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    • Michigan football is on shaky ground at the midway point of the season
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    Michigan football is on shaky ground at the midway point of the season

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    SEATTLE – A purple mass converged near the 50-yard line at Husky Stadium, growing larger and wider shortly after the final second expired. Home team fans rushed to celebrate Washington’s 27-17 capture of No. 10 Michigan. But Saturday’s field storm seemed forced as it was certainly more inspired by the Wolverines’ past supremacy rather than their current, less impressive reality.

    After all, technically this wasn’t a disruption. The Huskies were favored to beat the team that crushed them in the College Football Playoff championship game nine months ago. There was a reason for that. Michigan is no longer elite, and its prospects are considerably bleaker than when it made its triumphant climb to the top last year.

    At the midway point of this season, college football’s reigning champions have glaring flaws and so much remains unknown.

    THREE QUESTIONS: Jack Tuttle’s 2024 debut for Michigan football is the same old story: lax ball security

    That became even more apparent when the Wolverines’ second loss of the season became a reality. An offense mired in quarterback turmoil for months saw a little more turbulence, as backup Jack Tuttle came off the bench to replace ineffective starter Alex Orji in the second quarter. The switch came after a defense that was virtually unbreakable in 2023 gave up two early touchdowns and continued to show troubling signs that the defense is far more vulnerable than it ever was last year.

    By the end of the game, the Wolverines had surrendered 315 passing yards to an opponent who taunted Michigan by unleashing its aerial firepower. Will Rogers picked apart the UM secondary, sending the ball to six different players who intermittently ran short, intermediate and deep routes. Washington even threw the ball twice on one trick play in the first half, gaining 37 yards to set up their second score. That burst of creativity had become strange for the Wolverines, who battled their way to hard-fought victories over Minnesota and USC in recent Saturdays with Orji as their offensive conductor. Those victories showed that UM’s margin of error was teetering on the brink of catastrophe in both cases. Now, in a 14-point hole, the Wolverines were staring into the abyss. At that point, head coach Sherrone Moore, in a fit of desperation, pulled Tuttle off the bench to save Michigan.

    “I think he gave us a spark,” Moore said.

    He did, but it was temporary. Entering the game with 9:38 remaining in the first half, Tuttle provided the immediate shock Moore had been looking for. He led Michigan on three consecutive scoring drives and helped the Wolverines edge Washington 17-14 in the third quarter. During that exciting stretch of football, Tuttle looked like a savior who could free the worst passing attack in the Power Four. He extended plays, made clutch throws, looked for extra yards when he was out of options, and most of all, found a rhythm.

    “Went there and was executed,” Colston Loveland said.

    But then the seventh-year quarterback reminded everyone that he was unreliable, which was reflected in a career stat line that included as many touchdown passes as interceptions.

    So after connecting with Loveland in the end zone on an eight-yard throw that gave the Wolverines the lead, Tuttle found a way to neutralize his positive impact by making a series of crucial mistakes.

    With the score tied at 17, Tuttle lost a fumble at Michigan’s own 32-yard line after being shot by Washington edge defender Voi Tunuufi. The turnover might not have led to serious consequences had Tuttle had support from the 2023 defense. But he didn’t have that luxury and the Huskies made Michigan pay, reaching the end zone in four plays and taking a 24-17 lead with 6 more :22 left in regular playing time. The crowd roared with joy. But they cheered even louder three minutes later when Tuttle tried to zip another pass to Loveland. Before the ball could get into Loveland’s hands, safety Kamren Fabiculanan lunged to intercept it.

    Michigan’s fate was all but sealed.

    UM FIGURES: QB carousel raises big questions about coaches

    When Grady Gross made a 32-yard field goal with 66 seconds left, the Wolverines’ hopes were completely extinguished.

    “This game doesn’t define us,” Moore told his players afterward, according to defensive tackle Mason Graham.

    But it adequately captured the current state of the Wolverines, a flawed team that remains in flux midway through the season.

    “In football you never know what’s going to happen,” Moore said. “So for us, we’re adapting.”

    Outsiders also do this by lowering their expectations. After all, it’s hard to foresee the Wolverines making a big leap forward. The quarterback situation is not ideal, which bogs down the entire offense. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale seems unable to get consistent results from his boom-or-bust unit. Then there are the injuries, which seem to be on the rise. Two starting offensive linemen, left tackle Myles Hinton and center Dominick Giudice, did not play Saturday. Neither does edge defender Derrick Moore. All of these developments have clouded the picture for Michigan, as it finds itself at a crossroads midway through this season.

    “I don’t think this should have happened at all,” Tuttle said in one breath.

    “We are a really, really good team,” he declared in another.

    They were.

    But that was last year.

    These Wolverines are merely decent, which is why the home team’s fans shouldn’t have felt compelled to storm the field Saturday night and celebrate their demise.

    Contact Rainer Sabin at [email protected]. Follow him @RainerSabin.

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