Michigan football: Grading the Wolverines after the loss to Ohio State (again)

The line just keeps pounding through my head, over and over, like a nail gun set on rapid fire. And it hurts just as bad.

“If not now, when?”

Michigan just can’t get over the hump in its rivalry with Ohio State. Even as a 4.5-point favorite on Saturday, the Wolverines weren’t even competitive in an embarrassing 62-39 loss to the Buckeyes. It ended Michigan’s 10-game winning streak, and also ended any hopes for a division and conference title and a first-ever trip to the College Football Playoffs. That’s one win in 15 years against Ohio State. Awful.

It was as bad a day as possible, a day where absolutely nothing went right. It was so bad that it even forced a change in format to our weekly feature here. So …

Here’s what I liked — and what I didn’t like — about the Wolverines’s loss to Ohio State:

What I liked

Not a darn thing.

What I didn’t like

1. A No. 1 defense that struggled badly

The No. 1 defense in all the land gave up 567 yards to Ohio State on Saturday, and barely put up a fight. What a joke, and what a massive disappointment. Much like the collapse at Penn State last year, this one has plenty of blame to go around, for players and coaches alike. Ohio State picked them apart, and it was easy, they said. “I see the one-high covers and that’s a quarterback’s dream,” said Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, who threw five touchdown passes. “The biggest responsibility for me all week was to be able to pick up blitzes and protection, because we saw a lot of different fronts and exotic looks. I spent hours in the film room just trying to figure out how we can pick the blitzes up. And once we picked it up, receivers make plays, and I’m going to put it there. And it was a great overall team effort today.”

2. An offensive line that struggled even worse

Don’t be fooled by those 39 points. This was not a good day for the Michigan offense. In fact, it was downright horrible. Michigan simply could not run the ball when it needed to, and quarterback Shea Patterson never had any time to throw. Michigan’s offensive line gets the blame for all that. This group vowed to be better this year, and they were. But they laid an egg Saturday against Ohio State, and it was a big reason why Michigan lost. It’s certainly not the only reason, but it was a big reason.

3. Poor play-calling on first down

After watching Ohio State get gashed for 339 yards on the ground by Maryland last week, Michigan’s offense coaches — and its stubborn head coach — were 100 percent convinced that they could run all day on Ohio State, too. The problem, though, was that Ohio State loaded up against the run, especially on early downs, and there was no success to be had. Still, Michigan kept trying to force the issue and it never worked. Being in third-and-long situations all day was a killer.

4. One special teams disaster after another

There’s so much blame to go around here that it’s hard to pinpoint one play that turned the game around, but the best candidate might have been the blocked punt late in the third quarter. Michigan was still in this game, trailing by one score at 27-19, when Ohio State’s Sevyn Banks scored on a blocked punt that was woefully blocked up front by Michigan. That touchdown set off the rout. Ambry Thomas botching a kickoff return out of bounds hurt, too. As usual, Ohio State completely won the special teams battle.

5. Dare we say, Michigan outcoached once again

There is absolutely no doubt which coaching staff did a better job of game-planning and preparation this week. Ohio State was ready for everything Michigan threw at them Saturday — on both sides of the ball. Michigan’s coaches also were very slow to make adjustments, hence the blowout.  “The (second-ranked) offense in America just put a bunch of yards on the No. 1 defense in America,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. “So just great players and a really good offensive staff, and that’s how you do what you did.”

6. Shea Patterson had a horrible game at the worst time

I’ve been a big supporter of Shea Patterson all year, but he was simply not good on Saturday. Granted, he didn’t have much time to throw and even though he had three touchdown passes, he was lucky two of them weren’t picked off. It was a huge letdown for the guy who was supposed to be the difference-maker this time around. He just didn’t seen to have much arm strength, short-hopping a lot of throws to open receivers. I’ll be frank, I expected so much more.  “This is why everybody comes to Michigan, to play in this game. It’s one of the reasons why I came here,” said Patterson. “It was a childhood dream to play in this game. I’m the quarterback and I have the ball in my hand every snap, so I take full responsibility for our faults on offense.”

7. I could go on and on … but I’ll stop

We’ve got 364 days to whine about the rest of it … “If not now, when?”

Tom Brew

Tom Brew has been a recognized reporter in Big Ten sports for decades. Among other projects, he writes about Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.