Michigan’s 20-14 loss to Minnesota looked close on the scoreboard, but the offense told a much uglier story. The Wolverines dropped to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten, and the performance on that side of the ball was poor enough to leave the Little Brown Jug behind without much debate.
This wasn’t just a bad night in one spot. The run game still isn’t working, the tight end room is barely making a dent, and Bryce Underwood still hasn’t found a rhythm.
Head coach Kyle Whittingham said he doesn’t have the answers right now, and the current state of the offense makes that obvious. Michigan managed only 180 total yards and 14 points, and the box score barely hints at how little consistency there was snap to snap.
A closer look through Pro Football Focus shows a few individual bright spots, even if they didn’t add up to much as a unit. The Wolverines had only six offensive players grade above 60.0, and just three cracked 70.0 - with two of those coming from the offensive line.
JJ Buchanan was the most reliable piece on offense. The wide receiver posted a 72.3 overall grade and kept showing up in the passing game, finishing with four catches for 50 yards.
That accounted for half of Underwood’s production through the air. Buchanan also earned a 70.4 run-blocking grade, which fit the same pattern he’s been showing lately: steady, useful, and dependable in multiple spots.
Center Jake Guarnera was right behind him at 71.3, the top mark among Michigan’s offensive linemen. He played all 49 offensive snaps, logging 26 in pass protection and 23 as a run blocker. His 82.0 pass-blocking grade stood out as the best on the line, and his 76.2 run-blocking grade was strong as well.
Right tackle Blake Frazier was nearly right there too, finishing with a 71.2 overall grade. Like Guarnera, he was on the field for all 49 snaps. His 73.2 run-blocking grade was solid, though his 57.2 pass-blocking grade left something to be desired.
The problems got sharper lower on the depth chart. Freshman running back Savion Hiter had a difficult night, especially when asked to protect the quarterback.
He graded out at 55.9 overall and ran for just nine yards on eight carries. His pass-blocking grade was a brutal 6.7.
Tight end Zack Marshall had the roughest grade of anyone on offense. He finished at 36.3 overall, including a 34.6 pass-blocking grade. Marshall was only on the field for nine snaps, but PFF clearly wasn’t impressed with what happened during them.
That’s the bigger issue for Michigan right now: there wasn’t one broken piece, there was a whole offense struggling to produce at a high level. Even the better individual efforts couldn’t move the unit out of the mud.
In Other News...
Michigan Offense Is Taking Heat From One Of Their Own
After Michigans loss to Minnesota, one of the programs own took aim at what he saw from the offense. Jake Butt, the former Wolverines tight end who now works as a Big Ten analyst, described the performance as poor and said the unit lacked effort, a blunt assessment that landed hard for a team already searching for answers.
The criticism comes with Michigan still sitting near the bottom of the national rankings in total offense and rushing yards through five games, a jarring place for a program built on physical play and run-game identity. Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham also weighed in, saying Michigan has to make tough decisions and real adjustments to get moving, including the possibility of a quarterback change, as the pressure to fix the offense keeps building. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan May Have Just Shown The Only Way To Stop The Slide
The red zone trip that led to Jordan Marshalls touchdown was one of the few clean moments Michigan had in a 20-14 loss to Minnesota, and it stood out because it looked like the kind of sequence the offense has been searching for all season. After a series of successful plays, the Wolverines finished the possession with the kind of execution that has too often been missing when drives get tight and the field shrinks.
For a team still trying to stop the slide, that single trip offered a small but useful reminder of what works. Michigan did not get many chances near the goal line, but when it finally did, the drive suggested there is at least a blueprint there, even if the larger picture around it remains discouraging. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Faces A Bryce Underwood Dilemma It Cant Ignore
Michigans loss to Minnesota did more than hand the Wolverines an ugly result in a building where they had long controlled the series. It also sharpened the focus on Bryce Underwood, the highly touted quarterback whose arrival came with as much financial baggage as expectation, including a reported $12 million, four-year NIL package backed by a donor collective.
Now the questions around Underwood are no longer just about development or timing. If his play continues to wobble, Michigan has to weigh performance against the reality of a massive investment, and any move on the depth chart could carry fallout beyond this season. The bigger concern hanging over the program is how that dynamic could shape Underwoods future, and whether the people around the team can avoid turning a quarterback issue into something far harder to manage. [Read more 🡒]