This Michigan Win Does Not Feel Good

I am here today to discuss what happened in the Western Michigan-Michigan football game on Saturday night. I've been sitting with this game in my head ever since it ended.

Right away, I don't know what the rules say, I did not read the particular rule for the 1 second being left on the clock, I have no idea how there was any time left, but a win is a win. Do I think there was a second left? Do I think Michigan deserved a chance to win at the end? No. I thought the time had expired and I even went about my evening thinking about how this loss was going to affect the football program for the rest of the season. And then the refs put a second back on the clock, Underwood made his only decent pass of the night and JJ Buchannan came down with the ball amongst a crowd of players. The final score ended up being 13-12, instead of the 12-7 I figured it was going to be.

A lot of stuff can be said about this. Maybe Western Michigan should have batted the ball down. Maybe they needed everyone in the secondary. Maybe Michigan should have just blown the doors off of them. Maybe Michigan's defense was tired and that is why they couldn't get off the field in the third quarter. Maybe this appeal from the MAC will give Western Michigan a much deserved win. In the end, where we sit today, September 8th, Western Michigan is 0-1 and Michigan is 1-0. And I have so many, many issues and more worries about this team, the Wolverines, moving forward this season.

First off, the defense is solid. I don't have many issues. I was frustrated that they couldn't get off the field in the third quarter. And then my dad said to me that he was certain they were tired because they had been playing more than 70 percent of the game. I thought the d line did an okay job rushing the passer and stopping the run. Western Michigan didn't have too many explosive plays, even though that is not the type of offense they run. I thought the defense did bite on too many play action plays and that the secondary was playing way too far off of Western Michigan's wideouts. But, when you only give up 12 points, with zero touchdowns scored, I think the defense did their job.

This Wolverine offense though, boy oh boy does it look pretty bad. I don't really know what I expected, especially with an entirely new offensive staff for the most part, but this was not what I wanted to see. This was an offense that was anemic, timid, couldn't establish the line of scrimmage, made poor choices and got far too many penalties. They looked frightened and very under prepared. The majority of the blame goes to the coaches, but the players bear some of the brunt as well. I had, and maybe still have a little, hope for Bryce Underwood, but he looked like he took a massive stepback. He made poor decision after poor decision. There was a moment late in the game where he could have easily ran for a first down on third down, but instead he decided to throw the ball to a wideout being covered by four players. He threw a horrendous interception late in the first half that set up a field goal for Western Michigan. He fumbled the ball running late in the fourth quarter when Michigan was down one point. He made poor throws most of the night, and I take zero stock in the fact that he made one nice throw all night long. The running game, which is supposed to be the bread and butter, looked rough. Jordan Marshall looked timid and tried to jump cut far too often. Last season he would run a dude over if they were in his way. Saturday night he looked like he was more interested in juking someone. Savion Hiter didn't get a decent block all night, and when he would get going, he looked like a freshman, taking bad cuts or being taken down with ease by one tackler. Bryson Kuzdal got two carries all night, and while he had the best run of any of the backs, it was called back due to an unnecessary holding penalty. The receivers couldn't get much separation, they looked slow out of the gates and Andrew Marsh, who I adore, made some uncommon mistakes by simply just taking his eyes off the ball. And the o line was not good at all. They couldn't establish themselves all night long. They struggled to open running lanes and protect the QB.  The o line looked as bad as I have seen them play in a long, long time.

And the coaching staff really struggled. I had much higher hopes for this staff. I praised them as the saviors. They are supposed to turn this program back into a national power. They shouldn't need the refs to bail them out.

I don't know what is going to come from this game and from this team all year, but my expectations have drastically fallen off. Oklahoma is going to crush them this weekend. I said during my college football preview that I felt like Michigan's ceiling was 10 wins and the floor was 7. I'm struggling to find 6 wins with this squad now. They have one of the harder schedules in all of college football, and if the offense is going to be this bad all year, they may not win 4 games.

I'm going to root for Michigan like I always do. My fandom will never die for this football team. I love them. But I feel like we are going to be in for a long, long season, and maybe there will be some massive changes next year if this isn't figured out. Props to Western Michigan for how well prepared they were on Saturday night, and for how well they played. And I'm more nervous than usual for Michigan moving forward. This has the feeling of a tough and long season for the Wolverines. But, as always, 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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