Michigan's offense is really, really bad

Chris Breiler | 10 Hours Ago

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Michigan Wolverines

I think that most reasonable people expected the Michigan Wolverines to take a bit of a step back in 2024. Following the loss of nearly 20 key contributors from the national championship squad, along with head coach Jim Harbaugh and a good portion of his staff, a drop-off was to be expected. And while most fans were willing to give this program time to grow in the wake of so much change, Saturday's embarrassing loss to Illinois raised some serious red flags about the current state of the football program.

It's okay to not be as good as they were in 2023, but it's definitely not okay to be this bad in 2024.

How bad is it? Through the first eight weeks of the 2024 season, the Michigan offense has firmly established itself as one of the worst in all of college football. Per Zach Shaw of 247 Sports, here's where the Wolverines rank nationally in several key categories:

Points per game: 112th
Yards per play: 113th
Turnover margin: 117th
Yards per game: 119th
First downs per game: 120th
Turnovers lost: 122nd
Plays of 10+ yards: 130th
Plays of 20+ yards: 131st

Through 8 weeks of the 2024 season, Michigan ranks:
112th in points per game
113th in yards per play
117th in turnover margin
119th in yards per game
120th in first downs per game
122nd in turnovers lost
130th in scrimmage plays of 10+ yards
131st in scrimmage plays of 20+ yards
— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) October 20, 2024

When it comes to the passing attack specifically, the numbers are just as concerning:

Interceptions: 113th
Passing TDs: 118th
Passer rating: 127th
Passing first downs: 128th
Passing yards per game: 129th
Passes of 10+ yards: 129th
Passes of 20+ yards: 130th
Yards per pass attempt: 132nd

Although much of the frustration from the Michigan fan base has been directed squarely at the coaching staff for these numbers, the harsh reality is that the players also share a good portion of the blame as well. It truly takes a group effort to be this bad in so many different phases of an offense. Worse yet, there doesn't seem to be any fix for the issues we've seen play out week after week... at least not this season.

Looking at the remainder of the schedule, there's no question that the Wolverines - and the Michigan fan base - are in for some tough times ahead. Getting to six wins is starting to feel nearly impossible given what we witnessed on Saturday, and failing to qualify for a bowl game in Year 1 of the Sherrone Moore era would be a nightmare scenario.

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