There is plenty of blame to go around for Michigan's 13-6 loss to No. 6 Indiana, but it seems like most of it falls on offensive coordinator Jason Beck's shoulders. Well, the fans are certainly blaming Beck, but head coach Kyle Whittingham is going to take the blame on himself as the head man for the Wolverines.
However, Whittingham isn't shying away from calling out Beck for some of the calls he made. One really stuck out in the second quarter when Michigan was on the goal line on third down. The Wolverines called a timeout with 23 seconds left in the half to set up the play, and even with extra time, it was a horrible call.
Beck called for a fake handoff, hidden-ball trick play that Indiana read all the way. After quarterback Tommy Carr faked the handoff and turned to pass the ball to the corner of the end zone, he spun right into an Indiana defender, who drove him back 12 yards for the sack. Michigan then went on to miss the field goal, kicker Trey Butlowski's second miss of the day.
"That was not a good call," Whittingham said. "It's a call that Jason [Beck] wishes he had back, because it was really damaging."
Kyle Whittingham didn't hold back on the third down call at the goal line.
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) October 24, 2026
"That was not a good call," he said. "It's a call that Jason (Beck) wishes he had back, because it was really damaging.
"Everything falls on my shoulders (as the head coach)," he added.
Whittingham ultimately took the blame for it all, but shouldn't he be able to trust his offensive coordinator to make the right call? If he can't, then maybe there should be a change at the OC position because calling out Beck isn't going to fix anything.
Jason Beck has struggled calling plays all season long
It's not like this is the first game that Beck has struggled with playcalling. It has been an ongoing issue all season, and today it was as obvious as ever. It also wasn't just the third-down play call; it was really the entire game. Beck never adjusted the calls for how Indiana's defense was playing.
Beck hasn't been able to make good adjustments all season long. While I don't think Bryce Underwood has played well this season, Beck's playcalling certainly didn't help when it came to the decision to bench him. The fact that Carr struggled so much should be proof of Beck's inability to play to the strength of the quarterback.
Carr wasn't a perfect quarterback today. He was a true freshman in his first start against the reigning National Champions, so he was bound to have some rough throws. The two turnovers were a perfect example of that, but every time Carr started to get comfortable, Beck made a bad call that resulted in a loss of yardage or a sack that just forced a loss of momentum.
Whittingham said he didn't want to panic when the bye rolled around, and Michigan was 3-2. He didn't want to make a bunch of big changes, not when there was still a chance for the Wolverines this season to make the postseason. Well, with this loss, that chance is truly out of the realm of possibility, so maybe a big change is needed.
I get it, it's just the first season with Whittingham and Beck, but if the former Utah head coach wanted to stay in Ann Arbor, he may need to make a tough choice when it comes to keeping Beck around or not.
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