There's no way to sugarcoat what happened to Michigan football on Saturday night in Norman. The Wolverines got whipped by the Oklahoma Sooners
The final margin was 24-13. It wasn't that close. Oklahoma made numerous mistakes that allowed Michigan football to hang around, but victory never felt realistic, especially after the third touchdown by the Sooners in the third quarter.
The missed tackle on what should have been a sack but turned into a big play was a backbreaker. There were some weird calls and strange decisions from a coaching perspective, but the biggest problem was that Oklahoma owned the trenches on both sides of the ball.
Michigan rushed for more yards than the Sooners. But Bryce Underwood struggled. He completed 9 of 24 passes in the face of what felt like constant pressure. The defense has issues, too, along with special teams.
It was a failure on all levels and here are five things we learned.
The offensive line isn't any better
Of all the issues with this Michigan football program under Sherrone Moore this is the biggest. Moore coached the Wolverines to back-to-back Joe Moore Awards. His introductory press conference was all about "smash," but that only works if you can block people.
Maybe having Andrew Babalola would make a difference, and there was an injury to Giovanni El-Hadi, but frankly, I didn't notice much difference when he was in or out.
There was the one 75-yard run. That was exceptional. Outside of that, Michigan running backs averaged less than three yards per attempt. Underwood was running for his life. There were often play-action fakes, even though the running game wasn't working, and by the time Bryce pulled the ball to look down field, he had guys in his face.
That's not to give Underwood a pass. He could have played better. But he's a freshman quarterback. He needs support, and the offensive line failed to offer it.
Beyond that, this offensive line looks average. It has popped some big plays in the running game. The consistency hasn't been there. Improvement is possible but there is a startling lack of improvement from a group that coaches and players swore was better.
It's not and that's on the head coach.