The Morning After: No Moral Victories, Even if Kyle Whittingham Is Trying to Sell One

Fox Mulder once had a poster on his wall that said “I want to believe.”

That’s how I felt about Kyle Whittingham when he was hired. I wanted to believe. Whittingham’s track record speaks for itself.

He’s going to be a Hall of Fame coach. He’s respected by his peers. He won in a place with a fraction of the resources that Michigan has. The idea that he could win and win big at Michigan was not a far-fetched idea.

Through seven games of his tenure at Michigan, it feels more far-fetched than ever before. We talked about this weeks ago. I asked you to forgive me if “You will become us, we will not become you” was starting to sound a lot like “This is Michigan for God’s sakes.”

Three weeks later, Michigan resembles more and more of the Brady Hoke tenure rather than the glory years of the Jim Harbaugh era.

Michigan has lost three games this season. They could have won all three without some silly mistakes being made along the way.

Saturday’s game, however, was the most egregious in coaching malpractice that I’ve seen this season.

Yes, players need to make plays, there’s no question about it. These players, however, are being put in terrible positions.

The biggest play of the game took place in the third quarter. Michigan trailed 6-0, but were on the doorstep of taking a 7-6 lead. A touchdown, which has been fleeting for them for most of the season, was within reach.

Michigan, a program that prides itself on downhill running and playing with physicality was one yard away from paydirt.

Conventional wisdom says to run the ball right into the teeth of Indiana’s defense twice to see if they can gain a yard.

Jason Beck stepped in. A refusal to be boring cost Michigan 13 yards, a second chance at scoring, and potentially four points.

A naked bootleg was called where the primary receiver was Michigan’s extra offensive lineman, Manuel Beigel.

Predictably. Indiana’s defense was all over it. Tommy Carr was dropped for a 13-yard-loss forcing the Wolverines to kick a field goal to pull within 6-3.

Tommy Carr thought he was Aaron Rodgers pic.twitter.com/AZTy7v7Jxf
— Pick 6 Pack (@Pick6PackFB) October 24, 2026

That would be the best chance Michigan had to score before the final possession of the game.

Did Kyle Whittingham, who has talked in the past about needing to be more physical during games, have any conversations with Jason Beck?

"Everything falls on my shoulders, so whatever happens in the course of a game is on me," Whittingham said. "That was not a good football call, no, that was not a good call at that point in time. I have the ability to overrule anything in the whole program. And so, like I said, it circles back to me, but it was a very disappointing outcome and a call that I know Jason wishes he had back, because it really was damaging."

It was not a good football call, it was not a good call at that point in time. Did Whittingham know that then and not say anything?

Micro managers are typically hard to work for, but at some point, Jason Beck has lost the benefit of the doubt to not be micro managed.

Michigan’s offense is terrible. It has been all season. They’ve changed quarterbacks and turned their starting quarterback, a highly decorated recruit mind you, into a scapegoat.

Nothing looked different with Tommy Carr under center. They were still playing a Pac-12 style of football with horizontal run game, and hopeless passing formations ruling the day.

Too Easy For the Defense

Michigan has too many plays where they are too easy to defend.

One play in the first half saw Bryson Kuzdzal run across the formation with Eli Owens in the backfield. Owens is not a threat to carry the ball or catch a pass out of the backfield. As soon as Kuzdzal goes in motion, the whole world knows he’s getting the ball.

Any deception on a play like that, is gone immediately. Predictably, Kuzdzal was thrown for a loss.

Michigan’s final possession of the game featured a third down conversion where the skill players on the field were Kuzdzal, Owens, Jalen Hoffman, and JJ Buchanan.

Two tight ends who are not threats in the passing game, a third string running back, and one of their top two receivers.

Carr found Buchanan for a first down, so the results were good, but the process is poor.

Indiana defensive back A.J. Harris (4) blocks a pass intended for Michigan wide receiver JJ Buchanan (6) during the first half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

A poor process has led to one of the worst offenses in the country at a place that promised a high-flying attack was on its way to complement one of the best defenses in the country.

"We've got to get better. There's a lot of areas there's really nowhere you can say, hey, we're doing this pretty good. We're not really running the ball as effectively as we want to. We did last week, but not in the other weeks," Whittingham said. "We're not completing the ball at a high enough percentage. We're not protecting the ball well enough. We're not good enough in the red zone offensively. So there's you name it, and we've got to work on it. And so that's our challenge. That's my challenge. That's Jason's challenge, and it's squarely on our shoulders."

To call the situation the Wolverines are in a challenge would be putting it lightly. Perhaps that challenge should no longer be on the shoulders of Jason Beck.

That’s another topic for another day as a midseason firing is unlikely to happen at any point.

Saving the Worst for Last

What’s most damning is Whittingham’s comments following the game.

“If that’s a number six team in the country, then we’re a pretty good football team even though we’re sitting at 4-3,” Whittingham said.

Maybe 4-3 with a few moral victories and almost passes for a good football team in the Big 12. It doesn’t pass at Michigan. This is the winningest program in college football history. Before the game James Earl Jones says through the speakers, “We bow to no man, we bow to no program, we are Michigan.”

The goal is to be the best team, not to almost beat the number six team.

Perhaps Kyle Whittingham doesn’t understand that. For that reason, he may not be a fit here. The hope, if you’re a fan of the Wolverines is that they don’t wait two more years to figure out he is not the right man for the job.

Right now, however, it’s hard to believe in anything this regime is selling.

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