The Kyle Whittingham era has not started the way many Michigan football fans expected.
Most expected to see a return to the kind of football we saw underJim Harbaugh: Tough, physical, and disciplined. Yet, through five games, the Wolverines have been anything but.
Michigan is one of the worst teams in college football when it comes to turnover margin. The Wolverines have also struggled with penalties, and they have been awful on special teams.
Bryce Underwood has gotten most of the blame. It's easy to point the finger at the quarterback, but Whittingham hasn't done that. He has acknowledged that Bryce needs to improve. However, there are other issues, too.
The offensive line and the running game need to be better. Jason Beck needs to have a better showing than he did against Minnesota, where it felt like he was incapable of adjusting.
It was clear that Whittingham wasn't making drastic changes coming out of the bye. Underwood is still the starting quarterback. Beck is calling the plays. Michigan football is staying the course.
Some fans might ask why. For that, Whittingham has the answer.
The last thing Michigan football should do is panic
"The preparation has worked really good for 20-some years," Whittingham said at his Monday Presser. "It's only natural when you hit a tough spot to question everything you're doing. Evaluate and take a good, hard, in-depth look, but if you believe in what you're doing, which we do, and we've been doing it for long time, then you can't panic. You just stay the course."
It would be easy to panic. Make a change at quarterback, make wholesale changes to personnel, but this isn't Madden or College Football 27. It's not as simple as subbing in a player from the bench.
The fact is, if Michigan just plays clean football and doesn't drop the ball repeatedly on special teams, the Wolverines are 5-0.
"Our big demise is turnover margin," Whitingham said. "If we continue to lose the turnover margin, we will continue to lose, period."
The Wolverines forced two takeaways against Minnesota, but gave it up three times. They were also minus-1 in turnover margin against Iowa. That's not winning football.
If Michigan takes care of the ball and doesn't muff the punt against Minnesota, getting the ball ahead 14-7, the game might turned out differently. Iowa defintely doesn't beat Michigan without returning a kickoff for a touchdown in the first half.
Even with that, it took a few minor miracles for Iowa to leave Michigan Stadium with a win. So Whittingham is right not to panic, although that message will be a hard sell if the Wolverines fail to defeat Penn State on Saturday.
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