Michigan hosted No. 1 Oregon on Saturday and put up a little bit of a fight against the Ducks but ultimately fell 38-17 in a game that was never in a single whisper of a doubt.
This was always going to be a mismatch on the field, but it didn’t have to be such a mismatch on the sidelines. There were puzzling decisions by the Michigan coaches throughout this game.
For instance, head coach Sherrone Moore chose to challenge a clear incompletion near the sideline by tight end Colston Loveland. Loveland got his feet inbounds but when he landed on the ground, the ball went flying. It was such a bad challenge that CBS color commentator Gary Danielson suggested that Moore and his staff didn’t know what the rules were to determine a catch.
They certainly have a better idea now.
After the game, Moore acknowledged that Michigan has a person in the press box who will give them a heads up on when to challenge a questionable play. If he got the heads up on that one, then that’s about all of the evidence you’ll need to prove that not all low-level staffers are created equally.
To make matters worse, the same blind eye in the sky failed to alert Moore of an obvious incompletion on what turned out to be Oregon’s first touchdown. All touchdowns are supposed to be reviewed regardless, so in theory a coach should never have to challenge a play on a touchdown. But that doesn’t mean you can’t — and somebody should have.
Look at this play.
Where was the replay official? Stuck in the bathroom because they were once again confounded by the arbitrary push/pull nature of doors?
The Big Ten needs to provide an answer on this one. I don’t know what’s worse — that they didn’t bother to review something they’re supposed to review or that they reviewed it and didn’t see how much of an incompletion this was. Either way, it was a failure on the part of the replay official.
But understanding how flawed officiating is, Sherrone Moore should know better than to lean on that as the only possible answer.
At least the game wasn’t close enough for one missed called to have possibly changed the ultimate outcome.
I’m sure that’s plenty of consolation for Michigan fans.
When Michigan Was On Offense
For the sixth time in nine games, Michigan was held under 300 yards of total offense. They managed to rush for 105 yards on 28 attempts and threw for 165 yards as Davis Warren completed 12-of-21 passes, Alex Orji completed 1-of-3 passes, and receiver Semaj Morgan threw his only pass attempt so far out of bounds that his intended receiver ran smack dab into CBS’ camera apparatus.
Since we’re still sort of talking about being outcoached, let’s talk about the pass by Morgan. With about 7:30 left in the game and Michigan only trailing 31-17, the Wolverines were down at the Oregon 10-yard line faced with a fourth-and-five.
Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell called a reverse pass from Morgan to Orji, which didn’t come close to being completed. It’s a play that has worked for all kinds of football teams, but didn’t work for this one. Was it a bad call? Michigan has done well with non-quarterbacks throwing the ball over the last few years, so they at least have a history. The execution on this pass attempt was lacking in all facets. Oregon defended Orji well, but the pass was two or three yards out of bounds anyway.
Michigan had a chance to make this a one-score game with half of the fourth quarter to go. They felt their best option was to take their only passer out of the game and have a receiver throw a pass to the running quarterback.
And this was after Davis Warren had already thrown touchdown passes of seven and six yards on third and goal. He had already proven he had the ability to make the necessary throw.
Michigan’s offensive identity is supposed to be physicality (see: “SMASH”), but this year they have relied on trick plays because it’s just about the only way they can manage easy yards. With the back of the end zone just 20 yards away from the line of scrimmage, easy yards are a whole hell of a lot harder to come by. It’s hard to completely fool a defense when everybody’s standing in the same elevator.
The Wolverines got too cute for their own good and the game was officially over at that point.
For the second week in a row, Davis Warren didn’t throw an interception, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. There are still plays to make from a defense’s standpoint, but this was about as effective as the Michigan passing game has been this season.
Colston Loveland caught seven passes for 112 yards, and it wasn’t all just screens. He was hit downfield in open zones. It was good to see Warren stepping into throws and hitting receivers in stride. It also provided a glimpse of what we could see from this offense against Ohio State.
That being said, Warren still only threw for 164 yards.
Michigan only had 53 snaps on offense, compared to 71 for Oregon.
The Wolverines’ most effective runner for the second week in a row was Alex Orji. He finished with 39 yards on six carries. He is a necessary change-of-space runner. Right now, he is better equipped to get outside than either Donovan Edwards or Kalel Mullings.
Edwards led the team with 52 yards rushing on 10 attempts. Mullings managed just 16 yards on eight carries. It’s the second week in a row he’s been held under 20 yards on the ground.
You know things aren’t going well when Michigan’s passing game is the strength of their offense.
