Michigan hasn’t had the best year on the heels of their National Championship season in 2023. The Wolverines have sputtered to a 5-4 record this season in a year marred with offensive inconsistencies and coaching questions. No. 1 Oregon took Michigan down 38-17 over the weekend in Ann Arbor. The Ducks scored the most points for any visiting team at Michigan in at least four seasons, five if you look over 2020.
But despite that, Fox’s Joel Klatt said losses like that aren’t the season’s biggest disappointments for Michigan. Instead, Klatt explained it was something else.
“The disappointing part of their season are the losses to Washington and Illinois,” Klatt declared.
“That’s what fans would be more upset with. You see, this team was never going to have a huge margin for error,” he explained. “And so, in those games against teams they needed to beat, and were going to be in close games, they had to play clean. No turnovers, play well on defense. Not get penalized. Win the field position battle. And when they didn’t, they got beat handily.”
“Here’s the disappointing part of their season: They’ve played seven games now against Power 4 teams. They’ve played three one-score close-wins and four losses by double digits,” Klatt said.
“The season comes down to two things … You can spoil Ohio State’s chance to win a Big Ten Championship potentially,” Klatt said. “And the next motivation is you gotta turn over the roster.”
Klatt said there was optimism around the program because of the recruiting momentum the Wolverines have recently picked up. He specifically addressed the Bryce Underwood rumors, too.
That said, Michigan has undoubtedly disappointed this year. Few expected them to pick off the top teams of the Big Ten, but they didn’t expect them to perform as well as they have against the others.
