Wolverine Thoughts: Michigan Played With Its Food and Got Bit — Now Show Some Mettle

The Wolverines suffered their first loss on the season and it's time to show some grit.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — We've been talking about it for the first quarter of the season. Michigan continues to play with its food, and eventually, you're going to get bitten.

That's what happened on Saturday in Ann Arbor. Michigan suffered its first loss of the season and it was the Hawkeyes who scored a game-winning 16-yard touchdown pass as time expired to win 20-19. Hank Brown found Reece Vander Zee on the left side of the end zone, who found outside positioning on Smith Snowden.

But it wasn't that play that cost Michigan the game. It was a culmination of issues. The same issues that continue to haunt the Wolverines.

It's either penalties or fumbles

When Kyle Whittingham was hired to coach Michigan, the one thing we thought for certain was that the Wolverines were going to be a disciplined team and there would be no nonsense behavior. That was a big issue with Sherrone Moore's teams over the past two seasons.

But those egregious penalties are rearing their ugly head once again this season, and if there aren't penalties, it's Michigan putting the ball on the ground. To the Wolverines' credit, they didn't fumble once in the game on Saturday, instead, Michigan had eight penalties for 75 yards.

There were a few unsportsmanlike penalties called on Michigan in the game, and the most notable came from veteran Zeke Berry.

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On third and 12, on Iowa's final drive, Hank Brown's pass fell incomplete, but Berry opted to shove Iowa wide receiver Tony Diaz and gave the Hawkeyes a free first down and 15 yards. The rest is history. Four plays later, Brown would throw a touchdown.

"Well, I've gotta watch the film first of all," Whittingham said after the game. "I had people tell me it should have been or shouldn't have been. Who knows. But the bottom line is we were penalized too much again today...It's excessive, and we got to do something about it. And it was a couple of really costly ones, particularly on that last drive. But we just got to keep coaching it and keep impressing on our players' minds that penalties have consequences in games."

Wasted a great performance by Bryce Underwood

What's bad about the costly penalties, which is what cost Michigan the game, ultimately, is that the Wolverines wasted arguably the best performance Bryce Underwood has had wearing the maize and blue. From Week 1 to Week 4, we've seen major strides in Underwood's game and it was on display once again.

He finished with 276 yards through the air, which is four yards shy of his career high. He did have the interception in the red zone, and it was clearly a miscommunication with wide receiver Andrew Marsh. There are no excuses there, though. It was an interception and it left points off the board — points Michigan could've used.

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"But I thought our offense was the best they've been all year," said Whittingham. "I thought Bryce was at his best game. Both receivers over 100 yards. Jordan Marshall finally got a little bit untracked. We completely dominated them statistically, but that doesn't really matter. Obviously, it doesn't matter at all. The final score is all that matters."

Michigan gained 429 yards of total offense and that came against the top-ranked defense in the nation. Underwood had more passing yards with 13 minutes left in the second quarter than Iowa State, which had passed for the most yards against Iowa this season in one game.

A loss is a loss, but if there is any glimmer of hope, it's that Underwood was able to have a successful game against what could be a top-five defense in the nation by the end of the season.

Time to respond

A common topic in the presser after the game was going back to the drawing board. Michigan has been on both sides of a last second finish. Some are calling it karma, but it's football. Michigan had a last-second win over Western Michigan and now it suffered heartbreak.

Ultimately, it's up to the coaching staff and players to right the ship. Regardless of what you think of this team, the reality is that Michigan has its goals in front of it. Games against Indiana, Penn State, Oregon, and Ohio State all loom, but the Wolverines have to take one game at a time.

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"Well, you got to bounce back," Whittingham said. "Again, that's life. I mean, you get knocked on your butt, and you pick yourself up, and you continue to fight and scrap and compete. And unless I miss my guess, this team is going to come back next week and play very well and continue to practice well and work hard. And if you're a competitor, that's what you do."

We've seen what Michigan is capable of. The Wolverines were able to move the ball at will against Iowa. Now, it's finishing with points, and most importantly, stopping the egregious penalties. Because if that doesn't end, it's not going to be a great year for Kyle Whittingham in his opening season.

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