The Michigan football program feels like it is at a crossroads, and we are only five games into the tenure of head coach Kyle Whittingham.
This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Michigan, armed with a $30 million roster, a five-star quarterback, and a head coach with a proven track record of success, was supposed to take a leap forward into Big Ten title and College Football Playoff contention.
Instead, the Wolverines have taken a step back. There was a win over 11th-ranked Oklahoma, which has looked worse each week. That was before a two-game losing streak to a pair of Big Ten West teams that, frankly, Michigan has no business losing to.
The Iowa loss was fluky. Michigan's performance against Minnesota was just bad. The defense wasn't terrible. It gave up 20 points despite being put in terrible field position three times in the second half, and never wilted even though it was on the field most of the game.
The defense gave Bryce Underwood chance after chance in the fourth quarter. Yet, on the final drive, he passed up an open receiver for a first down to throw it out of bounds, over the head of a covered JJ Buchanan.
Whittingham had no answers after the game. He's as stunned as Michigan football fans, although it would be nice to sense anger or some sort of emotion. He did say that "tough decisions" are coming. Whether that means a change at quarterback or something else, here are three hard lessons from the 20-14 loss to Minnesota.
Something has to change at quarterback
It might be time to think about Tommy Carr. Fringe Michigan fans aren't the only ones saying that either. National pundits like Stewart Mandel and Rick Neuheisel are, too.
That doesn't mean they are right, but it's time to have the conversation. Underwood was great against Iowa. He accounted for 312 yards. The one mistake was on Andrew Marsh, well outside of the leap on the fourth down.
To see Underwood struggle the way he did against Minnesota, looking like he did against Western Michigan was shocking. It felt like he turned a corner, only to regress to the same bad habits. Minnesota blitzed and it worked. Underwood crumples under pressure.
On the first interception, Andrew Marsh was wide open. Underwood's arm was hit on the second, but there needs to be some sort of pocket awareness. There was an open guy on the last fourth down for an easy completion. This was a common theme.
What do you do as a coaching staff when players are open and the quarterback can't find them? How do you have an effective offense like that?
You don't. Michigan scored 14 points and only gained 180 yards. Seven points came on a pick-six. The other touchdown came after an interception gave the ball to the Wolverines at the Minnesota 30. That's it. They didn't score again.
The longest drive of the game for the Wolverines covered 37 yards. That was the final drive. Minnesota has a solid defense, but the Gophers aren't that good.
Would things have been different if Tommy Carr was playing? Maybe. It's hard to know what we would see from him, but if Underwood keeps playing like that, a change will have to be made.
The best move is probably giving him the bye week and the start against Penn State with a short leash. You can't sabotage an entire season because of one guy.
Bryce Underwood is Michigan's biggest problem by far, although there are plenty of others.
Jason Beck needs to realize he coaches in the Big Ten, not the Big 12
Maybe the second-biggest disaster on this Michigan football team has been the offensive playcalling by Jason Beck, although the offensive line has something to say.
It's hard to criticize play calls. This isn't about one or two calls. It's about the offensive philosophy.
Beck put together elite offenses the past two seasons with Utah. The run game was one of the best in college football, but what works at Utah, won't necessarily work at Michigan.
Former Michigan football beat reporter, Nick Baumgardner, who covers the NFL for the Athletic, summbed it up better than anyone:
"Jason Beck inherited a sturdy power run game that attacks downhill and punishes people with NFL talent and is in the process of turning it into a horizontal stretch line as if this isn’t the Big Ten. Also: QB has no confidence and everyone is stacking them. So: double whammy," Baumgardner posted on X.
Savion Hiter had nine yards on eight carries against Minnesota. He had six yards on eight carries against Oklahoma.
Those numbers are terrible largely because of Beck. How many times have we seen Michigan hand the ball to Hiter on a horizontal run only to see him get buried for negative yards.
It felt like Beck abandoned that against Iowa, yet there it was against Minnesota, over and over again, as if he was watching an entirely different game. The offensive coordinator Whittingham took with him, is trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Beck is trying to make his players adapt to him, rather than adapting to his players. That's the worst thing a coach can do. He needs to adjust or be fired. It really is as simple as that.
On the second interception, a tight end was pulling across the formation to block the edge. The entire offensive line and the running back bungled the protection, which was poorly designed from the start.
Underwood got hit and the Gophers scored a touchdown to take the lead not long after. Dropped passes, false starts, holding penalties have all been a factor.
But from day one, there has been a disconnect. It feels like the offensive line doesn't know what it's doing. That's on the coaching staff.
Whittingham also seems disconnected from all of it, which leads me to the next point.
Kyle Whittingham is way too disengaged
For a guy who works out every day and rides a motorcycle, Whittingham doesn't seem to have a lot of energy on the sideline. I don't think I've seen him yell once, except at the refs in the Oklahoma game.
Where is the fire? The passion? You don't have to get in everyone's faces all the time. There is a time and place for it, though.
Teams reflect the attitude of their head coach. On Saturday, the Gophers played like a team with a coach who runs sprints down the field and rubs blood on his face. You can call it weird if you want, but that team wanted it a hell of a lot more than Michigan.
Minnesota played with its hair on fire. It was running to the ball, blocking, tackling and hitting people. The Wolverines just felt disinterested. The offensive line looked like it would rather be at the ballet.
There was no pride. Just ho-hum. Maybe because that's how Kyle Whittingham was the entire game. It's how he was after blowing things against Iowa.
The first major red flag for me was when he criticized Beck's play call at the end of the first half against Western Michigan. It was stupid. Throwing the ball, to the sideline, from deep in your own territorty, with a struggling quarterback made no sense.
The play ended in an interception. After the game, Whittingham said he didn't like the call, as if he didn't hear it or have the chance to correct it.
Isn't the man paid handsomely to be the head coach? If you knew the call was bad, why didn't you speak up? The same goes for the 4th-and-1 sneak against Iowa. And the defensive call.
So, Whittingham didn't like the call, but stayed silent and watched as said calls didn't work? What world are we living in?
Whittingham feels like the second coming of Brady Hoke, except the Wolverines took the fast track to year three. It took five games. There are seven left, and a bye week this week to turn it around.
Do I have faith? No.
It feels like the game has passed by Whittingham. It feels like Michigan made a mistake, and the only thing worse than a mistake is prolonging it.
Whittingham is a proven winner. He says he will get it figured out, but he also called it the biggest challenge of his coaching career. His inability to explain what's going wrong makes it more difficult to believe he can fix it.
The Michigan head coach better find himself during the bye week, because he should be coaching for his job over the next seven weeks.
That's how bad this has been.
Add us as a preferred source on Google