Michigan football is under the microscope offensively, but the naked eye could tell you there's something wrong with the offense, particularly the playcalling.
Perhaps the most egregious display came against Indiana, when the Wolverines had a third-and-goal from the one-yard line. Instead of running the football to try and get a touchdown on the opening drive in the second half, the call was for quarterback Tommy Carr to run a play-action, where he turned his back to the defense. By the time he was done rolling out, an Indiana defensive end was there to make the sack. The maize and blue were pushed back to the 15-yard line, where they missed a field goal, and the score remained Indiana 6, Michigan 0. The Hoosiers went on to win 13-6 in overtime.
On the Inside Michigan Football radio show, Kyle Whittingham expressed regret for the play call, while also sharing his perspective that the play should have worked, regardless.
"Well, ideally, you'd like to just hammer the ball in the downhill inside run game and power in the end zone," Whittingham said. "But the route, it was a bootleg with a run-throw option, and the route was wide open in the end zone. I don't know if you noticed that. Yeah, the rhino, which they didn't cover.
"I mean, there was a guy coming close on him five yards away from him, but he would've never got there had Tommy been able to set his feet and throw the ball. But their defensive end, to his credit, played it exactly right. And you rarely see that, rarely see that down on the goal line where a defensive end will be that disciplined to react to that. Most of them are charging down inside trying to find something to hit. And so to their credit, they were very well coached up on that. And there really was nothing on tape to show that. I mean, it was something new. And so they give them credit for reacting. And again, that's why they're a top 10 defense because they do things like that."
There's some consternation about that, naturally. A former Michigan player, John Duerr, noted that the same defensive end was spying the quarterback, and he did so just four plays earlier. So the onus was on offensive coordinator Jason Beck to recognize that in advance.
“The DE played it exactly right and you rarely see that”.
— Due# (@JDue51) October 27, 2026
BULL. SHIT. That DE played it the EXACT SAME WAY 4 plays earlier on the 4th down play. Take a look for yourself - he’s checking the QB the entire time. Also did it the same way vs Ohio State the week before. https://t.co/xq7M3xUKAn pic.twitter.com/RnH8Sanl6S
Three times Michigan was in scoring position of some kind on third down, and three times Tommy Carr was sacked. Given that one was from the one-yard line, and another was from the three (the other was at the 23-yard line, and ended up being a field goal attempt from 12 yards further), Beck seems averse to utilizing the downhill rushing talent that the Wolverines have at their disposal, potentially trying to outsmart teams that are too sound to be outsmarted.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham explains disastrous Michigan play call vs. Indiana
