Devin Gardner did not open with the record or the offense. He opened with Ohio State. The former Michigan quarterback, speaking on his show The Blue Print the day after the Wolverines lost at home to Indiana, said first-year head coach Kyle Whittingham has already devalued the rivalry that defines the program.

“I’m not surprised,” Gardner said. “What have we seen from Coach Whittingham? The devalue of the rivalry against Ohio State. That’s just a fact. It’s not that, I mean, it’s important, but is it? … I saw some comments about the jug, like how it’s not that big of a deal kind of. That is not something you say.”

Devin Gardner Put the Ohio State Rivalry First

The jug is the Little Brown Jug, the oldest trophy in the sport and the prize in Michigan’s series with Minnesota. The Gophers took it on Oct. 3 with a 20-14 win in Minneapolis. Before that game, Whittingham was asked about the trophy and told the “Inside Michigan Football” radio show, “Every game’s a trophy game to me, so I don’t want to put any more emphasis (on it).”

That is the sort of answer Gardner has stopped accepting, and he said the problem is not one answer but the pattern behind it.

“I wasn’t surprised by those comments,” Gardner said. “I was just like, that’s right in line with what we’ve heard. … The starters aren’t going to play in spring, and like all this stuff, and I haven’t been on board with any of it. This is just the latest edition of the things that our head coach has said that just don’t sound like what we expect Michigan to sound like. Two years after a national championship.”

Michigan’s Offense Never Reached the End Zone

The box score backs him up. Michigan did not score a touchdown against Indiana. The six points came on two field goals, two more field goals were missed, and the longest play from the line of scrimmage was a 24-yard completion in the fourth quarter. The Wolverines pushed the sixth-ranked Hoosiers to overtime and still lost 13-6 in front of 111,276 at Michigan Stadium.

The season numbers tell the same story. Michigan is averaging 20.3 points and 300.6 yards per game while allowing 15.7 points and 250.1 yards, according to ESPN. The three losses came by one point to Iowa, by six at Minnesota and by seven to Indiana, and the defense did not allow more than 20 points in any of them.

The record could look worse than 4-3, too. Michigan opened the season with a 13-12 win over Western Michigan.

Whittingham Pointed at Indiana’s Ranking

The comment that set Gardner off came from Whittingham’s own postgame press conference. Asked about the loss, Whittingham pointed at Indiana’s No. 6 ranking and said Michigan is “a pretty good football team” even though it is sitting at 4-3.

Indiana has earned that ranking. The Hoosiers are 7-1, and the one loss was 19-15 at home to Ohio State, a game in which their defense held an offense built around Jeremiah Smith to 19 points. Michigan hung with them and still never crossed the goal line, which is the part Whittingham’s answer skipped.

Gardner’s frustration and Whittingham’s optimism are the same four games read two different ways. Michigan plays at Rutgers on Saturday, then hosts Michigan State on Nov. 7.

Source: Yahoo Sports