Michigan officially cut ties with offensive coordinator Jason Beck a day after their dismal 15-6 loss to rival Michigan State, a game where the Wolverines mustered a pathetic 192 total offensive yards.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
This wasn’t some sudden, knee-jerk reaction, folks. The pressure had been building on head coach Kyle Whittingham all season because the offense just kept, well, floundering. We’re talking abysmal numbers here: Michigan ranks 125th in passing offense, 126th in scoring offense, and a mind-numbing 132nd in total offense out of 138 FBS teams. Think about that for a second. That’s nearly dead last in the entire country! The Michigan State game was just the final, ugly nail in the coffin, but let’s not forget that equally frustrating 13-6 loss to Indiana where they scratched out a measly 57 rushing yards on 42 carries. Seriously, 42 carries for 57 yards? You can’t make this stuff up.
A Monumental, Pricey Failure
What makes this sting even more? Beck wasn’t just any offensive coordinator. He was the nation’s highest-paid OC. He followed Whittingham to Ann Arbor after a successful run together at Utah last season. The expectation was that success would simply translate, right? Wrong. It never happened in Ann Arbor for this 5-4 Michigan team, which, let’s be honest, has been one of the most disappointing squads in the country. They even tried a quarterback change earlier, benching highly paid former five-star Bryce Underwood for freshman Tommy Carr, but the offense never truly clicked. Now, Michigan is stuck with a nearly $9 million buyout bill for Beck’s three-year deal. He was pulling in $2.8 million this season, with that set to climb past $3 million for the next two. Talk about a costly experiment gone wrong.
Whittingham himself isn’t sugarcoating it either. After the Michigan State game, he admitted, “Really, I can’t come up with one positive offensively in this game.” He knows the buck stops with him, adding, “So we’re right back to the drawing board. And obviously gotta figure out our issues. Falls on me without, I’m not hiding from that at all. Anything that happens has got my name on it.” It’s clear Michigan is starting over, heading back to the drawing board, and hoping to find any kind of offensive spark to salvage what’s left of this season.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
Leave a Reply