While there are a number of problems plaguing Michigan football at the moment, after Monday’s press conference it became clear which one stands out ahead of all the others in the mind of head coach Sherrone Moore.
The turnovers must stop. In fact, they’ve become such an issue, a quarterback competition has re-opened in the second half of the season for the defending national champions.
“It’s just an overemphasis of ball security,” Moore said when asked how he’s balancing priorities this week. “It can’t continue to be a thing, so it’s something we’ll continue to harp on.”
It goes without saying Moore and company did not want to be making another big decision about the quarterback position before facing rival Michigan State (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) on Saturday. Moore said Monday the staff would work on the game plan and finding a starter throughout the week but as he alluded to, there hasn’t been a reliable answer when it comes to taking care of the ball.
The turnover trouble began with senior and former walk-on Davis Warren, who completed 48 of 72 passes for 443 yards and a pair of touchdowns through two-and-a-half games, but had a back-breaking six interceptions in fewer than 11 quarters of play, which left Moore no choice but to try the next option.
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At the time, that was Alex Orji with Jack Tuttle still rehabbing from various arm ailments. Orji did protect the ball the best of the bunch, throwing just one interception, but it was the inability to pass the ball in any functional way which made U-M too one-dimensional.
He completed 23 of 43 passes (53.5%) and had 144 yards compared to three touchdowns and one pick, but he was pulled in Seattle earlier this month when Michigan fell behind 14-0. Jack Tuttle came in to replace him and provided a spark by scoring 17 points in the first three drives, but he had a pair of costly turnovers in the fourth quarter, which led to Washington’s 27-17 win.
Moore gave him a pass, saying he had little practice, but after Tuttle fumbled once in Michigan territory on Saturday and then threw a pick in the red zone in U-M’s 21-7 loss to Illinois, the head man could defend it no longer.
“I just think it’s about us taking care of the football,” Moore said when asked why the program has come up so far short of both its standards and expectations. “Again, I’ll say it. I could say it tirelessly. You look at really what we’ve done. It’s because of [protecting] the football. And look at last year. In terms of fumbles, not very many. In terms of picks: J.J. had three in one game, and after that he only had one.
“We have to do that. If we do that, we’ll be in a better place.”
Moore mentioned the fumbles in addition to the interceptions, which is why it’s not fair to put all of the blame on the quarterbacks.
Michigan ranks No. 122 in the nation out of 134 teams in turnovers lost with 15 through seven games and only nine of those are interceptions. Last year on the march to the national title, Michigan had just eight turnovers in 15 games, which included three fumbles all year long.
Already U-M has fumbled eight times and lost six of them. Two of those came courtesy of Tuttle, while another two were coughed up by senior running back Donovan Edwards, including in the second quarter on Saturday which led to the Illini’s first touchdown of the day. Even star tight end Colston Loveland lost a fumble in the loss to Texas.
“Especially just me always being hard on myself. I have two fumbles this year, which is not good,” Edwards said Monday. “It’s just the small things that we always have to get better at. We just have to continue to win the day today. I live by a Kobe Bryant quote that says, ‘It’s a constant quest to be better today than you were yesterday and to make a better tomorrow than today.’”
The Wolverines (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) now head into the matchup with their in-state rival with the same record as a program they easily trounced on the road 49-0 last year in East Lansing.
Nobody had any second thoughts about that game other than how out of hand it would get and how quickly. This time around, U-M has opened as less than a touchdown favorite, which is now down to 5½ points on almost all books.
Michigan, which has committed at least one giveaway in every game and had two or more five times, has lost the turnover battle four times this year, including in all three losses. It certainly would help if the defense created more, as the group has just one in the past two weeks and in four of seven games it’s caused one turnover or none.
But it’s clear the defense is not the primary topic or problem.
Moore was asked if headed into this rivalry game, he takes any solace in the fact the Spartans are turning it over at almost the same rate − MSU also has 15 giveaways and has only forced one more turnover than U-M on the year for a margin of minus-6 − which he rather quickly shut down.
“I want us to take care of the football ourselves, not going to worry about what they’re doing,” he said. “We’re going to try to take the football away from them, for sure. But for us, we’ve got to do everything we can to keep it.
“We can’t turn the football over. That’s really the end of the discussion. If you don’t turn the football over, you’re going to win the game. It puts you in a position to be in a good place. … have to take care of the football at all costs.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football must take care of football ‘at all costs’ vs. MSU
