It was state championship week in Ann Arbor as the Michigan Wolverines welcomed their in-state rival, the Michigan State Spartans.
The game began with Hugh Jackman, most famously known as X-Men’s Wolverine joining the captains for the coin toss.
It ended with a kneel down and a thundering chorus of boos from the home crowd.
Our list of losers is wrong, which is what happens when you lose to a team you have no business getting beat by.
Loser QB Tommy Carr
Tommy Carr grew up watching this game on television. He’d been in the stadium before for these rivalry games. Saturday night was his first chance to make his mark against his in state rivals.
His first pass of the game was a third down conversion to Travis Johnson. He looked poised and in command as he escaped to his right on the play.
His second attempt was too high for JJ Buchanan, who got one hand one the ball, but the pass was ultimately intercepted by Devin Vaught. On Michigan’s next possession, Carr missed a big play to Buchanan on a seam route that he overshot his receiver.
Carr finished the first half getting sacked three times and throwing the aforementioned interception. Michigan’s offense could not figure anything out. Bryce Underwood was benched at halftime of the Penn State game for a performance similar to the one that Carr put forth in the first half on Saturday.
The second half was not any better. Carr threw another interception on what was, in essence, an arm punt as he targeted Travis Johnson on a play down the field. downfield
Carr was not put on the bench. It never appeared that the Wolverines were close to making that decision, but it’s clear that the problems with Michigan’s offense run much deeper than the quarterback.
Loser: OC Jason Beck
Apologies if this feels like we are beating a dead horse at this point, but the results are impossible to ignore. Michigan had less than 100 yards of total offense in the first half. They were averaging 3.3 yards-per-play early in the third quarter.
They have not figured out anything they are good at on offense. They’ve changed personnel. They’ve changed quarterbacks. The man in charge of the offense even moved to the sideline for the second half of the game. They’ve changed everything except for the man running the show.
Michigan was shut out in the first half for the third time this season at home. According to WTKA’s Steve Clarke, that was the first time that Michigan had been shut out three times at home since 1934.
Say what you will about these Michigan Wolverines, but you cannot say they are not historic. The problem is they are historic in all the wrong ways. Any change imaginable should be on the table at this point.
Loser: HC Kyle Whittingham
We’ve said it since the beginning of conference play. Michigan’s head coach looks like someone who does not understand the job that he has. Whittingham began the season as someone who was candid with those around him. It was refreshing. He called out the bad things. He celebrated the good things.
He promised change, and based on his track record, anyone following Michigan’s program had to feel good about Whittingham delivering on his promises.
Since delivering on his promise felt like a given, it was forgivable that Whittingham either downplayed or was unaware of some of the important games on Michigan’s schedule.
Instead, Whittingham now looks like someone who is out of ideas, as the team has not gotten his team to play any better since the season began.
That culminated with a loss on Saturday night against a Michigan State team that has been inept for almost the entire season.
Whittingham’s mistake-prone teams did what they’ve done all season. They made mistakes. They missed opportunities. They didn’t make any plays to make up for those missed opportunities.
The final nail in the coffin? The lack of physicality from his team. After Michigan State’s scoring drive in the third quarter, the Spartans had more rushing yards than Michigan had total yards.
That’s unacceptable in every sense of the word.
Meanwhile, the school Whittingham came from, Utah? They’re 9-0 after a huge win over BYU in their rivalry game on Saturday.
Loser: RB Jordan Marshall
Through the first 19 minutes of play, there seemed to be a clear distinction between Michigan’s top three running backs.
Marshall was the starter, but looked like he had the least amount of juice and decisiveness in his limited action. Both Savion Hiter and Bryson Kuzdzal ran hard in their opportunities in the first half. They both look quicker. They both look more decisive.
Marshall, meanwhile looks like he’s stuck in neutral as the starting running back. Michigan’s ground game has not been what they hoped it would be this season, and Marshall’s struggles are a big reason why. Perhaps that is why he looks less decisive when he’s running. Is he pressing? Is he trying to make up for an entire season in one carry?
There are no answers at this point, but one potential answer for Michigan’s offense might be benching their second offensive captain of the season.
That happened in the second half. Bryson Kuzdzal was Michigan’s starting running back to open the second half.
Loser: Kickers
After two weeks of struggles, Trey Butkowski was placed in a kicking competition this week with a promise from Kyle Whittingham that the man who kicked the best in practice would be the kicker on game day.
As it turns out, that was Jacob Baggett and not Butkowski, who had started every game this season.
Baggett took the field for a 26-yard field goal in the second quarter to a chorus of boos from the fanbase who were imploring the Wolverines’ coaching staff to try and pick up a fourth-and-2 from deep inside Spartans’ territory.
Apparently it doesn’t matter who won the kicking battle, because Baggett missed the chip shot as it hit the left upright before falling harmlessly to the turf, and Michigan’s best offensive drive of the night to date was rewarded with zero points.
Winner: DE John Henry Daley
There were not a lot of standout performers in the first half of a forgettable game against Michigan State, but John Henry Daley certainly came to play early. He had two sacks, including a forced fumble. His first sack came where he ran through Michigan State’s left tackle to level Alessio Milivojevic. His second sack came on a third down that ended a drive and gave the rest of his teammates a chance to recover a fumble.
Daley has been an excellent addition out of the transfer portal, emerging as Michigan’s best defensive lineman by far.
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