Saturday’s 20-14 loss at Minnesota did more than cost the Michigan Wolverines the Little Brown Jug for the first time since 2014. It dropped the program to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten, and it moved Michigan’s problems onto the national stage. With the Wolverines on a bye week, head coach Kyle Whittingham has to settle whether Bryce Underwood or freshman Tommy Carr is the starting quarterback when Michigan comes back.

Michigan is fortunate to be 3-2 at all. The Wolverines needed a one-second clock adjustment and a Hail Mary to get past Western Michigan 13-12 in the opener. Without that second, this team is 2-3 and the noise around Ann Arbor is louder than it already is.

Wall Street Journal Says the Michigan Wolverines Are Wobbling

Sports columnist Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal ran a Monday column under the headline “Michigan Football Is Wobbling, and Wolverine Claws Are Out.” His read is the one Michigan fans have been making since September: the Wolverines are lucky to sit at 3-2, and the schedule says it gets worse before it gets better. Gay wrote:

“Let’s be real! If those impish video referees didn’t add a magical one second in the season opener, allowing the Wolverines to crawl back in time and defeat Western Michigan on a Hail Mary heave, Michigan would be sub .500 and the commotion at the Big House would be even worse.

Either way, the season’s getting gnarly. On Saturday, one week after losing to Iowa on the final play of the game (karma), the Wolverines (preseason ranking: No. 16) fell to lively Minnesota in the “Little Brown Jug” rivalry game for the first time in 12 years.

It was the first time Michigan had lost this contest in the Twin Cities since 1977, when local teen Prince Rogers Nelson was playing all the instruments on his first album.”

Saturday was the 100th meeting in the Little Brown Jug series, and Minnesota had not beaten Michigan in Minneapolis since 1977. A drought that long ending in Whittingham’s first year is the kind of detail that follows a program for the rest of a season.

Bryce Underwood’s Numbers Are the Problem

Underwood has had a poor season by any measure. He has completed 59.3% of his passes for 881 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions. He has added 212 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 57 carries, an average of 3.7 yards per attempt.

Michigan’s Offense Ranks Next to Last in the Big Ten

Michigan averages 315.8 yards per game, second worst in the Big Ten. Only the Michigan State Spartans are lower, at 305.6. The Wolverines score 23.0 points per game. The Spartans average 18.2.

The defense is the reason this team is not already buried. Michigan ranks second in the Big Ten in total defense at 241.4 yards allowed per game and fifth in the conference in scoring defense at 15.8 points allowed.

The Schedule Gets Harder After the Bye

Michigan hosts Penn State on Oct. 17 coming out of the bye. After that come No. 7 Indiana, a trip to No. 13 Oregon, No. 21 UCLA at the Big House and the finale at No. 5 Ohio State. Four ranked opponents in the final six games means six wins and a bowl bid are no longer a formality in Whittingham’s first season, and if Underwood never gets benched and the offense never moves, this gets worse before it gets better.

Source: Yahoo Sports