Michigan Report Card: Embarrassing Offense Continues To Sputter

The grades are in, and the Michigan offense is simply finding ways to figure out how low they can sink. We’ll get into that in just a little bit, but it should not be overly surprising. Jason Beck’s firing was never going to solve all the problems that plague this unit. They are certainly undermanned from a coaching perspective, but we may be finding out that’s true from a talent perspective as well.

That’s another discussion for a different day. In the mean time, lets get into the report card, which starts with the lowest marks for a group that has been the worst part of the team all season.

Pass Offense

Michigan has two quarterbacks. That means they don’t have any. Tommy Carr and Bryce Underwood are both not ready to play football at this level. Carr was brought in against Penn State in October to give the offense a lift after Underwood played his way out of a job.

Nothing really has changed.

Carr has led one drive that has resulted in a touchdown if you remove their game against Rutgers.

Underwood got his chance in this game as well, and nothing really came out of that. Underwood looked the same as he has in the near two years he’s been at Michigan. The ball looks pretty coming out of his hands. That’s about it. He completed two passes and will probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of four turnover worthy throws.

His final pass of the game came on a fourth down that landed out of bounds. He made that same mistake against Minnesota in early October. Underwood has plenty of talent, but it’s probably best for him and the program if he plays elsewhere in 2027.

Tommy Carr is unlikely to transfer, but he also does not look like someone who should be starting anytime soon.

Michigan had 71 passing yards. They trailed 7-0 after the fourth play of the game. They never tied the game after that. They trailed essentially wire-to-wire and could not muster 100 passing yards. The ship cannot sink much lower.

Grade: F

Rush Offense

Savion Hiter helped the Wolverines break out in a big way on the ground with an explosive 70-yard touchdown in the first half to pull the Wolverines within seven. Hiter was the first individual 100-yard rusher on the season for the team, which still feels incredible to say.

Despite the explosiveness Hiter showed in the run game, he only got the ball 13 times. The biggest issue here is the turnovers. Hiter, Bryson Kuzdzal and Tommy Carr were all credited with lost fumbles. Hiter’s could just as easily have been given to Bryce Underwood, but it’s really beside the point who gets credit for it.

HITER HOUSES IT 💥

Savion Hiter takes it 70 yards for the @UMichFootball TD.

Watch on FOX pic.twitter.com/np90VIK9xj
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 14, 2026

The biggest disappointment of the season is likely to be offensive captain Jordan Marshall. We’ve wondered aloud for weeks if he is playing through something, but he only carried the ball five times on Saturday. He’s been behind Hiter and Kuzdzal in carries for each of the last two weeks.

His decision making has been baffling as well. Marshall got the ball on a second-and-goal on Michigan’s best drive of the game. He looked like he was poised to score a touchdown if he simply raced the defense to the pylon.

Instead, he stutter stepped and was tackled well short of the goal line. Michigan ultimately would turn the ball over on downs. Marshall and the rest of the backs have left a lot of yards on the field this year in the rare occasions the offensive line has blocked well enough for them.

They did accumulate over 200 rushing yards, but the turnovers and poor decision making take the shine out of what should have been a banner day for them.

Grade: C-Plus

Pass Defense

It was bound to happen at some point, and that day happened to be Saturday against Oregon. Michigan’s defense finally cracked under the weight of having to carry the offense. Jyaire Hill was beaten badly on the first series of the game for a 60-yard score.

Smith Snowden and Zeke Berry blew a coverage on the final offensive play of consequence from the first half. That led to a 59-yard score to give Oregon a 21-7 lead that felt insurmountable in the moment.

Raiola would find Dierre Hill on a screen pass that was supposed to just give their kicker a better chance at a field goal. Instead, he exploded through the secondary on one of the worst plays you’ll see from Michigan’s defense this season.

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Dylan Raiola making NFL THROW after NFL THROW against Michigan’s ELITE defense.

The Oregon QB continues to make an EARLY case for QB1 of the 2028 NFL Draft 😳🎯 pic.twitter.com/4OQpL5tauV
— Rookie Watch (@RookieWatxh) November 14, 2026

Ultimately, Dylan Raiola threw for 341 yards and four touchdown passes. He was comfortable most of the game as he was just sacked twice.

This was the best offense Michigan had played all season. Not an ideal time for their worst performance.

Grade: D

Rush Defense

Dierre Hill ran for 98 yards on 21 carries including a long run of 36 yards. HE was the leading rusher for an Oregon team that piled up 126 yards on the day, and made things easier on Dylan Raiola.

This group has always felt like it was on the verge of breaking, and Saturday was the first real instance of that.

Michigan’s defense hung on by a thread for most of the game.

To their credit, however, as Dan Lanning was trying to run up the score late in the game the defense bowed their neck.

No issue with Lanning trying to run up the score, but kudos to the Wolverines for standing firm in that situation.

Grade: C

Special Teams

Cam Brown had a nice punt early in the game that pinned the Ducks deep in their own territory, so that was a bright spot after he had struggled for a couple of weeks after a strong start to the season.

No issues in the kicking game, but then again the Wolverines only had one extra point to kick in Saturday’s game. The return game continues to give nothing to this team, but they’re not giving up a ton of yardage in coverage.

The bar is low these days, but it was not the worst day at the office for Kerry Coombs’ crew.

Grade: C-Minus

Coaching

Give Kyle Whittingham credit for this, his team has every reason to quit at this point in the season. Saturday’s game may not have been close on the final score, but that was not a team out there making business decisions and playing without effort.

Michigan’s effort was fine for most of the game. They’re just not as good as Oregon and they’re very overmatched schematically.

As much as nobody wants to give credit to the head coach at this point in the season, that is a feather in his cap.

Michigan defense getting ready to go out for its second drive pic.twitter.com/DsltDNluGn
— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) November 14, 2026

Unfortunately for Whittingham, that’s the only thing that saves this group from a failing grade. The special teams were tagged with an undisciplined personal foul penalty. The defense was beaten on some undisciplined plays early in the game, and the offense is its own story.

This group should be finishing up its first and only season at Michigan in the next two weeks.

Grade: D-Minus

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