Michigan Football: Time To Seriously Address The Elephant In The Room

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Michigan football’s loss to Ohio State on Saturday was part of a troubling pattern that can be found in Wolverines’ losses the last two seasons.

There’s no doubt now that Michigan football has a pretty significant problem on its hands, and that’s finishing out close ballgames when it has a lead.

Take a look back at the Michigan State game in 2015. Four of the Wolverines’ final five drives in that game ended in punts. (Well, the final drive ended in misery, but the Wolverines were punting.) Michigan had a two-possession lead (23-14) with 9:25 to play.

Michigan’s final three possessions were three-and-outs, and the Spartans of course won on a wild finish.

You could even look at the win on the road against Michigan State this season and be a bit disturbed. Kenny Allen kicked a 45-yard field goal to give the Wolverines a 30-10 lead with 14:42 to play. Then Michigan State was suddenly back in it. It was a short-lived comeback that eventually died, but Michigan’s offense again sputtered down the final stretch.

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Skip ahead two weeks to Iowa and you find a similar story to 2015 Michigan State: The Wolverines have the lead and the ball with under two minutes to play. How’d the Wolverines’ offense perform in the second half? Try punt, punt, field goal, interception, punt.

Michigan got the ball with a three-point lead and 1:49 to play. That drive lasted 31 seconds and gained two yards.

That takes us to Ohio State. A little over halfway through the third quarter, Michigan scored to give itself a 17-7 lead. After that, the drives went as follows (in regulation): interception, punt, punt, punt. The longest drive after the Wolverines’ third-quarter touchdown was 2:17. Michigan’s final two possessions were three-and-outs.

Once again, the Wolverines failed to put the game away.

Everyone agrees on the problem: Michigan stops moving the ball late in these types of games. The disagreement lies in who’s to blame. Is it Jim Harbaugh and the coaching staff for playing too conservatively in these situations—doing what’s called playing to not lose? Or is it on the players, most notably the offensive line and running backs, for not getting critical first downs?

As is almost always the case, there’s no single right answer. Would the Wolverines have benefited from some more aggressive play-calling against the Buckeyes in the fourth quarter? That’s tough to say, considering the Wolverines attempted nothing of the sort throughout the game.

At the same time, though, coaches need to be able to challenge their reliable players—veteran running backs, offensive linemen—to impose their will when it’s most critical and move the chains.

Michigan lost to Ohio State on Saturday for a number of reasons.

If you consider Wilton Speight’s fumble on the Buckeyes’ 1-yard line to have cost the Wolverines a touchdown, then turnovers created a 21-point swing for Ohio State.

And, yes, there was some questionable (and sometimes just plain ugly) officiating that hurt Michigan late.

But the Wolverines lost largely because of a problem they’ve been dealing with for two years now. When they have the lead late in the game, they struggle to put it away, and that’s something that absolutely has to change.