ANN ARBOR – Michigan players, reeling from two straight losses to open the Big Ten, have a much-needed weekend off to reset before returning for their final seven regular-season games.
Michigan, in the first season under head coach Kyle Whittingham, who spent the last 21 leading Utah, is 3-2, 0-2 Big Ten after dropping games to Iowa and Minnesota. The program has not lost its first two league games since 2014.
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The goal now for the Wolverines is simple.
“Win out,” offensive tackle Blake Frazier said Tuesday, Oct. 6, after practice. “Bottom line.”
More: Michigan TE Zack Marshall apologizes for texts critical of OC Beck
That won’t be easy. Michigan’s next game is Oct. 17 against Penn State at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines then face defending national champion Indiana the following week at home and there are games against in-state rival Michigan State and improved UCLA and road games against Oregon and Ohio State.
“I feel very confident,” Frazier said of winning out. “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.”
Since the loss last Saturday, Oct. 3 at Minnesota, there’s been plenty of criticism of the Wolverines’ offense, which ranks 122nd nationally averaging 315.8 yards per game. Offensive coordinator Jason Beck and quarterback Bryce Underwood have been especially criticized.
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While the offense has been torn apart publicly, during the evening on Monday, Oct. 5, screenshots of a conversation Michigan tight end Zack Marshall had in a group text in which he was critical of Beck, were leaked. He issued an apology on Tuesday, but it was yet another distraction for a program trying to get its footing. The players after practice did not want to speak about their teammate’s leaked comments.
“He’s come out and said what he wants to say about the situation,” receiver JJ Buchanan said. “I think everything else, keep it in-house.”
Whittingham, after the loss to Minnesota, described the locker room as players soul searching after dropping a second straight game. Underwood has taken plenty of heat, especially after throwing two interceptions against the Gophers and a mostly unproductive season, with some highlights, including his performance in a win over Oklahoma.
“I know you all do your job and everything but Bryce isn’t worried about the media,” Frazier said. “It doesn’t affect him. At the end of the day, there’s nothing that’s being posted online that’s gonna affect anything with our game plan or the way that we play and so I wouldn’t say that the media is affecting him at all.”
Cornerback Zeke Berry said he’s seen a different offense in practice and struggles to understands the disconnect, as Whittingham described after the game, from practice to games.
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“A little, yeah, kind of,” Berry said when asked if he’s surprised by the offense’s lack of production. “In practice I feel like we’re going at it. We go at it every day, and it’s a little surprising, but I feel like it’s something we’ve got to clean up.”
Frazier said the offensive players have to look in the mirror and reflect on what they can do better heading into these final seven regular-season games. He knows the offensive line has struggled and the run game has been affected by that. Michigan is 100th nationally, averaging 135.0 and had 79 rushing yards against Minnesota.
“The second that we start pointing fingers at each other is when we start to fragment and so I’ve made it my personal goal to figure out what I can do better,” Frazier said. “And of course if somebody asks ask for my opinion on something from an offensive perspective, I’ll give it, but at the end of the day the coaches are in their position to do that job, so I’m gonna do mine.”
Whittingham after the game said that he would evaluate everything and make tough decisions. Frazier was asked if he felt the head coach was putting everyone on notice.
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“Yeah, I mean after the two offensive games that we’ve had, something’s got to change,” Frazier said.
Buchanan, like Frazier, said he also believes everyone needs to self-scout and find out what they need to improve.
“Everybody’s got to look in the mirror, including myself,” Buchanan said. “There’s plays that I leave on the table, blocks that I need to make that I don’t make. It goes for everybody. Everybody’s got to look in the mirror and see what they did wrong, look at the film.”
Michigan will practice a third day this week on Wednesday, Oct. 7, then get time off before returning from the weekend off to prepare for Penn State. After the season-opening win against Western Michigan on a Hail Mary after a second was added to the clock, Whittingham to the players two words that became their mantra: Do more.
Now, the players are focused on two other words: Win out.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan players focus on self improvement after two straight losses
