It was a sun-kissed morning in Ann Arbor. The sky was clear. It most definitely was not falling, although it may have seemed that way to Kyle Whittingham.
Soon after the Michigan football coach stepped behind the lectern inside Schembechler Hall, he sounded like one of the angst-ridden fans who have watched his team play this season.
“I feel like we’re 0-4. I can tell you that,” Whittingham said on Monday, Sept. 29. “But we’re 3-1. One play away from 4-0. One play away from 2-2.”
As Whittingham implied, the month-long introduction to his first season with the Wolverines has been downright bizarre. They won a game many believed they deserved to lose, beating Western Michigan, 13-12, on a controversial Hail Mary in the opener. They lost a game many thought
they should have won, suffering a bitter 20-19 defeat to Iowa on the final play last Saturday. Their best, most comprehensive performances have come while facing their stiffest competition (Oklahoma and Iowa), and their messiest, most uneven ones have been produced against their weakest opposition (WMU and UTEP).
The unfathomable endings and counterintuitive results have left everyone’s heads spinning. Safety Rod Moore’s was no exception. After the shocking setback against the Hawkeyes, Moore said, “It kind of doesn’t make any sense.”
A few beats before he uttered those words, he said, “Iowa was a good team. We’re a great team.”
The Wolverines really aren't, though, which is why the Whittingham era has been a disappointment thus far. His squad, which fell to No. 24 in the coaches poll Sunday, has yet to resemble a finely tuned machine. The individual parts, in spurts, have functioned at a high level. But rarely have they all performed well at the same time. Because of that, three of Michigan’s four games have been decided in the final eight minutes.
As Whittingham explained, “We’re still a work in progress”
Perhaps it was unrealistic to believe Whittingham could instantly transform Michigan back into the smooth operation it was during the final three years of Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, when the Wolverines, with their clinical execution, resembled a juggernaut. But the track records of Whittingham and his top coordinators, Jason Beck and Jay Hill, invited hope it was possible. In Whittingham’s final year at Utah, Beck oversaw an offense that was ruthlessly efficient. They ranked fourth in scoring, second in rushing and first in red-zone touchdown rate. Hill’s defense at BYU, meanwhile, finished among the top 15 teams in takeaways each of the past two seasons, averaging almost two per game over that stretch. With a roster arguably superior to those they had at their previous programs, the potential existed for Whittingham, Beck and Hill to hit the ground running.
That hasn’t happened.
Beck has failed to extract great results or develop a reliable source of production. The passing game, led by quarterback Bryce Underwood, has steadily improved but has limited capacity because the tight ends are non-factors and there is no dependable wideout beyond JJ Buchanan and Andrew Marsh. That is worrisome. But an even greater concern is the inefficiency of a ground attack that was supposed to be a strength. Michigan’s average of 4.03 yards per carry ranks 94th among 138 FBS-level teams. Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter, two talented backs, have both struggled to find footing behind an offensive line that doesn’t create enough room for them. In two of the four games, they have been outgained by Underwood, who has accounted for the longest run this season. The shortcomings of the rushing offense have had a damaging ripple effect. The Wolverines, after all, have scored on only nine of 12 trips inside the red zone – a 75% success rate that ranks 118th in the country.
“We’ve got to get points when we get in the red zone,” tackle Evan Link said. "That’s something we’ve got to continue to get better at.”
Link noted that two squandered chances deep in Iowa territory “lost us this game.”
But so did the defensive lapses in the final stages. The Wolverines surrendered 142 of the Hawkeyes’ 227 passing yards in the fourth quarter, including 78 on the fateful last possession. The coverage breakdowns, including the one on the last snap, were disconcerting because Michigan had largely avoided them in the first four games. Still, the Wolverines could have averted the catastrophic outcome if they had just managed to intercept one of Hank Brown’s errant attempts during that final drive. Moore came close on one of them. Zeke Berry did on another. In each instance, the ball hit their hands before falling incomplete, which preserved Iowa’s pulse and gave Brown the opportunity to eventually deliver the 16-yard strike that lifted the Hawkeyes to an improbable victory.
“Turnovers are an elusive thing for a defense,” Whittingham lamented.
Particularly this one. Michigan has generated just three takeaways, after all. Only 17 FBS teams have produced fewer.
The scant amount seems to be an aberration, given that Hill’s scheme is designed to retrieve the ball. It most certainly has defied expectations, just like the rash of penalties Michigan has committed. The Wolverines have already incurred 32 of them this season.
“Way too many,” Whittingham acknowledged.
The spate of infractions highlights a lack of discipline, which few anticipated would be a problem with Whittingham in charge. During his 21-year run leading Utah, he cultivated a reputation for developing fundamentally sound teams that didn’t beat themselves. But Michigan has repeatedly shot itself in the foot this season. It’s why the Wolverines flirted with disaster in the opener versus Western Michigan before finally realizing it during their last game against Iowa.
“We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory,” Whittingham said ruefully in one breath.
“It was such a deflating loss because we had it,” he explained in another.
It wasn’t supposed to end up like that, he implied.
But then again nothing to this point has really gone the way he envisioned. Instead, the introduction to the Whittingham era at Michigan has been one strange ride. He is experiencing all the twists and turns, just like the fans who watch the puzzling team he leads.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Whittingham said.
Indeed it has.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
Next up: Golden Gophers
Matchup: No. 24 Michigan (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) at Minnesota (3-1, 1-0).
Kickoff: Noon Saturday, Oct. 3; Huntington Bank Stadium, Minneapolis.
TV/radio: Fox; WCSX-FM (94.7).
Line: Wolverines by 5½.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Kyle Whittingham era of Michigan football has been downright strange
