Michigan football wasn't expected to win on Saturday against No. 6 Indiana. Usually, when that's the case and the underdog forces overtime, it's seen as a positive development. But the Wolverines had ample opportunities to win against the Hoosiers, but it was coaching ineptitude that kept the maize and blue from getting the upset.
It's been a dreadful season for the Wolverines in 2026 under head coach Kyle Whittingham and offensive coordinator Jason Beck. The offense hasn't just struggled; it's cratered. And it was supposed to be improved upon from the last two years, but we've seen Sherrone Moore, Kirk Campbell, and Chip Lindsey-led offenses perform much better than what's taken the field in Ann Arbor this season.
Every game has been a challenge,
even the ones that weren't supposed to be. And it all came to a head with IU coming to town.
Multiple analysts and former players took to X (formerly Twitter) to share their thoughts about what's wrong in Ann Arbor, and it all points to the same thing.
Fox Sports' Brady Quinn
Never been a fan of bringing on extra OL unless that’s your identity. If you’re a run first team. That’s the issue with UM offense. It has zero identity and that starts with the play caller. You have to design an offense around the strengths of the players you have and adapt your…
— Brady Quinn (@Brady_Quinn) October 24, 2026
Since the text gets cut off above, here's what Quinn said:
Never been a fan of bringing on extra OL unless that’s your identity. If you’re a run first team. That’s the issue with UM offense. It has zero identity and that starts with the play caller. You have to design an offense around the strengths of the players you have and adapt your scheme to that. Today was very frustrating as UM has talent but it doesn’t appear cater to the strengths of the personnel. The offense seldom threatens the defense downfield vertically. The lack of QB movement to sprint or boot on 1/2 down is a head scratcher. Lastly, when you insert an extra OL in the game you are giving the defense one less player to worry about in the pass game. Situationally that’s fine from time to time but UM leans WAY too much on it.
Quinn is saying what fans and us in the media have long said: this offense does not work with the talent it has, and more so sees Jason Beck and Kyle Whittingham put scheme over talent, despite the insistence of both that they're doing the opposite.
The rhino position has been frustrating to fans because, as Quinn says, there's not a player potentially in the route concepts, and thus, if it's a pass play, they don't need to be covered. Additionally, it gives the quarterback one less weapon to target. It's why tight ends exist, but Beck (in particular) doesn't appear to want to use them, and when he does, Jalen Hoffman gets more run than Hogan Hansen (Hoffman got in 39 snaps, Hansen 31 -- PFF graded them 52.0 and 61.9, respectively, vs. Indiana). Nothing this team does stands to reason, especially the perimeter runs, which were still extant this week. According to PFF, Michigan ran 15 of its 38 attempts (removing the four sacks) outside of the tight ends or rhino, while it ran 16 times between the tackles, and 11 times between the guards, which has been the Wolverines' best run direction all season.
John U. Bacon
Michigan offensive coordinator Jason Beck must have head coach Kyle Whittingham in his corner, because I can't think of anyone else.
— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) October 24, 2026
Bacon's assertion has to be pretty correct at this point. And when Whittingham was asked about Beck's offense through seven games in the postgame press conference, this was his response:
"Last year, Jason was exceptional, and we had exceptional results. And so I'm not going to say that he's struggling, but we're trying," Whittingham said. "There's no lack of work ethic or spending time on it. We're in the building around the clock. But Jason's just searching for some rhythm and some continuity, probably the best word in the offense."
But here's the issue: Beck is no longer the offensive coordinator at Utah in 2025, he's the offensive coordinator at Michigan in 2026. And the Wolverines have the No. 130 (out of 138) total offense in the country. They have the 101st rushing offense, which is insane when you consider that it's mostly the same personnel as last year, when Michigan had the 14th-rated rushing attack in the country.
To finish the quote from Whittingham above, he said this:
"if you can't run the football, everything else will be really hard. We weren't having the movement well at all. And like I said, they were not heavy boxes. They were just their normal boxes and a lot of split-safety looks. And they still just couldn't make any hay in the run game. And that really is, the offensive success is predicated on being able to run the ball. And they could not do it consistently."
Therein lies the indictment.
David Pollack, formerly of ESPN
That roughing passer call against Michigan might have been the worst I have ever seen. I mean what the heck are we doing!!!
— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) October 24, 2026
Multiple analysts declared similarly, and this was on the refs. It was the only penalty that Michigan was called for, and while IU didn't complete the drive (it didn't end in points), it did allow the Hoosiers to move the ball further down the field (from the 26 to the 41), and it was first-and-10 instead of second down.
