Following a dismal 15-6 defeat against Michigan State on Saturday night at The Big House, head coach Kyle Whittingham should bear the brunt of the consequences.
The soon-to-be 67-year-old coach has deflected blame from his coaching staff to his players even before the season began. Whittingham stated numerous times that it could take a couple of years before Jim Harding has the offensive line the way he wants it to be, while also throwing the previous strength and conditioning staff under the bus this past offseason by claiming they never had the players bench press.
Yet, the Wolverines competed in meaningful games in November of last year under the previous coaching staff, whereas this year’s games in November can only be classified as the exact opposite. Whittingham was hired to be the adult in the room, tasked with bringing discipline, stability, and fundamentals to a program that had lost all three. Nine games into his first season, Michigan has none of them.
Utah teams under Whittingham were rarely the most talented in their conference, but they almost never beat themselves. They tackled well, avoided penalties, and protected the football. This Michigan team has done the exact opposite, flagged at a rate ranking among the worst in the country while owning one of the worst turnover margins in college football.
The Wolverines nearly lost to Western Michigan as a four-touchdown favorite, then lost to Iowa and Minnesota as favorites in those contests. After Rod Moore remarked to reporters that the squad lacked toughness in Week 1, Whittingham echoed that exact description following the Penn State matchup, and that verdict still applied five weeks later.
Saturday night was the worst version of that softness, as Michigan lost at home to a Michigan State team that entered the game winless in the Big Ten and is now 3-6 overall.
The roster features a blue-chip ratio of 47.8 percent, ranking among the highest in the Big Ten. Talent does not explain losing to Minnesota or Michigan State, leaving those outcomes as failures of preparation, discipline, and in-game decision-making that belong to the head coach.
Critics note that it remains the initial campaign, the program undergoes a transition period, dismissing a manager after a single year appears knee-jerk, and the contract termination fee would prove expensive. Michigan is also conducting an athletic director search and a presidential transition, making further instability the last thing the department needs. None of that changes what this season has become under a coach who looks ready to retire.
The Michigan that won a national title three years ago never accepted those standards, and it should not accept them now.
