The Michigan football team is now 4-2 overall on the year and 2-1 in conference play after a bad loss on the road against Washington on Saturday. This was a rematch of last year’s national championship game, and the Huskies got a little bit of revenge as Michigan got the win back in January. It obviously wasn’t nearly as big of a game, but that will make Washington fans feel a little better.

This was a bad loss for Michigan. Both of these teams lost a lot from last year’s national title teams, but the Wolverines came into the season in a better position as they have more talent, and they really should have won this football game.

Washington got off to a fast start in this one as they went up 14-0, and Michigan had zero life. However, the Wolverines made their second quarterback change of the season as they brought in Jack Tuttle for Alex Orji, and Tuttle gave the team a big spark.

Tuttle led three straight scoring drives for the Michigan football team, and their 14-0 deficit was all of a sudden a 17-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The Wolverines had all of the momentum, but unfortunately, some costly Tuttle mistakes cost the team badly in the fourth quarter.

Jack Tuttle has to take care of the football

It was clear that Jack Tuttle is the best QB that Michigan has, but the turnovers in the fourth quarter were a bit of a concern. Tuttle made some big plays with his arm which is what the offense needed, but he showed great ability with his legs as well. If Tuttle can clean up the turnovers, this Michigan offense can start to click.

Michigan ended up losing by 10 points, and Washington scored 10 points off of Tuttle’s fourth quarter turnovers. He did a lot of things right, but those kinds of things can’t happen.

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This one is on the coaches

At the end of the day, the Michigan football loss is on the coaches. This staff is clearly getting out-coached in the second half of just about every game as their opponents have outscored them 60-33 combined in the second half of the last four games. That is not good.

The play-calling has been questionable on both sides of the ball from defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, and we are seeing other teams come out with better game plans.

That is the kind of stuff that is surprising to see from Michigan. This is a team that has been very well-coached in recent years, and Sherrone Moore has been part of those teams. Now, we’re seeing a Wolverines team that is being out coached, the players are often lacking discipline, and they are failing to execute in the biggest moments of the game. That falls on coaching, and Moore knows that. He always takes responsibility, and he will continue to do so if the same problems continue to happen.

Coming into this season, a lot of people said that this Michigan football season would be a success if the Wolverines make the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines have a ton of new players and a new coaching staff, so there was some leeway as the 12-team playoff isn’t super hard to make. However, Michigan has an uphill battle if they want to make that happen as they are now sitting at 4-2. One more loss probably ends their hopes.

The Wolverines have a much-needed bye week this week before heading to Illinois for a top-25 clash on October 19th.