ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Going into the 2026 season, the expectation was that Michigan football would be elite at running the football while the pass game would be a work in progress. Not only have the Wolverines been among college football's best in that regard for the past half-decade, while the pass game has struggled, but new offensive coordinator Jason Beck has had the No. 2 rushing offense in the country each of the past two years.
However, neither the run nor the pass has been particularly exemplary.
Beck addressed that his biggest surprise through three games this year has been the inability to run the football as he had hoped. But it's not the run game as a whole as much as it's been the inability to attack the edges.
"I was most surprised
in our just handing off runs with where the result of those have been," Beck said. "That'll be a continued emphasis. And improvement that way. I've also been kind of disappointed in our perimeter run game. That's typically been a big strength of stuff we've done. And through these first four games was in like two and a half yards per carry, which is all, you know, what's the point of doing that if that's the result?
"So we've got to either get better at it or stop doing it -- one of the two."
It's not outside zone that Beck is talking about, and he doesn't feel like the offensive line is necessarily at fault. It's the others who are tasked with blocking that have to be better, Beck says, because that's why the big runs are failing and the Wolverines are getting stuffed for little gain.
"OK, so when I'm saying perimeter run, that's when we're kind of giving these fly sweeps," Beck said. "And you got tight ends and receivers blocking out there. And there's a combination there: who's carrying it? How's the blocking? And that combination working together has not been good for us. It's been like two and a half yards of carry.
"In comparison, we were like eight and a half yards of carry last year. So you can see where the lack of production is. And so that'll be the question between the guys carrying it, the blockers: can we get that going at a much better rate? Or is it better just doing something else?"
As far as run blocking as a whole, Beck is pleased with how the line is improving. But the offense is still tinkering to figure out what it does best and what it needs to do in order to get to where the Wolverines want to go.
"We're making progress; you're always looking at how to improve, how to get better, what's more effective," Beck said. "So talking about some of that perimeter run game stuff. And at this point, three games in, it has not been productive.
"Now on the flip side, when we've pulled and ran it the other way, those things have been very productive. But yeah, there's decisions to be made. Do you keep doing it and get better at it? Or do you just do something else to get better results? So you're always looking at all those things with what you can do. We start with the quarterback. What does he do best? The next part is the O-line. What do they do best? What can they do? And how does that affect the direction you're going? So that's definitely something we're always looking at and taking into account."
We'll see if there's been improvement in the perimeter run blocking on Saturday, when Michigan football hosts Iowa for a 3:36 p.m. EDT kickoff at The Big House. The game will be televised on CBS with Brad Nessler, Charles Davis, and Jenny Dell on the call.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Jason Beck reveals biggest surprise with Michigan offense through 3 games
