ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Embarrassing. An embarrassment. And more embarrassing beyond that.
The Kyle Whittingham era was supposed to embody toughness, discipline, playing smart, and doing things the right way. After saying all of the right things and appearing to be confident in what Michigan football would bring to the table in his debut in Ann Arbor, Whittingham's team was not only the opposite of everything he espouses, it was a debacle in every way. The Wolverines were a miracle away from, at best, the second-worst loss in program history, and given what the head coach's teams had been for two-plus decades in Salt Lake City, it's a head-scratcher.
The opening offensive drive was as impressive as the rest of the game was bad. Despite mistakes, quarterback Bryce Underwood sliced through the Western Michigan defense like a hot knife through ***** er, making what ended up being fall camp bluster look prescient. But that was it. 75 yards on the opening drive, and a 47-yard Hail Mary aside, it accounted for all but 154 yards accumulated all game. The offense, against a supposedly overmatched foe, made the Sherrone Moore-era offense look like the air raid by comparison. The defense got off the field, surrendering little in terms of points, sure, but it also allowed the Broncos to hold the ball for over 40 minutes, including a 13-minute, 40-second drive spanning from the third to fourth quarters. When the offense got the ball back, it quickly relinquished possession after three plays, managing seven yards on first down before deciding that moving the ball forward was anathema to its goals.
And then there were the other mistakes: missed ***** ignments, an ***** ortment of penalties, and all-around bad play. It wasn't just the opposite of what was expected; it was the opposite of how Whittingham's teams in Utah played for 21 years.
"I'm going to reserve judgment on that until I dissect the film," Whittingham said after the game. "But we talked about how we improved dramatically through fall camp. That's a fact. I mean, there's no one that attended practice that wouldn't tell you anything different. We had former players there, and everybody had the same ***** ysis. And so, and we're not -- I'm not saying that Bryce played a bad game. This isn't on Bryce Underwood. This is, like I said, it's on me, and I've got to figure out a way to have these guys better prepared and be able to get into a rhythm offensively. It's like we never got into a rhythm after that first drive. We always found a way to screw it up. We were like 0-for-5 or 0-for-6 before we converted on third down. And you just can't win football games like that. We were very fortunate to win, obviously."
#drive #whittingham
The Kyle Whittingham era was supposed to embody toughness, discipline, playing smart, and doing things the right way. After saying all of the right things and appearing to be confident in what Michigan football would bring to the table in his debut in Ann Arbor, Whittingham's team was not only the opposite of everything he espouses, it was a debacle in every way. The Wolverines were a miracle away from, at best, the second-worst loss in program history, and given what the head coach's teams had been for two-plus decades in Salt Lake City, it's a head-scratcher.
The opening offensive drive was as impressive as the rest of the game was bad. Despite mistakes, quarterback Bryce Underwood sliced through the Western Michigan defense like a hot knife through ***** er, making what ended up being fall camp bluster look prescient. But that was it. 75 yards on the opening drive, and a 47-yard Hail Mary aside, it accounted for all but 154 yards accumulated all game. The offense, against a supposedly overmatched foe, made the Sherrone Moore-era offense look like the air raid by comparison. The defense got off the field, surrendering little in terms of points, sure, but it also allowed the Broncos to hold the ball for over 40 minutes, including a 13-minute, 40-second drive spanning from the third to fourth quarters. When the offense got the ball back, it quickly relinquished possession after three plays, managing seven yards on first down before deciding that moving the ball forward was anathema to its goals.
And then there were the other mistakes: missed ***** ignments, an ***** ortment of penalties, and all-around bad play. It wasn't just the opposite of what was expected; it was the opposite of how Whittingham's teams in Utah played for 21 years.
"I'm going to reserve judgment on that until I dissect the film," Whittingham said after the game. "But we talked about how we improved dramatically through fall camp. That's a fact. I mean, there's no one that attended practice that wouldn't tell you anything different. We had former players there, and everybody had the same ***** ysis. And so, and we're not -- I'm not saying that Bryce played a bad game. This isn't on Bryce Underwood. This is, like I said, it's on me, and I've got to figure out a way to have these guys better prepared and be able to get into a rhythm offensively. It's like we never got into a rhythm after that first drive. We always found a way to screw it up. We were like 0-for-5 or 0-for-6 before we converted on third down. And you just can't win football games like that. We were very fortunate to win, obviously."
#drive #whittingham
2 months ago
