Michigan’s 1-0 start did little to calm nerves around the offense, and the line has taken plenty of the blame after a sluggish showing. But Kyle Whittingham came away from a deeper look at the tape with a different read: the Wolverines’ front wasn’t nearly as bad as it first looked.
Whittingham said Monday that he watched the game three times and didn’t finally go to sleep until 5 a.m. ET on Sunday morning. After that review, he pushed back on the idea that the offensive line was the main problem.
“Not bad, the offensive line didn't play bad,” Whittingham said on Monday. “I've watched it three times now, the entire film.
And they did not have a bad game. It wasn't a great game, but it wasn't bad.
We just, like I said, there were some big runs negated, and a big throw or two negated from penalties.
“Pass detection was okay, one sack, we allowed the one sack. But I thought the offensive line, after watching it a few times, it wasn't as big of a liability as I thought it was initially.”
Michigan finished with 106 rushing yards, and Bryce Underwood led the team with 47. Jordan Marshall carried 11 times for 44 yards, while Savion Hiter added 15 yards on five carries.
Whittingham said the bigger issue was the way Michigan ran the ball. In his view, the offense needed more force at the point of attack and less side-to-side movement.
“Yeah, we weren't running very violent, we had to be more violent in our runs,” said Whittingham. “And sometimes we, instead of getting more southerly, too much east-west going on, we need to be more east-south. That needs to be where we are.”
That’s a notable concern for an offense tied to Jason Beck, whose units have been among the best rushing attacks in the country. In each of the last two seasons, Beck’s offense ranked No. 2 in college football on the ground. Last year at Utah, with Jim Harding coaching the offensive line, the Utes’ lowest rushing total came against Texas Tech, when they ran for 101 yards.
Beck has shown he can build a productive ground game, but Michigan’s offense never really found its rhythm. Whittingham said the unit snapped the ball only 48 times, and that the offense spent too much time off the field because it wasn’t handling third down well enough.
“We only snapped the ball, I think, 48 times,” Whittingham said. “And so a lot of our ineffectiveness on offense was because we're on the sidelines a bunch of the time, but even when we were out there, we weren't good enough on third down. Didn't run the ball well enough offensively, just barely got over 100 yards, which is not indicative of a Jason Beck offense.”
The challenge gets tougher this weekend when Michigan hosts Oklahoma. Whittingham said the Sooners will bring more talent than Western Michigan, leaving Beck with more work to do in the game plan and with the execution around him.
In Other News...
Michigan May Have Found The Edge Threat Fans Have Been Waiting For
Michigans narrow 13-12 win over Western Michigan did not offer much room for comfort, but it did give the defense a fresh name to watch. Dominic Nichols flashed in a way that stood out even in a game defined by tight margins, piling up nine tackles with 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks while emerging as the highest graded defender on the team, according to Pro Football Focus.
For a unit still trying to sort out where its edge pressure is going to come from, that kind of performance matters. Head coach Kyle Whittingham had positive remarks about Nichols, and the bigger question now is whether this was a one-game spike or the start of a real breakout in Michigans defensive lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Win Sparks An Officiating Debate Fans Wont Ignore
The finish to Michigans 13-12 escape over Western Michigan left plenty of people talking about the play on the field, but the bigger issue may have been what happened in the final moments around the clock. A controversial officiating sequence at the end of the game centered on a disputed second that helped decide the outcome, and a source familiar with replay protocols pointed to multiple deviations from NCAA rules, along with a noticeable gap between the official game clock and the broadcast clock.
For Michigan fans, it was the kind of ending that turns a routine nonconference game into a wider argument about how college football is governed and who gets the benefit of the doubt when the stakes get messy. The dispute also feeds into the sports larger fairness conversation, especially with resource gaps across the game and the College Football Playoff controlled by the Big Ten and SEC, two conferences already at the center of so many decisions shaping the sports future. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Made Its Season Opener Count With Priority Recruits
Michigans season opener at The Big House was about more than the game on the field. The Wolverines used the night as a major recruiting stop, bringing in several priority prospects who had a close look at the program from the stands and on the visit trail, including top linebacker targets Camden Noe and Jay Schell, along with Cyrus Zuah, Kinnard Mahomes, Wyatt VanBoening, Pierre Johnson and Marquis Ray.
The early returns were encouraging for Michigan, with some recruits leaving with offers in hand and others talking up the atmosphere, the coaching staff and the facilities. For a program that has made game-day visits part of its recruiting pitch, the opener gave the Wolverines a chance to sell the full experience, and it sounds like the staff made the kind of impression that can matter as these decisions start to narrow. [Read more 🡒]