Wolverine Offense Looking to Get On Same Page
9/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- All eyes were on University of Michigan sophomore quarterback Shane Morris, who was the choice to start over senior Devin Gardner in the Big Ten opener on Saturday (Sept. 27).
Morris' only previous start came in last season's Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl because Gardner was injured. But Morris won the starting job against Minnesota, and the left-hander ended up completing 7-of-19 passes for 49 yards with an interception tipped at the line of scrimmage that was returned for a touchdown.
He was hit hard several times and limped and hobbled on the field before finally being replaced by Gardner in a 30-14 loss before 102,926 at Michigan Stadium.
Brady Hoke was asked to assess Morris' performance in light of how he'd played in winning the job in practices.
"I think that number one, and I said this before and I'm going to say it again, is we have two guys that we have a lot of faith in at quarterback," Hoke said. "Shane had a good week at practice. He's had good practices throughout fall camp. He had a good practice last week.
"I think sometimes we want to point the finger at one guy, because he's the quarterback. I don't think that's fair. I think the interception, the tipped ball at the line of scrimmage that gets knocked up into the air. We have got to have better ball security, and he would be the first one to tell you that."
Morris also lost a fumble that set up a 30-yard Minnesota touchdown drive late in the third quarter.
Gardner completed half his six passes for 39 yards in the fourth quarter and led the Wolverines on a 74-yard scoring drive that he culminated with a three-yard touchdown run on a draw play.
When asked whether Morris would keep the starting job, Hoke said, "We'll evaluate it like we do, like we did last week. For me to sit up here when you haven't looked at all the film yet and, believe me, you can't see everything from down there. We'll evaluate it."
Wolverines center Jack Miller was asked if the team was expecting a spark with Morris getting the start.
"I think that's what we were all looking for," Miller said. "We were hoping that was going to happen, and that was probably the intention with that move. But it didn't pan out that way."
Morris connected on some nice out-cut passes but also overthrew receivers at times.
Still, he couldn't be blamed for the Wolverines being held to 83 yards rushing on 28 attempts and only 171 yards in total offense. Both Morris and Gardner often had to scramble to avoid the Minnesota pass rush, and passing becomes difficult without an established running attack to keep defenses honest.
Hoke was asked to evaluate the play of his offensive line, which factors heavily into the success of both the passing and running game.
"I don't know if I can give an honest, clear assessment," Hoke said. "I think, obviously, there were some struggles today, and I think the thing to look at is the communication a little bit, making sure that we were targeting things right. I think that's part of it."
Miller was asked for his assessment of the communication on the offensive line, much of which flows from him.
"I'd have to see the film to know exactly what was going on," said Miller. "But I think the communication wasn't off. I thought we were okay with that today."
What did he see as a possible breakdown?
"I'm not sure," said Miller. "It's really tough to say without seeing the film."
Why wasn't the offense moving forward?
"I really wished I had an answer for you guys," Miller told a group of reporters. "We're not consistent enough. You can't play 10-man football. One guy messes up on one play, and it costs you. You've got to have 11 guys playing on the same page and doing their job every time or you are bound to have mistakes. So, that's my best guess at it."
Miller was asked if a player meeting could help.
"It's something we've got to think about," said Miller. "I don't think we want to go with that right now. What's going on now is unacceptable. We all know that from Coach Hoke on down. So, we have to do what we have to do to get it right."
And so the Little Brown Jug, for only the second time since 1986, was carried off the field by the Golden Gophers. Michigan last lost to Minnesota in Ann Arbor in 2005 and has relinquished the Jug only twice since losing it in 1977 at Minneapolis.
The Wolverines (2-3) had looked forward to the Big Ten opener, and Hoke was asked why the results on the field weren't better.
"I mean, we've got to play better," Hoke said. "We've got to execute better, we've got to coach better."
It was the first sub-bar performance by the defense, which hadn't allowed a 300-yard total offense total in four previous games. But Minnesota totaled 373 yards, and David Cobb rushed for 183 yards -- more than the last three opponents combined.
"I'm going to tell you, you've got to do a better job tackling, leveraging the football," Hoke said. "You look at field position, and I think that will be an interesting study to look at. We didn't have great field position; we put ourselves in poor field position on some punt returns. Then offensively, we were 4-for-13 on third downs. That's not sustaining drives."
Hoke wasn't pleased with the results on either side of the ball but believed that the ultimate goal of the Big Ten championship remained attainable.
"Well, I think this team can still win the championship," Hoke said. "I really do. But we've got to play much better, and we've got to support each other as we do it."
The Wolverines play 7 p.m. next Saturday (Oct. 4) at Rutgers, which, along with Maryland, joined the Big Ten this season.
