ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Michigan has been playing football since 1879, and until Saturday evening, the Wolverines have never had three losses before October.
Think about that for moment. In 135 years, Michigan had never entered October with three losses.
Mighty Michigan is in a prolonged freefall, with no end in sight -- unless the Wolverines find overall consistency and hold onto the football.
It was an all too familiar story for Michigan against Minnesota.
An ineffective offense coupled with the Wolverines' penchant for turnovers resulted in a humiliating, 30-14 loss to the Golden Gophers before an announced crowd of 102,926 at Michigan Stadium.
With the victory, Minnesota captured the Little Brown Jug for the just the third time in the last 25 meetings with the Wolverines.
"We're very disappointed in how we played football today," Michigan coach Brady Hoke said. "When you look at different aspects of our game, we didn't play as well as we can. I don't think we executed, as well, and that always comes back to me first as a coach."
Heading into the game, the story was Michigan's starting quarterback: Would it be fifth-year senior Devin Gardner or sophomore Shane Morris?
Morris got the starting nod over Gardner and never found any rhythm, looking unprepared and confused.
"From an offensive perspective, we struggled in various different areas at times," Hoke said. "It was either a negative play that puts you behind the sticks (yard makers) -- you've heard that before, and I've probably said it too many times.
"We're not consistent in what we're trying to get done, and that's something where we need to make sure that we're getting to that point where there is going to be consistency."
If Hoke sounded a bit beleaguered, he was. It's his fourth year as Michigan's coach, and the Wolverines are showing very little signs of improvement.
The Wolverines accumulated only 171 total yards Saturday and turned the ball over twice, which led to 14 Minnesota points. On the other side of the ball, Michigan's defense was just adequate, never forcing a turnover.
When the Gophers needed a big play offensively, they converted, which was something that the Morris seemed incapable of doing for the Wolverines.
Gardner eventually replaced Morris in the fourth quarter and led Michigan to a late touchdown. Gardner seemed to give the Wolverines a spark, but the game was pretty much a foregone conclusion by then.
"We have two guys that we have a lot of faith in at quarterback," Hoke said. "Shane had a good week of practice. He's had good practices throughout fall camp.
"Sometime we want to blame one guy because he's the quarterback. I don't think that's fair.
Hoke wouldn't commit to who the starting QB will be next Saturday at Rutgers, but he didn't think he left Morris in too long before going to Gardner -- even though it appeared Morris had his bell rung in the third quarter on a late hit. He stumbled around and was limping, but he remained in the game.
"Shane's a pretty competitive, tough kid," Hoke said. "Shane wanted to be the quarterback. Believe me, if he didn't want to be, he would have come to the sideline or stayed down."
Michigan didn't make many players available after Saturday's game, but the best insight of where this team is came from center Jack Miller.
"In football, what you try and do is not make the same mistakes," Miller said. "If you're going to make one, make a new one and get it corrected and keep moving forward. Eventually, hopefully, you're going to run out of them.
"We haven't gotten there yet."
Miller also said that it would be "senseless" if the players got caught up in all the negativity surrounding the program, particularly when it comes to Hoke's future as Michigan's coach.
"I'm just going to be the best center and best leader I can be for this team," Miller said. "We need to find a spark to get rolling, and this would have been a big game to have done that.
"But we defiantly need to find one."
With a 2-3 record and a trip to New Jersey next week to play the Scarlet Knights, Michigan's fan base is unhappy and on the verge of abandoning the team in droves.
Hoke was asked what he would tell the Michigan fans.
"I would tell them, we know their frustration because we share their frustration," Hoke said. "I would also tell them, as a team, we all take accountability and we're also going to work together to rectify it."
It's still early in the season for the Wolverines. They still has seven regular-season games to play.
Patience is wearing thin, however, and you could sense from Hoke that if it doesn't turnaround, his future at Michigan will be very much in doubt.
