Michigan football was 3-0 coming out of nonconference play, but few felt good about how the offense looked.
The vibes are even worse coming out of the bye week as the Wolverines have suffered consecutive losses, including the most recent 20-14 setback against Minnesota where the offense was responsible for just one score. Jason Beck's group has struggled and at one point when speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Oct. 14, he said, "yes, everything sucks."
The lack of run game, the inconsistent push in the trenches, a quarterback making questionable decisions, a tight end group that's been nearly nonexistent and a wide receiver core that only has two players who have made an impact.
But reading between the lines, Beck is as worried about how the team
is handling the adversity as anything.
"There's a tons of things scheme-wise we've got to improve and get better at, we've got to tweak, adjust," Beck said. "But there's also this other thing of just the mental, the attitude, the mindset, the buy-in ... there's no magic wand you're just going to slap on this thing and make some special call that's going to come to the rescue.
"It's execution and it's mindset and it's buy-in as a group."
It's the opposite of Michigan basketball's national title winning team last year.
Former coach Dusty May would frequently cite the team's collective ability to put the team above the individual. Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara, both of whom were lottery picks, could have put up way more stats had they chose a different situation. Instead, they played within the confines of the scheme at Michigan and each averaged about 15 points and seven boards as they became NBA lottery selections.
It's something that Beck indicated the offense has struggled to embrace. Not the defense.
Jay Hill's unit is ranked No. 3 in the nation in total defense (241.4 yards per game) and an ability to dominate early in the year has helped proved to the group that it's being put in the right position.
"Just the buy-in from the players, to be honest with you," cornerbacks coach Jernaro Gilford said. "I think now, as we watch our success ... they can see that the calls are working, the defense is working, and if we all do our 1/11, we can be very, very good."
Center Jake Guarnera told reporters earlier in the week the offense "kind of got discouraged" following its performance against Western Michigan in the opener. He said the unit has been caught both looking ahead and looking back at what's gone wrong instead of focusing "on the present and what we can fix right now and can control, and stop trying to fix things that are out of our control and out of our reach."
It's not that Beck's scheme can't work. Clearly, it can, based on last year's results at Utah that led to the Utes leading the nation in yards per carry (6.0) and finishing second in rushing yards per game (266.3) and rushing touchdowns (41).
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"We were able to start faster, which typically helps the ball get rolling," Beck said of why things clicked Year 1 at Utah. "When you start tougher, harder, then there's more adversity you got to deal with along the way, and so we're kind of fighting our way through that."
Some of those buy-in questions became public last week when comments tight end Zack Marshall made in a group chat leaked onto social media, questioning above all else, Beck's scheme. The offensive coordinator didn't address him by name but said "you've seen a little bit of it," alluding to the buy-in from players not being all the way there.
Now, Michigan (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) gears up for an equally hungry Penn State (3-3, 0-3) squad in a game that's a must-win to keep any sliver of hope to keep playing meaningful games.
U-M will almost certainly be underdogs three more times (Indiana, Oregon Ohio State) and possibly a fourth (UCLA). Players and coaches alike have tried to use the bye week as a springboard into the back half of the season. Beck says there's plenty of talent on this team. The time is now for the entire group to show it.
"These kids are great kids; they're smart kids," Beck said. "They work hard. When we have problems and we address them and talk about them, they improve and take it on ... we're better than what's happening on the field.
"This is all of us. Put them in position to be successful, executing, getting it done ... finding our way through it."
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football's slow start to season leading to 'buy-in' questions
