Michigan Wolverines Football Midseason Report Card: Grading The Offense

Michigan football is 5-1 at the midway point of the season, just as many thought they'd be. The midseason grades need to rise, however, if the Wolverines are going to meet their goals and stay in the Big Ten championship hunt.

We grade the offense position by position:

Senior Shea Patterson was one of the offensive players of the game at Illinois in a game in which he completed only 11 of 22 passes. He put the ball on the ground once, was late on a few throws and didn't read the defensive end well on a few read option plays in which he could have kept for big yardage.

Other than the Rutgers game, Patterson hasn't been last year's leader since the first half of the Middle Tennessee game, when he threw for three long scores. He needs to get his swagger back if the Wolverines are going to get it clicking on offense ... and they'll need to in order to compete in the back half of the schedule.

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