in 2024, Michigan football had a national championship caliber defense, without a doubt. Unfortunately, the Wolverines had a well below average offense, which took them from a top 10 preseason ranking and playoff goals to an 8-5 record. In 2025, the defense looks like it'll be championship caliber again. Meaning the goals of the 2025 season depend on the offense.
Sherrone Moore and Michigan completely overhauled the offense after the 2024 season. The Wolverines landed the No. 1 player in the nation in quarterback Bryce Underwood and hired North Carolina offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey to man the offense. Lindsey received high marks from former UNC QB Drake Maye, who credited his success to Lindsey.
And now, already, Lindsey is receiving high remarks from the Michigan offense. As reported by Isaiah Hole, Semaj Morgan had very high praise for Lindsey, saying "It's already night and day because I'm running more routes... I'm a technician when it comes to routes. So I don't like want to be running bubbles all day and stuff like Coach Campbell had me doing. That's not me. That's not my thing."
After a freshman season in which Morgan carved out a significant role on a national championship winning team, he had a disappointing sophomore season. Now, it seems like Chip Lindsey has made real progress getting Morgan, and the rest of the offense, back onto that championship trajectory. Lindsey is going to make Michigan's offense far more dynamic, and will take advantage of the strengths of his players.
Michigan football doesn't need to have an Ohio State-caliber offense in 2025. With how good the Wolverines' defense is expected to be, they just need to be better than in 2024. Of Michigan's five losses in 2024, the only games that appeared out of reach even with an improved offense were Texas and maybe Oregon (debatable). Michigan should have been a playoff team in 2024, and they definitely should be in 2025.
While we're going to see plenty of growing pains on offense, there should be no doubt that the offense is going to be much better in 2025 than in 2024. Chip Lindsey has had lots of success running an offense and developing a great quarterback in the past, and he should be able to do the same at Michigan.