The bye week gives Michigan a chance to catch its breath, because the first five games of the Kyle Whittingham era have been rough in ways nobody in Ann Arbor expected.
From the strange finish against Western Michigan to the late loss to Iowa and the blowout at Minnesota, this hasn’t felt like Michigan football. Whittingham is trying to sort it out in his first season, and the transition has clearly not gone smoothly.
So where do the Wolverines stand halfway through the season? Here’s a position-by-position look at the damage.
The biggest headache has been quarterback play, and Bryce Underwood’s line tells the story. He has five touchdowns and four interceptions, sits 70th in QBR, and looked lost again on Saturday for the second time in five games.
The five-star has also run for 212 yards on 57 carries, but he’s been sacked too often and is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry. He has been useful as a runner, but he needs to do a better job getting the ball out.
His performances against Iowa, UTEP and Oklahoma were passable, but the last game was rock bottom.
The running backs haven’t picked up the slack. Jordan Marshall and Savion Hiter still haven’t produced a run longer than 20 yards this season.
Hiter is at 3.2 yards per attempt, while Marshall has been better at 4.4, though that still falls short of what he showed when healthy last season, when he averaged almost seven yards during Big Ten play in 2025. Whatever Jason Beck is asking for on offense hasn’t clicked, and the thinking around the program is that the run game needs more downhill looks.
Even when the backs have had chances, they haven’t broken tackles or created the kind of plays Michigan needs.
At receiver, JJ Buchanan has been the bright spot. Andrew Marsh has been maddeningly inconsistent, and the rest of the group has mostly been a non-factor. Still, Michigan has two pros on the outside, which ought to be enough to build a functional passing attack.
Tight end has been the opposite of that. Whether it’s blocking, catching passes or doing the dirty work as the “rhino,” this group has been flat-out bad. If there was one spot Michigan had to fix in the portal, it was tight end.
Up front, the offensive line has been banged up and hasn’t played at the level it should. There’s also a sense that the group is thinking too much.
Blake Frazier practically called for more downhill runs at his press conference Tuesday, echoing what Kyle Whittingham said. The line held up reasonably well against Iowa and Oklahoma, but that hasn’t been enough to change the larger issue: Beck still hasn’t put his players in the best position to do what they do best.
The defensive line has been the team’s anchor. Without it, Michigan probably loses to Oklahoma.
That said, Oklahoma’s offensive line wasn’t actually very good, so the Wolverines may have been a little overrated there. John Henry Daley leads the way with three sacks, and Michigan has 12 as a team, though pressure has faded over the last two weeks.
Daley was hurt, and Dominic Nichols has been dealing with something all season. Trey Pierce and Enow Etta have both been steady, and the Wolverines are giving up only 2.8 yards per rushing attempt.
Michigan’s defense is 23rd in scoring defense, and it has done enough to win all five games. The only defensive touchdowns it has allowed came in two touchdowns’ worth of scoring, once you factor out the kickoff return against Iowa.
Minnesota, meanwhile, turned three Michigan turnovers into 13 points on Saturday.
The linebackers have been a pleasant surprise. There are still some issues in coverage, but Nate Staehling picked off a pass and took it back for a touchdown.
Troy Bowles has been solid, and Chase Taylor and Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng have both had their moments. Bowles leads the team with 21 solo tackles, has 4.5 tackles for loss and has recovered a fumble.
Michigan’s secondary looked dominant against Oklahoma, though Iowa also managed more than 150 passing yards in the fourth quarter. That wasn’t all on the defensive backs, and they’ve also left too many interceptions on the field. Even so, the defense has been the least of Michigan’s problems and has played at a championship level.
Special teams, though, have been a mess. Michigan has made a major mistake in all three games.
The roughing-the-punter penalty against Oklahoma didn’t cost the Wolverines, but it handed the Sooners a free first down. Against a team like Indiana or Ohio State, that kind of mistake can turn into a disaster.
The kickoff return touchdown against Iowa helped decide that game, and if Michigan had prevented it, Iowa probably would have been down three scores by the fourth quarter. The muffed punt by Andrew Marsh in the third quarter against Minnesota may have changed that game, too.
If there’s one coordinator who should be feeling the heat, it’s Kerry Coombs.
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