‘It’s disappointing’: Michigan Football’s offense has been plagued by a series of problems

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The Michigan Wolverines have been “disappointing” on offense this year, plagued by a series of problems that must get corrected in order to right the ship. From turnovers to red zone inefficiency to a broken run game, there’s a lot to fix.

“It’s disappointing where we’re at,” offensive coordinator Jason Beck told the media. “We’re looking at everything to tweak and adjust, and fix and get better. We’re used to having a dynamic offense and we have to get back to that.”

Michigan sits near the bottom of the nation in several offensive categories, including 108th in yards per game (315.8) and 114th in turnovers per game (1.8). Additionally, the Wolverines are 83rd in scoring with just 23.0 points per game.

Not only has it been a struggle to create explosive plays and move the ball with any consistency, Michigan can’t seem to get out of its own way by also committing costly turnovers and failing to take advantage of red zone opportunities.

“We obviously took a step backwards on offense,” Whittingham said. “We’re continuing to tailor the offense to try to put everybody in the best position to succeed, but our big demise is turnover margin, so we have to get that fixed.”

There’s no doubt turnovers have been the biggest concern to date. Michigan has committed an alarming nine turnovers in just five games, most notably quarterback Bryce Underwood throwing four interceptions and losing two fumbles.

“Jason Beck’s offense has been proven to be very productive throughout the years, and we have really good players,” Whittingham said. “I just keep coming back to turnovers. Nothing else matters if we keep losing the turnover margin.”

In order to get back in the win column and make the most out of the remainder of this season, Michigan must take care of the ball and prioritize ball security. With that said, there’s much more plaguing the offense than just giveaways.

“The main problem is turnover margin,” Beck told the media. “But we also need to be more efficient, create more big plays in the passing game, and be better in the red zone. Those are all very specific things that we have addressed.”

Michigan has failed to consistently create explosive plays, ranking 120th in the nation with only 12 plays of 20+ yards. Specifically, the rushing attack has been stuck in the mud all season and just can’t seem to find a way to get going.

The offensive line looks lost at times and the running backs have struggled to get loose. Michigan remains confident that the run game will have a breakthrough soon, which certainly could happen, but time is ticking on the season.

“We’ll eventually put it all together and play how we should be,” center Jake Guarnera said. “Every time I watch the film, we’re one block away from hitting a big run, so we just need to start executing as a team and not just as individuals.”

The Wolverines currently rank 89th in the nation with 3.8 yards per carry and 82nd with 135.0 rushing yards per game. If those numbers don’t drastically improve, it’s hard to imagine the offense having any type of turnaround this season.

“We have good players. We are better than what’s happening on the field,” Beck said. “We’re more capable and we can play at a higher level. We just have to do better as coaches to put all of us in position to be successful and execute.”

Michigan is definitely capable of playing at a much higher level, but the offense has been disappointing to say the least. There’s more than enough talent at the skill positions and experience on the offensive line to at least be adequate.

The Wolverines host the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday in what feels like a must-win game, so we’ll see if the bye week provided Michigan with an opportunity to fix its problems, or if the offense is just a lost cause at this point.

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