Kyle Whittingham's Latest Move Proves Utah Won the Divorce

Michigan Wolverines head coach Kyle Whittingham fired his offensive coordinator Jason Beck after a 15-6 loss to Michigan State on Saturday night. The last time the Wolverines lost to in-state rival Michigan State was on October 31, 2021, when Michigan was ranked No. 6 in the country.

When Whittingham came to Ann Arbor with the former Utah Utes offensive coordinator, Michigan fans thought they wouldn’t see any drop-off in the brand of offense that is synonymous with Wolverine football, which is a blue-collar approach with a smash-mouth, highly physical mentality. That wasn’t the case.

Beck chose a faster-paced offense to catch opponents off guard, preventing them from substituting players or making necessary defensive adjustments. The quarterback ran the offense strictly out of the shotgun, rather than from under center, and the offensive line's blocking assignments shifted from man and zone to gap-blocking schemes.

This was the season fans expected to see the development of the Wolverine quarterbacks; instead, there was one glaring problem. If there was any development of the quarterbacks to play in this system, it hasn’t been shown thus far this season. Watching Bryce Underwood play this season looked like his development took a step backwards.

Underwood showed his frustration during the Penn State game before being pulled after halftime, pulling his helmet off while walking towards the sideline, visibly upset after throwing his second interception of the game.

When Whittingham inserted Carr into the game to start the second half of the Penn State game, it led the Wolverine fans to believe Underwood was having an issue with the offense due to his subpar performance.

The early success of Carr, after being named the starter for the Wolverines, showed potential over the past few weeks, but his play on the field got exposed during the Michigan State game.

However, Carr’s inability to read the Spartans' defense fast enough throughout the game to change the protection or make the necessary check-downs to have positive gains on plays was glaring because the Spartans' front seven continued to send pressure from all over the field. Carr took sacks on multiple offensive drives in the first half that stifled the Wolverines' offense, preventing them from moving the ball down the field.

The Wolverines have relieved Beck of his duties as the offensive coordinator and named Jim Harding, who was a co-offensive coordinator for the Wyoming Cowboys (2013) and Utah Utes (2015-2016), who has a run-heavy philosophy. Smash-mouth football is the identity the Wolverines are known for, and somehow a season was wasted trying to reinvent the wheel with something that wasn’t working.

Harding will have his hands full this week, being the offensive coordinator for the first time against an Oregon team that is looking to keep their hopes alive to play for the Big Ten Championship.

The Wolverine faithful will be watching this game very closely to see if Whittingham's change will show some promise over the next few weeks, moving the ball down the field with possibilities to score points.

If things look as bad as they did with Beck, after Harding was named the interim offensive coordinator, Underwood won’t be the only one screaming because the Michigan donors, fans, and boosters will be looking for major changes to happen when their name, image, and likeness and collective spending, which ranks 7th in college football with an average between $35 and $41 million for the 2026-2027 cycle.

One thing is extremely clear: With Utah now No. 2 under first-year head coach Morgan Scalley, the Utes won the Whittingham divorce.