There aren’t many flaws of the Michigan Wolverines’ defense through four games this season. However, one glaring area that must improve is generating more turnovers, which head coach Kyle Whittingham continues to harp on.
“Turnovers can be a very elusive thing for a defense,” Whittingham told the media. “You can practice trying to create turnovers in the exact same kind of way for years and years, and that’s still rarely going to get the same results.”
In the first four games of the season, Michigan
has committed six turnovers and created just two takeaways, and that minus-four turnover margin has played a key role in a near-loss to Western Michigan and a last-second loss to Iowa.
Michigan committed an alarming three turnovers against Western Michigan, which nearly resulted in a shocking upset. Most recently, the Wolverines lost the turnover margin yet again, allowing Iowa to steal a victory in the final second.
“We haven’t been doing a good enough job getting takeaways,” Whittingham said. “We ended up minus-one in the turnover margin. The offense could have used help in short-field situations, but we weren’t able to generate that.”
Just on the final drive alone in a stunning loss to Iowa, the Wolverines had three separate opportunities to come down with a game-sealing interception, but the ball slipped through the hands of Chris Bracy, Zeke Berry and Rod Moore.
“I don’t want to say it’s luck, but sometimes the ball bounces your way and sometimes it doesn’t,” Whittingham said. “We had three balls that were right in our hands for interceptions in the last game and couldn’t hang on to them.”
Creating turnovers is never an exact science. It’s more about taking advantage of opportunities when they are put in front of you and Michigan just didn’t do that against Iowa. The Wolverines failed to capitalize on Iowa’s mistakes.
On the contrary, the ball did bounce in Michigan’s favor in a narrow win over Oklahoma. Bracy forced a fumble in the first half to stop the Sooners from scoring, and Jyaire Hill snatched a game-sealing interception in the fourth quarter.
Michigan’s defense has been as elite as anyone could ask for this season (7th in the nation in yards allowed per game), but creating more takeaways (103rd in the nation in turnovers forced) has proven to be the difference in a win or loss.
“We have great players on this defense and we know that we can create turnovers, so that’s something that we will harp on throughout the rest of the season,” Bracy told the media. “To be a good defense, you have to take the ball away.”
During his time at BYU, defensive coordinator Jay Hill’s defenses were among the nation’s leaders in turnovers forced — generating 20+ takeaways in all three seasons, including ranking fourth in the country with 29 turnovers forced in 2024.
“We just have to keep practicing and emphasizing it, and hopefully the floodgates will open soon,” Whitingham said. “Traditionally, Jay Hill’s defenses are very opportunistic and intercepted a ton of passes through the last few years.”
It’s difficult to criticize a defense that is playing at such a high level, but whether it’s creating better practice habits, taking more advantage of opportunities, or just the luck of a bounce, Michigan must find a way to generate turnovers.
