Cover Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn – University of Minnesota Athletics
Last year, Michigan lucked its way into 9-3.
This year, Michigan trotted out the same team, minus the luck.
In Sherrone Moore’s final season, Michigan accidentally won nine games. They didn’t deserve to. The Wolverines eeked out wins over Nebraska, Northwestern, and Purdue (!) by a combined ten points. Even without knowing the off-field issues plaguing the locker room, it was readily-apparent that 9-3 was the result of some fortuitous bounces and sheer talent gap. A 7-5 season was about two or three plays away, save a bit of luck.
In Kyle Whittingham’s first season, Michigan is 3-2 and is lucky to even be that. It took a miracle to avoid an upset by Western Michigan and they were deadlocked late against a truly-awful Oklahoma. This team is, quite literally, a second away from being 2-3 (or worse).
Corporate wants you to find the difference between these two football teams.
And it’s the same picture.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster in a way, but I see a lot of things trending in the right direction.”
Michigan’s season has been “an emotional rollercoaster” thus far.
Week 1: A win that should’ve been a loss
Week 2: Great first half. Poor second half.
Week 3: Poor first half. Great second half.
Week 4. A loss that should’ve been a win.
See the problem here?
The most frustrating aspect of this season — and there are plenty to choose from — is the wild fluctuation from week to week. Whittingham was supposed to be the calm, steady, guiding force to right the ship. Yet what have we seen through five games? An erratic, inconsistent team from week to week (and often half to half). The only thing consistent has been the lack of discipline and costly turnovers.
Case in point: the offense that had it’s best game of the year against Iowa was an absolute disgrace against Minnesota. The Wolverines ended with just 180 total yards of offense. Barely 100 yards thru the air (with two horrendous interceptions to boot) and 79 yards rushing. That’s simply unacceptable and it’s time to stop pretending like it is. This is Michigan, forgoshsakes.
The only thing worse than hate is indifference. I hated the loss to Iowa. I was indifferent towards the loss to Minnesota. Truth be told, I’m never truly indifferent to a Michigan loss. But where I found myself stewing about “what might have been” after Iowa, I found myself watching the MInnesota game with a near-apathetic smirk and a shake of my head. Iowa was a gut-punch. Minnesota was a shrug.
What is of greatest concern is where Michigan goes from here. I don’t know the answer and I fear that Kyle Whittingham doesn’t either. Not because he’s not a good coach — but because I’m not sure he’s had to deal with this level of program cleanup, expectations, failure to meet said expectations, and inconsistency. He said as much in his post-game presser. Which is both refreshing to hear in one sense because he understands the situation; but wildly-concerning in another because when someone’s coached for 40 years but effectively says “well, this is a new one,” that’s not a great sign.
Fans will clamor for Tommy Carr. I’m not convinced that’s the right move. I’m not convinced it’s the wrong one. They will clamor for the immediate end of the Whittingham experiment. I’m even less inclined to believe that’s the right move. But at this point who am I to definitely say it’s wrong? The team has done little to instill confidence through the first five weeks. And the areas where we did have confidence (read: offensive progression week-to-week) has been utterly-betrayed against a mediocre team with an average defense. That’s not even bothering to mention another muffed punt coming a week after a kickoff return touchdown. (Kerry Coombs is an Ohio State plant and you cannot convince me otherwise).
They say it’s better to be lucky than good.
For a majority of the season, this team has been neither.
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