Heading into the bye week, no one likely expected Michigan to be in the situation it’s in.
The Wolverines are staring down a 3-2 record that includes being winless in Big Ten play through two games. Team morale is low, and the locker room is seemingly starting to crumble ever so slightly with the Instagram messages from tight end Zack Marshall.
Despite everything that happened in the first five weeks and what’s going on internally, a common goal has emerged — at least in the eyes of wide receiver JJ
Buchanan and offensive lineman Blake Frazier.
“Win not,” Buchanan said plainly when asked by media members on Tuesday what the team’s goal is.
“Win out, that’s the bottom line,” Frazier also told media members on Tuesday when asked what the goal is for the rest of the season. “I feel very confident, I know that we can. I’ve seen it in practices, and I’ve seen it in flashes against Iowa, against UTEP. We have everything we need, we just have to put it together.”
Those flashes of greatness were shown against Iowa when the offense and quarterback Bryce Underwood finally looked like they were clicking against a quality opponent. And no matter the strength of opponent UTEP presents, Underwood and Michigan’s offense looked competent throughout most of that game, turnovers aside.
The bottom line is, Michigan isn’t playing to the standard it’s used to — penalties, playing vertically on offense and creating turnovers just haven’t been what the Wolverines have expected.
“I’d say frustration is the biggest emotion I’ve felt, a little bit confused,” Frazier said. “I think that just stems from the fact that I’ve watched us pick apart our defense in practices, and that’s not to say, I mean you guys have seen our defense, they’ve been lights out. It just speaks to what we can be, and so the fact that we’re not doing that, that there’s some sort of disconnect somewhere. And so we’re trying to figure that out.”
Just like Frazier, Buchanan seemed to be equally as confused as to why things haven’t translated from practice to games, but he also seemed confident that things will get turned around to close out the season to accomplish their goal of winning out.
“It’s definitely not what we expected,” Buchanan said. “We’re little things away from huge differences. So I believe in everything that’s in this building. I believe in the players. I believe in the coaches, and I have no doubt that we can get this thing turned around.”
The path ahead is not easy for Michigan. Although Penn State also hasn’t lived up to what it was expected to be this season, the Wolverines still face four ranked opponents to close out the season, with UCLA now ranked No. 21 in the country.
Despite the challenge ahead, Frazer and Buchanan seem confident that the Wolverines can turn things around — and that their goal of winning out in the last seven games of the season is well within their reach.
