ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football fans are somewhat in uproar over the state of the offense after five weeks. Which, after winning the national championship with J.J. McCarthy at the helm, it makes sense that the expectations have risen. But the path is there for the Wolverines to improve offensively, it just seems like something is missing on a play-by-play basis.
Michigan switched streams midseason, after having started Davis Warren at quarterback, moving in Week 4 to dual-threat Alex Orji. As a result, the offense has changed its dynamic. It might look worse in some regards, but in many ways, the upcoming Washington game is more like Week 3 of the season than Week 6.
Head coach Sherrone Moore noted on Monday that Orji is doing some good things, but it’s the whole battery of the passing game operation that needs to improve — the quarterback, the pass protection, and the wide receivers.
“It’s a work in progress. Got to get better,” Moore said. “Got to continue to strive to get better. Starts with me, how I organize practice and things we can do to help them. And we’ll continue to do that to get better.
“But Orji did some really good things and improved. Went through some progressions, which was good to see. Got to continue improving in that aspect. And then, we got to get open for him too, and we got to protect. So it’s a whole part thing, it’s a team thing.”
Whether it’s in the pass game or the run game, while it might not look good on a down-by-down basis, the offense in some respects is back to square one. It’s running a different set of plays than it had under Warren now that Orji is the QB. And like in the first couple of weeks, when it started to get better, we’re seeing one missed assignment on offense upending a more creative playcalling package.
“For us as a group, as a unit, whether it’s offense, whether it’s defense, we gotta play 11 as one,” Moore said. “We can’t have the one guy be wrong and — on defense, you can do that, because one guy can make a play. On offense, you can’t. So we got to continue to, not simplify, but make everything come collective so that those guys can get a hone on what we’re doing and be really good at it. And we’re definitely taking steps forward to do that.”
Moore is confident that everything will click as the weeks go on. Former coach Jim Harbaugh used to often note you can’t teach experience and now Orji is getting his first real taste of being the starting quarterback for a college football team. As are the new offensive linemen and wide receivers.
As Orji continues to understand the speed of the game, Moore is sure that he’ll become much more productive.
“The best thing for guys is experience, especially at the quarterback spot,” Moore said. “So those guys get experience, they get better. They take steps forward. So look forward for him to take a step forward this week.”
Orji has another chance to notch a win with a road trip to Washington this week. The game will take place at Husky Stadium and will kick off at 4:30 p.m. PDT.