Is Michigan in Jeopardy After a Decisive Home Loss to Texas?

Following Michigan’s sloppy start to the season against Fresno State, it only got worse for the Wolverines as they faced their first real opponent with Texas in week 2. This was a highly anticipated game at the Big House, with two AP Poll top-ten teams set to face off. However, Texas’ explosive offense proved to be too much for the Wolverines as they coasted to a decisive 31-12 victory in Ann Arbor. So are the Wolverines in danger of missing the College Football Playoffs after winning it all last year?

First of all, they are absolutely in danger of missing the playoffs, even with the expanded playoff format this year. Coming into this game, it was known that Texas was going to put up points, so therefore it was on Michigan’s offense to try and keep up. They simply could not. All of the concerns that I had for Michigan last week, were exaggerated in this matchup. Donovan Edwards never got the chance to get going as the Wolverines attempted to counter Texas’ passing attack with their own. With Edwards only getting 8 carries this put all the pressure on Davis Warren to ball out. Unfortunately, Warren’s overdependency on Coleston Loveland was realized as he forced the ball to him a lot. This resulted in Warren struggling for much of the game, including him throwing two interceptions.

As for Michigan’s defense, they were simply on the field for too long to be effective. They generated decent pressure but that didn’t result in any sacks. They did manage to hold the Texas run game to basically nothing, but eventually Texas was able to find success through the air. The 3rd down defense does raise some concerns, but ultimately they weren’t the reason Michigan lost this game.

Michigan is now 1-1 and they still have a lot of tough opponents on their schedule, including USC in two weeks. USC, much like Texas, is going to put up points offensively, so if Michigan’s offense continues to struggle they will likely finish well below their expectations this season. These changes could certainly include making a switch at quarterback to anyone else but Davis Warren. Michigan wants to get back to the CFP this season, and potentially the only way to get there is to make the switch at quarterback.