Jake Butt didn’t sugarcoat Michigan football’s offensive mess.
The former Wolverine and current Big Ten Network analyst, who played for Jim Harbaugh and remains firmly plugged into the program, gave The Athletic a blunt read on what he sees: the offense has no identity. And for a Michigan team that still has a defense playing at a championship level, that’s a pretty sharp indictment of the offensive staff.
“They don’t have an offensive identity,” Butt said to The Athletic. “They’re going in each week saying, ‘How can I protect my quarterback?’
Rather than saying, ‘What do we do best?’ Their best run plays are Bryce read-options.
In my opinion, Jordan Marshall is at his best as a downhill runner. I don’t understand his base run being him in Wildcat and doing fake jet sweeps with Bryce.”
Butt also pointed back to last season and gave credit to Chip Lindsey, saying the offense made more sense then even if it didn’t always get enough praise. His view is that Michigan leaned into what worked: a downhill run game, play-action off that foundation, and tight ends - a group he says has been missing this season.
“Last year, I give credit to (offensive coordinator) Chip Lindsey. We’d asked Sherrone, why aren’t you running Bryce more?
But we’re seeing that Bryce doesn’t consistently make good reads anywhere, not even on read-option. Last year, Michigan decided they were gonna run downhill with their running backs.
And get into play-action off of that, using the tight ends - who have been nonexistent this season.”
That’s where the frustration really sets in. Michigan had a clear formula last year, Butt said, rushing for 210 yards per game and 5.8 yards per attempt. Instead of building on that identity, the staff moved away from it, and Butt said that is difficult to understand.
He also took aim at the blocking concepts, saying the schemes “make no sense,” especially with so many players being left unblocked at the line of scrimmage.
As for solutions, Butt thinks Tommy Carr should get a look. Others are pointing the finger at Jason Beck, with a growing sense that the offense isn’t being coached well no matter how you feel about Bryce Underwood. Butt said Carr can read a defense, doesn’t have an elite arm, but throws it better and runs it better than he expected when he saw him in spring ball.
Still, Underwood needs a chance to steady things, and Beck does too. If Michigan has to bring Underwood along more slowly, Butt’s answer is simple: lean into the downhill run game and let the rest of the offense do what it does best.
Otherwise, he warned, the Wolverines could waste the season while it’s already hanging by a thread.
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