Approaching Rock Bottom for Michigan Football

Things are not in a good place with the Michigan Wolverines football team. In fact this may be as bad as it was when it was at its worst under Brady Hoke and Rich Rodriguez. I thought those days were behind me as a fan. I figured that, at the very least, Michigan would be competitive and always in contention for a bowl game, and usually the playoff. But this season has been a very, very down one, and it all came to a nasty head Saturday night.

I have been so incredibly underwhelmed by what I have watched from this team this year. I was shocked when Sherrone Moore was let go, but I understood why they did it. That was a bad look for the university, and it felt like the tides were turning away from the Jim Harbaugh era, which was a great run for this program. And when they somehow lured Kyle Whittingham out of retirement to take over, I was so happy. This seemed like a return to form. I figured the team would look like they did under Lloyd Carr. Those teams were never flashy or high powered offensively, but they had a Heisman winner, they played ferocious defense, won a National Title and were always ranked inside the top 25. That has not been the case.

This Michigan team, namely on offense, has been abysmal. They have no heart. They have no imagination. They have no will. They have no oomph. The offense has been one of the worst in the country by the numbers. Michigan could, at the very least, run the ball under Sherrone Moore. They cannot even do that anymore. The run game, led by captain Jordan Marshall and five star super freshman Savion Hiter, has been underwhelming. The backs continue to try and run sideline to sideline. These players are not built for that. Marshall, Hiter and Bryson Kuzdal are bruising backs that want to hit the defense before they hit them. Instead they have been told and coached to try and outrun guys to the outside, and it has failed miserably so far. They barely average 3 yards a carry, and they have not scored nearly as much as I expected. The wide receivers have been okay enough. JJ Buchannan has been a revelation. I have enjoyed watching him play, and he makes spectacular catches every week. Andrew Marsh has been steady and consistent and is one of the more reliable players on the offense. And they mercifully took him off punt return, because he was fumbling far too much for my taste. But the tight ends never get used, and this offensive line is atrocious. I have become so accustomed to Michigan having a dominant and nasty o line, but that is not the case this season. They have looked as bad as I have ever watched in my lifetime. Guys whiff on blocks every week. They don't communicate with one another. They commit far too many penalties. They fall over themselves every game. This line is so bad and it seems to be getting worse every week.

Now, they fired Jason Beck yesterday, which felt like a long time coming, but I don't know that much will change these last three weeks. Beck never accustomed his play calling to the players he had. He was so intent on running the same offense he ran at Utah with players that were not equipped to run that offense. He never adjusted and he was made the rightful scapegoat yesterday.

But so much more has to change. I was wrong on Whittingham. He has no fire. He has no excitement. He stands on the sideline and doesn't say a word or make any kind of gestures to show he is involved in the game. His microphone on his headset is almost always up, and not near his mouth. He doesn't seem to be communicating with his staff at all during the games. And his post game and weekly press conferences are so dull and lifeless. He speaks the same monotone way every week and it is just getting older by the week. I'm over his calm demeanor. I was so into it when he was first hired, but now it angers me. He doesn't seem to have the will anymore. He looks like he wished he stayed retired and that stuff rubs off on the team. They also look lifeless and bored during games. The defense, for their part, has been amazing. They are literally one of the best defenses in the country. They just spend way, way too much time on the field and they get tired, like any of us would if we had to constantly stay on the field and get no rest. I love Jay Hill. He has been the best offseason hire by far for this team. If they were to move on from Whittingham, as I hope they do, Hill would be my first choice at the moment to be the next head coach. I have zero issues with this defense.

As for the QB play, I don't know how much blame goes to Bryce Underwood and Tommy Carr or if it all goes to Jason Beck. Underwood has not lived up to the hype. He has had some good games, but he has also had some very bad games, or games where you don;t even notice anything he has done. Tommy Carr leaves the pocket too quickly, tries to run too much and makes typical true freshman mistakes. At this point I'd go back to Underwood for the rest of the season, but make no mistakes, I'm about 90 percent certain that Underwood will be playing for a new team next season.

What makes this season so frustrating and maddening for me was what I watched on Saturday. Michigan should have stomped Michigan State. Michigan is, on paper, a much better team. And Michigan State is knowingly in rebuilding mode. But credit to Pat Fitzgerald. He has his team ready to play. They wanted to win that game and they did everything in their power to do so. MSU's defense, one of the worst in the nation, stifled this porous Michigan offense. Michigan didn't even reach 200 total yards of offense. MSU had five total turnovers for the season going into that game, and they caused Michigan to turn the ball over four times Saturday night. Tommy Carr looked confused. The o line was as bad as they have been all year. The receivers dropped easy balls, or fumbled when they did catch it. The run game never, ever got going. It was as bad as I have ever seen a Michigan football team play. And this was a rivalry game. This was the state championship. And every time the camera cut to Whittingham, his mic was not near his mouth, he looked calm and collected and he looked like his team was winning by a few scores. He never looked angry or nervous or upset. He looked like he didn't have a care in the world. And that is not the way I expect a Michigan coach to act when his team is getting wildly outplayed by an inferior team. Credit to MSU for showing up and showing out, but Michigan looked like they wanted to be anywhere else Saturday night.

The schedule only gets harder from here. They travel to Oregon on Saturday, and they just crushed the university of Ohio State in Columbus. Then UCLA, a top ten team in the CFP rankings, comes to Ann Arbor. And like every season, they finish the year off in Columbus, facing the university of Ohio State. I don't think they have any chance in any of these games, especially the way they have been playing all year.

This is a lost season for Michigan. I thought they made the right decisions, but I was wrong. It doesn't seem like Whittingham is the right fit. They should probably move on from him after the season and start a real coach search. They should try everything they can to retain Jay Hill and keep the defense in tact, but massive changes need to come this offseason. Michigan has a ways to go before being a contender again, but this season has been so incredibly difficult to watch, and the next three weeks cannot end soon enough. I'm over this year, and over the coaching staff, except for the defensive staff. Changes need to be made. Always and forever Go Blue. 

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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