Going into the Illinois game, there was talk of a great two weeks of practice leading up to the Michigan football game and how the Wolverines were going to get back to their brand of football.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen. The Wolverines dropped their third game of the season, by a score of 21-7 to Illinois. Michigan football turned it over three times. It had a field goal blocked and the third starting quarterback this season wasn't much better than the first two.
Here's what we learned from the Michigan football loss on Saturday.
Michigan doesn't have a quarterback
We kind of knew this coming in. At least we should have had a hunch but Jack Tuttle confirmed on Saturday that Michigan football doesn't have a capable quarterback on this roster.
If Tuttle was the preferred option of the coaching staff before he got hurt, that's a questionable decision. Davis Warren has a solid arm but is turnover prone and Alex Orji can't throw.
Michigan could have devised an offense to take advantage of his running ability. Some of those things could have helped him be more effective as a passer, but the coaching staff didn't seem to have any idea how to use a running quarterback.
It's not entirely Sherrone Moore's fault but he's not blameless. Michigan has botched QB recruiting since J.J. McCarthy and the 2024 season was when the chickens came home to roost.
The defense can play winning football
What's frustrating about this Michigan football team is all three phases never seem to working in unison. If the defense played as well against Washington as did it against Illinois, Michigan might have won the game.
Giving up nearly 200 yards rushing was shocking to me. The fake punt was also a huge mishap that changed the game. Points were at a premium and that led to seven for the Fighting Illini.
But there were plenty of times when the defense bailed out the offense. Give Wink Martindale credit. He went much more vanilla. The Wolverines only got one sack but they only allowed 21 points and even some of that was due to the poor play of the offense.
Losing Will Johnson hurt and it's hard to know when he'll come back. But if there is one thing this team can count on, it's stil the defense and the defensive line, as long as it gets a little help.
The lack of a QB production is an issue
Yes, there were reasons why Michigan football was going to be hindered in terms of landing a transfer portal quarterback. The biggest problem was the timing of Jim Harbaugh's departure. Basically, all the good quarterbacks were gone by then, but there had to be someone out there.
Even if the current roster is the best that the Wolverines could do, it's a pretty big indictment of the coaching staff that Kirk Campbell has been unable to get any of the quarterbacks to play well.
Alex Orji might have been successful if he ran an offense that tried to take advantage of his running ability instead of an offense more suited for Warren and Tuttle.
It's hard to imagine the Michigan football staff believed they were going to win with the current QB quarterback room running the same offense but that appears to be what they believed. They didn't come up with a plan to get the current room to produce. It doesn't make sense and we are seeing that on the field.
Sherrone Moore said they Wolverines are re-evaluating the QB room whch tells you they are basically playing Russian Roulette at this point and there's no exuse for it.
Continuity strategy was half baked
Continuity doesn't win football games and that's something that Michigan football should have realized. That's not necessarily a comment on Sherrone Moore, but it definitely has something to do with Kirk Campbell.
Sherrone hired Wink because he wanted continuity. That's one of the reasons why Campbell was promoted from offensive coordinator. In hindsight, Moore should have gone out and got a proven coordinator. He had the money too.
Maybe the quarterback play would be better -- it honestly can't be worse. Continuity was part of the reason why Sherrone Moore was hired but then Clink and Mike Elston weren't retained as the co-defensive coordinators. So even the continuity thing was half-baked.
You need good coaches. Sherrone Moore can still have success as Michigan football head coach, but he needs to make drastic changes to the staff before its too late.
Special teams went from a strength to a weakness
Under Jim Harbaugh, Michigan football was really good on special teams. That was especially true when Jay Harbaugh was coordinating the unit. The coverage was spectacular. They found a way to convert some fake punts and kicks, and the Wolverines just didn't make mistakes in the kicking game.
That hasn't been the case this season. Yes, there were a few issues with returns last season but Michigan football having a kick blocked on Saturday, to go along with all of the poor punting, just shows how much this team is hindered by the kicking game.
The Wolverines used to have the advantage there every single week. Now, they are getting crushed in the hidden yardage battle. Not only did having a kick blocked take points off the board, but the fake punt from Illinois also led to a touchdown which is 10 points for Illinois based on two plays.
Like a lot of things, that has to be cleaned up this team is going to get to six wins and at least salvage something from this 2024 Michigan football season.