The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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maize n' view michael spath M Diagnosing What Went Wrong ichigan began the month of November in control of its own destiny in the Legends Division. Two weeks later, the Wolverines were firmly out of the race to earn a Big Ten championship game berth, suffering embarrassing losses to Michigan State and Nebraska in which the Maize and Blue averaged 9.5 points and 171.5 yards of offense per game, and were held to a combined negative-69 yards rushing, failing to finish with a positive yard against either opponent. U-M began the year 5-0 and seemed destined for a 7-0 start and a top-10 ranking. But early-season wins over Akron and Connecticut showed some cracks — and they burst at Penn State, and then to an even greater degree against the Spartans and Cornhuskers. So what happened? How did a promising season go bad? A lack of solutions on the offensive line: In Michigan's first four games, the Wolverines averaged 194.3 yards rushing and 4.7 yards per carry, while permitting six sacks and 32 tackles for loss. Those numbers and, especially, the struggles to create push along the line of scrimmage against the Zips and Huskies led to significant changes up front, beginning an endless rotation and experimentation to Redshirt junior quarterback Devin Gardner has taken a beating, mentally and physically, this season. photo by lon horwedel solve this unit's inability to run and pass block. Along the way, a true freshman (left guard Kyle Bosch) made his first career start at Michigan State in week eight and a redshirt freshman, playing out of position (tackle Erik Magnuson at right guard), started his second career game when U-M played rival MSU. They are the most recent examples of a line that has had nine different starters, including seven alone at the three interior positions. The results, obviously, have been disastrous, and the Wolverines' inability to even put a band aid on a gaping wound has been