Michigan saved by the referees as Minnesota nearly exploits Wolverines' key weakness on offense

After yet another game of the worst quarterback play in the history of the Michigan Football program Minnesota was knocking at the door of an absolutely wild comeback on Saturday.

Michigan took a 21-0 lead on the back of Kalel Mullings once again, but Minnesota clawed their way back into the game late, bringing the score to 27-24 with under two minutes to go. Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck quickly made his decision, and the kickoff unit lined up for an onside kick.

Minnesota's kickoff specialist executed the play to perfection, kicking the ball in just a way that it skipped, leaping across, over, and through the Michigan line of "hands crew" returners. Minnesota players frantically sprinted and took a dive for the ball right by the sideline.

Minnesota recovered the ball! But wait, there's a flag.

The referees had called an offsides penalty on the Minnesota kicking team. The recovery would not count. Luckily for Michigan, the second attempt wasn't nearly as good a kick and the Wolverines were able to jump on top of the ball, sealing the 27-24 victory. But as the commentators and rules specialist Mike Pereira addressed on the broadcast, it sure looked like nobody was offsides for Minnesota on their first successful onside kick (as you can see in Matt Schick's post below).

The College Football rules guru Mike Pereira tried to back track and act like it was just complicated, with a lot going on for the referees, but the truth was evident. Minnesota was definitely not offsides and should have gotten one more shot at offense. Thankfully, the referees made a critical mistake and Michigan won the day.

Michigan continues to get bailed out by excellent defensive plays from Will Johnson (multiple pick sixes already), their star defensive line (five more sacks on Saturday), and now by the referees. Their offense is still a capital "P" problem. Alex Orji threw for just 86 yards, barely completed half of his passes, and tossed an interception at a crucial moment late.

Michigan's defense is good enough to carry them against bad teams like Minnesota, but how many more wins can the Wolverines actually pull off with completely nonexistent offense that averaged less than four yards per play on Saturday? Something has to change. Sherrone Moore needs to take a good long look at his quarterback situation. Now.

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