The offense is bad at Michigan. That’s not breaking news to anybody who has paid attention all season. Michigan scapegoated their starting quarterback and proceeded to not find the end zone in Tommy Carr’s first start.

As a result, a game they could have won against the Indiana Hoosiers turned into an overtime loss. They wasted a defensive masterclass in the process.

The grades reflect that, so let’s dive in.

Pass Offense

Bryce Underwood out, Tommy Carr in. You’d be forgiven if you could not tell much of a difference in terms of offensive output.

Michigan gave up four sacks. Carr threw a horrendous interception in the first half that led to three points for the Hoosiers.

The passing offense remains too easy to defend with an insistence on playing in condensed spaces where three guys are facing at least six defenders.

Carr finished the game with 167 yards passing on 32 attempts. JJ Buchanan and Hogan Hansen were his favorite targets with 10 catches between them. Their longest reception of the day was 24 yards from Channing Goodwin. That play was largely made through improvisation from Carr.

Carr showed some moxie and toughness throughout the game, but his physical limitations were on display as well.

His offensive coordinator did not give him much help either, which we covered early in this spot.

Underwood also played two snaps. Both were predictable run situations. Carr will likely start next week against Rutgers. It won’t really matter who is under center if they cannot start figuring out better ways to attack opposing defenses.

Grade: D

Rush Offense

Michigan’s leading rusher in terms of yards-per-carry averaged 2.8 yards-per-carry.

Their leading rusher by total yardage gained 26 yards on 12 carries.

Their run schemes are poor. The blocking is not good enough, and they’re not placed in positions to succeed. Ultimately, the Wolverines gained 57 yards rushing on the day after accounting for the four sacks that were surrendered.

Indiana’s defense is very good, there’s no question about that. Michigan has played six different combinations on the offensive line in seven games.

Everything surrounding the ground game is a total failure, and that culminated on Saturday with their worst performance of the season.

Grade: F

Pass Defense

Josh Hoover was the highly touted quarterback in the transfer portal who went to Indiana to defend a national title after spending the 2025 season at TCU.

He showed some cracks in his foundation against Ohio State, and was downright dreadful against Michigan’s suffocating defense. The Wolverines held Hoover to 81 yards passing. He completed eight passes, and did not throw a touchdown.

The dynamic duo of Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh caught five passes for 57 yards. They were a non-factor thanks to Michigan’s own dynamic trio of Zeke Berry, Jyaire Hill, and Smith Snowden.

Berry was the big playmaker in the secondary as he caught Hoover’s first interception of the season in the second half that set up a Michigan field goal.

Intercepted by Zeke Berry!

Josh Hoover’s first interception of the season pic.twitter.com/Q5Q7gSI39L

— uofmcoverage (@uofmcoverage) October 24, 2026

In fact, that was the only completion that Josh Hoover had in the second half.

They only sacked Hoover once, but coverage on the back end was great. This was a game they played largely without Rod Moore and Dom Nichols. Two of their best players were on the sideline, and it didn’t matter. Michigan’s defense can compete with any offense in the country.

They deserved better than the result they got.

Grade: A

Rush Defense

On the rare occasions that Indiana was able to move the ball, it was on the ground. Their lone touchdown of the game came courtesy of a designed quarterback run where Josh Hoover followed his blockers into the end zone on the second play of overtime. The Hoosiers ran for 131 yards on the day, and their running backs accounted for 124 yards on 31 carries.

It was a solid performance by the Wolverines up front, particularly by Chris Bracy who was very active with 13 tackles and one TFL.

They weren’t suffocating, but they were very good.

Grade: B-Plus

Special Teams

For everything that went wrong during yesterday’s game offensively, if the kicker simply makes his kicks, the Wolverines win the game in regulation. If the kicker just makes one of the two kicks he shanked, the Wolverines win in regulation.

Trey Butkowski had been very good coming into play on Saturday, but his performance against the Hoosiers will be one to forget.

Salesi Moa had two punt returns for 25 yards. Cam Brown has been shaky for the last couple of weeks as well.

Trey Butkowski saw what Syracuse's Tripp Woody did against Pitt and took it as a challenge!!@UrinatingTree and @LordOfTardaria are envious of Butkowski!! pic.twitter.com/od1P1ZTWxs

— Thanks for Everything Kopi (@nat_petrone85) October 24, 2026

Special teams was supposed to be better this year than it was last year. This week, they were a detriment. The offense will get most of the focus. Rightfully so. When you struggle to score, however, the rest of the team has to be on point. They were not yesterday.

Grade: D-Minus

Coaching

Jay Hill is exempt from this group. His defense put together another masterpiece yesterday.

The issues on the coaching staff, however, stare directly at two men at the top of the food chain.

Kyle Whittingham was brought to Michigan to right the ship and give them a proven winner at the top of their football program.

He brought Jason Beck with him, along with a hefty payday to give them a dynamic offense that has been missing from Ann Arbor.

Through seven weeks, both men have been an abject disaster. Jason Beck continues to try and fit square pegs into round holes. Whittingham continues to talk about Beck’s success in other places that are not Michigan.

3rd-and-goal disaster for Michigan from the one-yard line pic.twitter.com/Ag4pp08trS

— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) October 24, 2026

Meanwhile, Whittingham is calling timeouts to gift the opposition extra possessions like he did on Saturday. He called timeout with 23 seconds remaining in the first half, which allowed Indiana to have great field position following one of Trey Butkowski’s shanks.

Beck had a chance to make everything right when Michigan was on the doorstep of the goal line. Two runs with Jordan Marshall. Two quarterback sneaks with Carr or Bryce Underwood. Two runs with Savion Hiter. Anything would have been better than what Beck went with.

Whittingham called it a damaging call. The call, of course, was a play-action bootleg where the intended receiver was Michigan’s extra offensive lineman.

Michigan is now 4-3 on the season. They’re 1-3 in conference play, allowing Kyle Whittingham to join Brady Hoke and Rich Rodriguez as the only coaches in the last 60 years to start 1-3 in conference play when a full season was played.

Somehow, the offense was better when Sherrone Moore and Kirk Campbell were running the show with a former walk on, a gadget player, and a quarterback who medically retired midseason were under center.

Grade: F