5 things we learned in Fiesta Bowl loss by Michigan Football
The trenches have been an issue
We can talk about speed. That was a factor and it was for Georgia too in the Orange Bowl last year. Yet, for the second straight year, the Joe Moore-award-winning offensive line got whipped.
Michigan couldn’t run the ball at all against Georgia and outside of a few long runs, it wasn’t able to against TCU either. It certainly couldn’t run near the goal line.
Michigan never established the line of scrimmage and McCarthy was also sacked four times, although the pass coverage helped there too.
The defense also collapsed in the bowl game once again. We can talk about the offensive turnovers, but how many times are you going to give up two 60-yard plays in the second half and win the game?
45 points should have been enough. If the defense could have kept TCU to 30 points or loss, outside of the turnovers, U-M would have won the game. So while we can talk about skill players and different things like that, U-M lost this game in the trenches, just like it did against Georgia.