The poor play of the Michigan football team finally caught up to them as they lost to Washington on Saturday night. The Wolverines beat the Huskies back in January to capture the 2023 national championship, but Washington got some revenge on Saturday as they took down Michigan 27-17. The Wolverines now have two losses with two top-10 teams left on the schedule, and their season is likely over.

After winning it all last season, this has been an incredibly disappointing first half to the 2024 Michigan football season. The Wolverines are now 4-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play on the season. If they want to make the College Football Playoff, they have to win out. There is no chance that happens as Michigan still has to play four ranked teams and two of those teams are ranked in the top-10. The Wolverines will be lucky to finish 8-4.

Michigan put themselves in a good position to win this game as they put Jack Tuttle in and that led to 17 unanswered points and the Wolverines led 17-14 going into the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for Michigan, Washington was able to dominate the final quarter and get the win, 27-17. The Huskies outscored the Wolverines 13-0 in the fourth quarter, and they were able to make last year's national title loss feel a little bit better. The Wolverines once again put themselves in position to win the game, but their own mistakes cost them big time. Here are three takeaways from the brutal loss:

The defense should not be this bad

The defense was supposed to be the strength of this Michigan football team. They are maddeningly mediocre. The Wolverines have three first-round draft picks on that side of the ball, and they allowed nearly 430 yards of total offense and over 300 passing yards. That is embarrassing for the talent that this team has. The defense played better in the second half and they were burdened by turnovers from the Michigan offense, but it's still unfortunate to see the defense performing at this level given the talent that they have. This is on coaching.

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Michigan made the right move changing QBs

The Michigan football team made their third quarterback change of the year against Washington as they gave the offense to Jack Tuttle after Alex Orji once again struggled in the passing game. Tuttle ended up having a couple costly turnovers, but even with those mistakes, he still gives the Wolverines a better chance to win than the other QBs do. Michigan was down 14-0 in this game, and they scored 17 unanswered for a good chunk of the game after Tuttle came in. The turnovers hurt in the end, but Tuttle still needs to be the guy going forward.

Michigan's season is essentially over

With the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, it was going to be a disappointment if the Michigan football team didn't make it after winning the national title last year. They are now 4-2 and 2-1 in conference play six games through the season, and they have four ranked teams left on the schedule. Michigan isn't making the CFP this year, and that's incredibly disappointing given the talent on this team. After winning it all last year, this has been a monumental collapse that was very avoidable.

Michigan has a much-needed bye week before returning to action against Illinois on October 19th – a game that they will likely not be favored in.