Once upon a time, Michigan would have had a coach go berserk with a light call as such, but Whittingham did nothing -- much like his lack of reviews of two questionable calls in the game. Though he did note after the game that the refs said challenges against such were futile.
Many question his fire on the sideline, and when Michigan was erroneously penalized or on the wrong side of a call, nothing changed, and fans certainly noticed in the stadium, with all three scenarios being loudly booed.
Former 97.1 FM radio host Michael Stone
At least under most of RichRod and Hoke when they were bad they were not boring.
— michael stone (@stoney16) October 24, 2026
Today was the 4th game I contemplated leaving at halftime because of how dull it was.
Jason Beck is horrific. The OL is an embarrassment.
This, again, speaks to a lack of identity. The defense has been stellar (ranked No. 2 according to PFF and in total defense), but offensively, there's next to nothing to cheer for.
We already spoke about the difference between the rushing attack last year and this year, but there's also no passing attack, with Michigan ranking 127th of 138 teams. Michigan didn't score in the first half in each of the past two games, which is the first time that has happened since 1962. The Wolverines did have two substantial drives on Saturday, as well as two trips into the red zone, including getting to the one-yard line and the three-yard line, and only mustered three points out of those two trips.
Former Michigan QB Denard Robinson
Yeah a conversation needs to be had !!
— Denard Robinson (@DenardX) October 24, 2026
Kyle Whittingham said after the game that tough conversations must be had.
"Well, we got our work cut out for us," Whittingham said. "And that's our job as coaches, to do just that, spark the offense. And we'll continue to search for answers and look at every possible scenario. And we need to modify schematically. We need to play some different players. I mean, we have to just look at all the players. But I'm not putting this on the players at all. We have to be better as coaches. That's where it starts.
"We have to be better as coaches and do a better job of putting these guys in a position to succeed. And that's all there is to it. Again, we need to take nothing away from Indiana; we give them credit. Statistically, they had an outstanding offense. If that's the No. 6 team in the country, then we're pretty good. We're a pretty good football team. We're sitting here at, what? 4-3."
Here's the problem: he said that after the loss to Minnesota, and essentially nothing changed (yes, he changed from Bryce Underwood to Tommy Carr, but that was after Underwood threw two more picks vs. Penn State). And if he's looking at it as Michigan hung with the No. 6 in the country, that's essentially proclaiming a moral victory.
Nothing has indicated a willingness to change other than lip service, as the offense has continued to run on the perimeter and has continued to languish in the process. No lessons have seemingly been learned.
On3's Andy Staples
Someone might want to tell Kyle the goal at Michigan is to be No. 1, not to almost beat No. 6. https://t.co/pB777oxwC1
— Andy Staples (@AndyStaples) October 24, 2026
Going back to that same quote, Andy Staples eviscerated Whittingham for not recognizing what the true goal is. Really not much more to say about that.
RGIII
All the players and coaches who stayed at Utah and didn’t go to Michigan are sitting at 7-0, 1st in the Big 12 and will be a Top 5 team in the country with the CFP within its grasp while Michigan is sitting at 4-3 with no idea who their QB is or what direction they are going.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) October 25, 2026
Whittingham had 21 years of mostly success in Salt Lake City, but the Utes are thriving without him, and Michigan is worse off now than it was a year ago with mostly the same personnel. Now it's becoming clearer why the brass at Utah wanted to move on to Morgan Scalley.
Former Michigan WR Tarik Black
Whoever calling these plays garbage it ain’t the qbs
— Tarik Black (@LetmeRockk_) October 24, 2026
The Michigan offense wasn't exactly humming when Black was on the team, but it wasn't this bad. There's no doubt that a different coaching staff could get more out of the talent currently assembled in Ann Arbor (and make no mistake, there is a boatload of talent, even on the offensive side of the ball).
The Detroit News' Bob Wojnowski
We just saw the dumbest play call in Michigan football history. Trailing Indiana 6-0, UM has third and goal from the 1. OC Jason Beck calls for freshman Tommy Carr to roll out and try to hit the Rhino guy, Beigel. Sacked. Missed FG. That's arrogance and stubborness from Beck.
— Bob Wojnowski (@bobwojnowski) October 24, 2026
Wojo went off in real time on the third-and-goal call from the one-yard line. We covered this, but worth noting that he's not exactly speaking hyperbolically about it being perhaps the worst play call in the history of Michigan football -- which goes back a little ways.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football blasted by analysts, former players after IU loss
