Takeaways from Michigan’s loss to Oregon

The Michigan Wolverines fell to 5-4 on the season after losing 38-17 to the No. 1 Oregon Ducks on Saturday afternoon.

Here are takeaways from the game.

Kirk Campbell should not call plays moving forward

Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell had mismanaged the game and got cute far too often. Campbell inserted Alex Orji repeatedly, even when Davis Warren did nice things throughout the game. Nothing was worse from Campbell than a sequence in the red zone with Michigan trailing 31-17 where Campbell dialed up a Kalel Mullings run on 3rd and 7 followed by a trick play with Orji at QB with the ball being handed to Semaj Morgan who went on to throw a horrendous pass out of bounce to Orji. Coaching can win and lose games, and Campbell failed mightily — he did not put his players in the best position to win. Head coach Sherrone Moore proved to be a solid offensive coordinator and play caller under Jim Harbaugh, and Moore should start calling the plays once more. Campbell did a lot of things that simply made no sense and were counterintuitive.

Campbell consistently took the ball out of Davis Warren’s hands against Oregon, opting to run into brick walls instead with the clock ticking down in the fourth quarter. Warren faced plenty of third and longs because of run plays that put Michigan behind the sticks, yet Warren was still a respectful 13-of-23 for 165 yards with two touchdowns. In crunch time Campbell didn’t trust his quarterback, he put the ball into the hands of Semaj Morgan on a pass, a play call that was inexcusable in retrospect and is just one of many poor decisions Campbell’s made this season.

Wink Martindale is a step behind

Michigan’s defense was expected to be one of the best in college football this season, and they’ve been average at best. Yes, they were down two starting cornerbacks today in Will Johnson and Jyaire Hill, but every level of the defense struggled in the first half, leading to 28 Oregon points. Oregon had 304 yards on offense in the first half, quarterback Dillon Gabriel consistently found soft spots in Michigan’s zone coverage, and when Martindale dialed up blitzes Oregon exploited the aggressiveness via screens, even on 2nd and 15. Michigan’s defense lacks fundamentals and a cohesive scheme. Martindale does not come out of the gate with good game plans. Michigan gave up 24 first-half points to Texas before allowing just seven in the second half. Against Oregon, there were 28 first-half points compared to 10 in the second half. However, in both games, the damage was already done by the time the second half rolled around and the opposing offenses knew to just play turnover-free football with substantial leads.

Martdinale’s scheme looks a lot different than that of former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who has the No. 1 scoring defense with the Los Angeles Chargers. Martindale’s tenure with the Ravens ended poorly, his performance as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants was even worse, and now he’s the DC of Michigan and his performance has been just as uninspiring. Opposing offenses seem to have the data points on how to attack Martindale’s tendencies and the deficiencies within Michigan’s defense.

Outlook moving forward

Michigan’s now 5-4 on the year and the players and coaching staff haven’t collectively improved as the season has unfolded. Michigan’s remaining schedule included No. 13 Indiana (9-0), Northwestern (4-5), and No. 4 Ohio State (7-1). Michigan will be big underdogs against Indiana and Ohio State and there’s a strong chance that the tilt against Northwestern will decide if this team is even bowl-eligible.

Tough questions are going to need to be answered, starting right now. Big strides are being made via NIL (name, image, likeness) to land top-tier recruits and these recruits will want to be coached by the best staff possible. Sherrone Moore will have some tough decisions to make this offseason, including changes on the coaching staff. No coaching staff remains the same year-to-year whether a team has a successful season or not, but this is a point of emphasis all the more when a team like Michigan is hovering around .500. Turning this thing around in 2025 starts right now. Time to come up with a winning formula from top to bottom.