Starting left guard Giovanni El-Hadi had a nightmare day against Duck defensive tackle Derrick Harmon. There is no real strong point on this offensive line, outside of possibly left tackle Myles Hinton.
When Michigan Was On Defense
Oregon scored touchdowns on four of their five drives in the first half and led 28-10 at the break, which is basically all you really need to know about how this game went.
The Ducks had 304 yards of total offense in the first half. They finished with 470 overall.
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel completed 22-of-34 passes for 294 yards and a touchdown. He wasn’t sacked, though he was pressured here and there but was always able to make a play or escape just in time. He’s annoying like that.
The Ducks also rushed for 176 yards on 37 attempts (4.8 ypc).
Michigan had just three tackles for loss, which is a terrible sign for a defense that is built up front. Oregon handled the Wolverines at the line of scrimmage. Their offensive tackles gave defensive ends Josiah Stewart and Derrick Moore fits throughout.
Cornerbacks Will Johnson and Jyaire Hill were both out, leaving Michigan to start Aamir Hall and nickel back Zeke Berry at corner. Starting safety Makari Paige played nickel, and Wesley Walker and Quinten Johnson got the starts at safety.
How did things go? Well, 178 of Oregon’s 294 passing yards were after the catch. So not only did the Ducks get open, they got yards after the fact as well.
You have to wonder how incentivized Will Johnson is to hurry back.
Linebackers Ernest Hausmann (10) and Jaishawn Barham (7) combined for a quiet 17 tackles.
Michigan’s defense was spread out by the Oregon offense and Dillon Gabriel picked them clean. The Wolverines simply didn’t have the manpower to handle the Ducks’ playmakers.
Makes you wonder how things will stack up this coming week at Indiana.
The Michigan Special Teams
Punter Tommy Doman had a good day, averaging 45.2 yards on his five punts. He put two of those inside the 20-yard line.
Michigan’s punt coverage unit screwed themselves in this game by putting a defender over the long-snapper, giving the ball back to Oregon. The Ducks turned it into a field goal to make it 31-17 at the end of the third quarter.
What Does It All Mean?
It means that despite a glimmer of life in the Michigan passing game, it wasn’t enough to mount a serious threat to Oregon.
The question now is whether or not it will mount a threat to either Indiana or Ohio State. The slight uptick in the passing game also makes you wonder how much more effective it would be if suddenly the running game came back.
Even if both of those things happen, the high end for Michigan’s scoring is probably still just the upper 20s. This is a team that still hasn’t scored over 30 points in a game.
The Wolverines have scored 15 touchdowns in Big Ten play, which is the same number of Big Ten touchdowns scored by Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson this year.
When your offense is being matched by a single player from Iowa, you know things are going very, very poorly.
It also means that the offense isn’t the only problem right now. The defense is banged up, beaten down, and looking altogether sideways.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti is looking at this game and already practicing postgame one liners in his bathroom mirror.
Hoosier fans haven’t witnessed a home win over Michigan in person since 1987. Indiana beat Michigan in 2020 in Memorial Stadium, but it was only family, coaches, staffers, players, and media in attendance (1,034) due to COVID.
This is a game the Hoosiers have wanted for a long time.
Curt Cignetti isn’t worried about kicking Michigan when they’re down. And he won’t care how much kicking his team does. He’ll have them kicking until their ankles only have bloody stumps attached to them.
The Wolverines showed good fight against Oregon, but they’ve got another battle on their hands in Bloomington. This will be the Hoosiers’ biggest game of the season to this point, and nothing we’ve seen from Cignetti’s team so far makes anybody think they won’t be ready.
The Road To The Game
Aug. 31 – Michigan 30 – Fresno State 10 (1-0)
Sept. 7 – Texas 31 – Michigan 12 (1-1)
Sept. 14 – Michigan 28 – Arkansas State 18 (2-1)
Sept. 21 – Michigan 27 – USC 24 (3-1, 1-0)
Sept. 28 – Michigan 27 – Minnesota 24 (4-1, 2-0)
Oct. 5 – Washington 27 – Michigan 17 (4-2, 2-1)
Oct. 12 – OPEN
Oct. 19 – Illinois 21 – Michigan 7 (4-3, 2-2)
Oct. 26 – Michigan 24 – Michigan State 17 (5-3, 3-2)
Nov. 2 – Oregon 38 – Michigan 17 (5-4, 3-3)
Nov. 9 – at Indiana
Nov. 16 – OPEN
Nov. 23 – Northwestern
Nov. 30 – at Ohio State
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