Coaching Decision Kyle Whittingham Got Wrong Against Michigan State

Kyle Whittingham and his squad entered this game with an outside chance at the playoffs. With only three losses up to this point, the team technically had everything yet to play for. Especially in this in-state rivalry game, Michigan should've been extremely motivated to go out and get a win.

What actually transpired was the exact opposite. The 2-6 Michigan State Spartans played like they still had everything on the line, and Michigan looked flat all game long. It was an inexcusable effort from the Wolverines, and that reflects poorly on the head coach. Let's dive into his big coaching error in advance of this game and what it means, below.

What Kyle Whittingham decided

Despite having technically everything to play for in this game, Michigan's offense was once again absent. Michigan State's defense was all sorts of banged up injury wise, and Michigan's offense was coming off a decent performance against Rutgers. Then the game took place, and Michigan's offense failed to get it going once again.

Jason Beck was the highest paid offensive coordinators in the country. After this weekend's results, here's where Michigan ranks in the key offensive metrics: 117th in points per game, 126th in yard per game, 114th in yards per play, and 133rd in giveaways per game. In all the key ways you can look at an offense, Michigan is near the bottom in the entire country.

It should've been clear a long time ago that Jason Beck is doing this offense, and the football team as a whole, no favors. His scheme and play calling have not worked. There's legitimately nothing you can point to that would make you believe it's going to get any better either.

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That's where I believe Kyle Whittingham got it wrong. It was clear after the Minnesota game that this offense had very real issues. Entering that game, Michigan was coming off of a bye week and put up a complete stinker of an offensive performance. At that point, Kyle Whittingham should've started to consider that maybe this Jason Beck offense isn't working. But no, he backed him up in press conferences even after that game.

What it means moving forward

Now here we are several weeks later, and the offense has only continued to get worse if anything. Opposing defenses are anything but fooled but the jet sweeps and power reads. They aren't caught off guard with play action passes, or straight drop back passes. None of this offense works.

Ultimately, it's on the head coach to make the decision to pull the plug on something he should know by now is clearly not working. The opportunity to salvage the season was about two weeks ago after the Indiana loss. At that point Michigan could've cut bait with Jason Beck and tried to revive the offense, because let's face it, it's not like a different play caller could do any worse at his job. Yet Kyle Whittingham insisted that it's "Not time to panic."

Now we are past the point where you can salvage the season in any real way, with this stunning loss coming at home against this hapless Michigan State Spartan team. The entire program has been humiliated once again by this putrid offensive performance. Even with the recent news that Jason Beck has been fired, it's too little, too late for this Michigan season.

If he'd have done this weeks ago, Michigan might've been able to salvage the season and respond down the stretch. Instead, this program appears to be at rock bottom, and it's well past time to panic even if Kyle Whittingham is the only one who doesn't know it yet.

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