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Published Oct 5, 2024
Three takeaways: Myriad of mistakes cost Michigan in 27-17 loss
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Brock Heilig  •  Maize&BlueReview
Staff Writer
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Michigan turned the ball over twice in the second half on Saturday night in Seattle, and the Huskies were able to capitalize with a touchdown and two field goals. Too many mistakes — both offensively and defensively — doomed the Wolverines in the 27-17 loss.

With the defeat, the Wolverines drop to 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in Big Ten play. Here are three takeaways from the disappointing loss.

Defense needs major work

For all the top-end talent that resides on the defensive side of the ball in Ann Arbor, Wink Martindale's unit has been awfully suspect through the first half of the regular season. Will Johnson, Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant will all likely be first-round selections in next year's NFL Draft, but the Wolverines just can't seem to find the defensive dominance they had a season ago.

Of course, losing players like Mike Sainristil, Braiden McGregor, Jaylen Harrell, Junior Colson and others was costly, but the belief heading into the season was that Michigan would have plenty of tools defensively to be among the nation's best on that side of the ball.

But that belief has been far from reality. The Wolverines have allowed double digits in every game this season, and they've given up at least 24 points in four of their six games.

Washington carved up Martindale's crew for 429 yards of offense, including 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Jack Tuttle's reign short-lived; Michigan still has no answer at QB

Michigan began the year by starting Davis Warren at quarterback. After his three-interception game versus Arkansas State, he was replaced by Alex Orji. The dual-threat quarterback finished off the Arkansas State contest and proceeded to start — and win — each of the next two games against USC and Minnesota.

But on Saturday against Washington, Michigan made its second quarterback change of the season, submitting its third different signal caller into action this season.

Michigan was hoping that the third time would be the charm at quarterback, and for about an hour, it was. Jack Tuttle led the Wolverines on a storming comeback, and they took a 17-14 lead midway through the third quarter.

The Wolverines scored on each of Tuttle's first three drives at quarterback, but after that, the offense went dead silent.

In Michigan's three scoring drives, the Wolverines scored 17 points on 26 plays. They totaled 206 yards on such drives.

But on the five drives that ensued, Michigan tallied just 39 yards on 21 plays.

In the end, it's still apparent that Michigan has no answer at quarterback. Each of the three signal callers that the Wolverines have trotted out this season is unique in their own way, but none of them seem to be good enough to help the team accomplish their goals this season.

Second half woes continue

Heading into this week's game, Michigan had been outscored 57-26 in the second half of the last three games. And once again on Saturday night, the Wolverines were outscored by the Washington Huskies in the final 30 minutes.

All 13 of Washington's second-half points came in the fourth quarter, but it was enough to put Michigan away. Meanwhile, the Wolverines only managed a touchdown in the second half.

As things stand now, Michigan has been outscored 70-33 in the second half of the last four games.

Michigan has been pegged as a team that is unable to play from behind, and on Saturday night, it actually showed that with Tuttle at quarterback, it can, but the Wolverines were unable to shake the fact that it gets outplayed in the second half of just about every game.

If Sherrone Moore's team has any hopes of appearing in a big-time bowl game this season, it will have to perform better late in games, which is something it did so well last season.

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