Michigan Staff Clueless In Loss To Michigan State

There are bad football teams, and then there is whatever Kyle Whittingham and his Michigan coaching staff are putting on the field in Ann Arbor.

At the final horn against Michigan State, the Wolverines lost 15-6, had accumulated a pathetic 192 yards of total offense and looked completely incapable of moving the football against a Spartans team that entered the contest ranked No. 86 nationally in rushing defense.

This isn't Alabama. It isn't Ohio State. It's Michigan State, a program that has struggled mightily throughout the season and entered Saturday night as a 13.5-point underdog.

And somehow, Michigan looks like the inferior team.

The numbers are almost impossible to believe. Tommy Carr completed just 14 of 26 passes for 138 yards and two interceptions. Michigan managed only 54 rushing yards on 26 attempts, averaging a miserable 2.1 yards per carry. The Wolverines were 2-for-10 on third down and had possessed the football for just over 21 minutes.

Meanwhile, Michigan State controlled the game with 300 total yards, 17 first downs and over 37 minutes of possession.

How is this acceptable at Michigan?

Offensive coordinator Jason Beck deserves an enormous amount of criticism. Week after week, Michigan trots out an offense that appears completely unprepared, unimaginative and fundamentally broken. The offensive line can't consistently block, the running game is nonexistent and the passing attack rarely threatens anyone.

At some point, the excuses have to stop.

Michigan has talented players. Savion Hiter, Jordan Marshall, Andrew Marsh and others weren't brought to Ann Arbor to participate in one of the most dysfunctional offenses in the country. Yet the coaching staff continues to demonstrate absolutely no ability to maximize their talent.

And Whittingham doesn't get a pass, either.

He was hired to lead one of college football's premier programs, not oversee an embarrassing collection of offensive performances while repeatedly promising improvement that never materializes.

This is a program with enormous resources, national expectations and a standard that should never include getting physically dominated at home by an inferior rival.

Michigan fans shouldn't have to lower their expectations to accommodate coaching incompetence.

If this is the best Whittingham, Beck and the rest of this offensive staff can produce after months of preparation and nine games of football, serious questions need to be asked about whether these coaches deserve to keep their jobs.

Because right now, Michigan doesn't just look poorly coached.

It looks like a program that has absolutely no idea what it's doing.