken a nap in the backfield waiting for his receivers to get open, and the running game was solid in the first half.
However, in the second half, penalties and the run-stuffing tide took hold as well as some pressure on Shea, which precluded an A grade on the day.