Michigan Wolverines offense looks like the worst in the Big Ten after horrendous Week 1 performance

The Michigan Wolverines are still the defending national champions of college football, but they certainly did not look like it in their Week 1 game against Fresno State this week. Yes, the final score was 30-10, which looks like a blowout on the surface, but Michigan's offense was so abysmal they're going to struggle to beat any power conference team with a pulse.

To the surprise of many college football fans, Michigan decided to trot out former walk-on Davis Warren as the team's starting quarterback on Saturday. Warren has an incredible story. In the past few years he's overcome leukemia, stuck around with Michigan for three years when he could have left for a better starting opportunity, and then apparently finally won starting job amid a battle with four other talented passers. Unfortunately, he's just likely not the answer at QB for Michigan.

Throughout the entire game against Fresno State, Davis Warren managed just 118 total passing yards, threw an interception, and averaged less than five yards per pass attempt. At the end of all the college football games on Saturday, Michigan ranked dead last among Big Ten teams in yards per play and 122nd in yards per pass attempt among all FBS teams. That kind of horrendous performance is generally reserved for Iowa quarterbacks, not Michigan. And coming off a first round talent like J.J. McCarthy, Warren's lackluster showing was especially painful.

Warren did manage to connect with his safety blanket and future first round tight end Colston Loveland for over 80 yards, but that was lone bright spot for the offense. Outside of Loveland, the team's next leading receiving option was Tyler Morris with 15 yards.

However, the abysmal performance wasn't all on Davis Warren. The running game that was supposed to be Michigan's strength was thoroughly unspectacular. And if it weren't for a couple plays of Kalel Mullings going beast mode it would have been even worse. The team's "star" running back Donovan Edwards managed just 27 total yards on 13 touches and the Wolverines as a whole finished the day averaging less than 4.4 yards per carry (outside the Top 70 in FBS). Mullings at least forced a few missed tackles, but the rushing attack struggled against a team they should have dominated.

Why? What happened? It wasn't just the running backs. The five new starters at offensive line did not get the job done as a complete unit. Individually they held up in pass protection for the most part. The exception being Evan Link, who allowed at least three pressures and multiple quarterback hits. But as a unit there was clearly some lack of chemistry when it came to run blocking.

Over two thirds of the team's rushing yards had to come after contact as Mullings impressively averaged over four yards after contact per carry on the day. Edwards couldn't manage to do anything at all on the ground and forced exactly zero missed tackles according to multiple charting services. The Wolverines easily could have been stuffed for near zero collective rushing yards on the day.

If Michigan wants to have any hope whatsoever against their tougher opponents they're going to have to make some major changes. First, the completely new offensive line is going to have sync up together in run blocking. Second, some receiving option outside of Colston Loveland is going to have to emerge. And third, unfortunately the Michigan coaching staff needs to stop messing around and start Alex Orji (the much more physically gifted quarterback) instead of Davis Warren. If Michigan can't do all three, this is going to be their worst season since the pandemic year by far.

Related: Three potential Michigan Wolverines breakout players for the 2024 college football season

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And if you want to watch some Colston Loveland highlights to give you some hope about a bounce back for the Michigan offense, just check out the video below.