Michigan football could easily be 5-0. Instead, the Wolverines are 3-2 and 0-2 in the Big Ten.
Any idea of winning a conference championship, or even competing for one, is out of the window. The College Football Playoff is, too, unless the Wolverines can win out, which is what JJ Buchanan said the goal is.
Winning out would require wins over Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon, and UCLA. Maybe the Wolverines should have hired the Bruins' head coach, only they didn't have the chance because the Sherrone Moore fiasco came at the worst time, in terms of hiring a head coach.
Whittingham, a proven winner with three conference titles under his belt, felt like the safe choice. There is talent on this roster, enough talent that this team should be unbeaten. There have been some missteps and maybe changing this over from a Sherrone Moore-led program to one that resembles Whittingham's teams at Utah will take more time than we thought.
Michigan has a $30 million roster and all the pieces required to be a 9-10 win team this season. That was the goal. Not to win a national title or seriously contend for one, but to take a step in that direction so contention could be possible in 2027.
Now, it feels like Michigan just needs to win a game. The last seven games won't be easy. Six wins aren't guaranteed if the play doesn't turn around, quickly. Saturday felt like rock bottom. Here are three things that Michigan football has to fix during the bye week to save its season.
The running game
The running game or lack of one, is the most perplexing thing about Michigan football this season. Whittingham's teams were always known for being able to run the ball. Utah was one of the best rushing teams in college football last season under Jason Beck, so it's not like the coaching staff is clueless.
They have just tried too hard to make these players fit into what they were running at Utah, as opposed to building on what this team did well, which is, in part, the downhill running game.
Michigan, throughout the Harbaugh era, and after, has been known for having NFL running backs running behind NFL offensive linemen. That should have been the formula this season. Instead, Beck has tried to incorporate too much horizontal instead of some of the man-ball runs we are used to, although Michigan was a heavy outside zone team last year.
Whittingham said the Wolverines are going to use more downhill runs. Blake Frazier was basically begging for it on Tuesday. Beck will have to figure things out this week, because if Michigan wants to go on any sort of run in the second half of the season, the running game needs to look like it did last year, when the Wolverines averaged 210 yards per game and 5.8 yards per carry, without using the quarterback as part of the run game, I might add.
The struggles don't add up. Michigan fans have to hope the staff gets it right because if this isn't fixed, there is zero chance that the Wolverines are going to turn things around.
The quarterback position
Bryce Underwood might be facing more pressure than any other quarteback in college football. He's an easy target because of the $12 million NIL deal.
There's a huge segment of the Michigan fanbase that wants him benched. It still feels too early for that. He deserves the chance to right the ship. Underwood should start against Penn State. If he still can't process what he's seeing, he might need to sit for his own good.
The game, unfortunately, hasn't slowed down for him yet. Underwood had a tight end wide open on the final play against Minnesota. It looked like his primary read, and he just didn't wait long enough. He panicked and when he does that, he tends to throw it up for Andrew Marsh or JJ Buchanan.
Underwood played well against Oklahoma and Iowa. If that can be replicated, Michigan can win or have a chance to win every game on the schedule. If he plays like he did against Minnesota, the Wolveriners can lose every game. The defense has been lights out. The offense needed to score six points in the second half or one touchdown to win the game and couldn't do it.
This is three years in a row that Michigan hasn't had a capable offense, while having a pretty good defense. Michigan's defense has played well enough to be 5-0.
The offense and special teams need to get their act together. More importantly, the coaches have to get Underwood playing with confidence again, or they need to go to Tommy Carr, as many fans have been clamoring for.
Special teams
Michigan feels like it has more leaks than the Titanic, so it's easy to overlook some of the massive errors being committed on special teams.
Kerry Coombs, the former Ohio State assistant, was hired by Moore to fix things. Whittingham kept him on, but so far, it has been a complete diaster.
It's easy to focus on the final drive against Iowa, but Michigan lost the game when it allowed the Hawkeyes to return a kickoff for a touchdown. You can't do that against Iowa. That single play kept Iowa in the game long enough for them to steal it in the end.
The Andrew Marsh fumble last Saturday completely changed the tenor of that game, too. Michigan was about to get the ball back up 14-7. Instead, the Gophers got it in the red zone. The defense held. It also held the Gophers to a field goal after the first interception, only giving up a touchdown the third time that Minnesota got the ball gifted to it in scoring range.
If that kickoff is booted out of the end zone against Iowa and Marsh doesn't fumble that punt return, Michigan is probably 5-0. When the offense is struggling to score, you can't give away points in the kicking game.
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