The Biggest Coaching Decision Kyle Whittingham Got Wrong Against Iowa

Michigan lost in a heartbreaking manner by a score of 20-19 on Saturday. Iowa had the ball with two seconds left on the clock and the ball at the 16 yard line of Michigan. From there, Hank Brown threw a back shoulder fade to Reece Vander Zee who caught it in bounds and that was the game right there. Michigan had so many chances to put this game away and just couldn't manage to do it. Let's dive into what Kyle Whittingham decided that might've cost the Wolverines the win in this game below.

The Decision: To run the ball three straight times when a 1st down seals the win

Michigan had the ball with 2:26 left, and Iowa had all three timeouts remaining. A 1st down in this situation ices the game because Iowa can stop the clock for the first three plays you run, but they would run out of chances if you can manage just one 1st down.

In this situation Michigan decided to run the ball up the middle on three straight play calls and had to punt the ball back to Iowa with two minutes remaining and Iowa still had one timeout. The first two plays calls were exactly correct in my opinion. You almost have the run the ball at least 2/3 downs here just to force them to use their timeouts if nothing else. The issue I have is the third and five call.

Bryce Underwood was having his best game of his career arguably in this game and in the critical moment with the game on the line you tried to run the ball up the middle when the entire stadium thought you'd be running the ball up the middle. There's no other way to say it, but it was what coaching scared looks like.

In critical moments the head coach often has the final say in what gets called in terms of play calling strategy. There's no doubt in my mind that in the final minutes of this game Kyle Whittingham was the one who decided to run the ball three straight times. It was a cowardly decision to not even attempt to go win the game right there with your offense on the field and they ended up losing the game in the end.

What it means moving forward

Moving forward, Michigan needs to learn its lesson here. You simply can not coach scared in these big moments and expect to win games in the Big Ten. The teams are too talented and the coaching staffs are too good to do anything other than keep your foot on the gas peddle for the full 60 minutes. Games like this are what happen when you don't. You end up getting beat. This loss is going to sting for a while, and it should.

However; the season is not over and there are still plenty of games left to go out there and win. From here on out, Kyle Whittingham needs to coach to win, not coach to not lose.

Sign up for the Michigan Wolverines on SI newsletter for more free coverage

Add us as a preferred source on Google