FOX Broadcaster Joel Klatt talks about Michigan Football’s Struggles

Some might’ve expected Michigan football to take a step back this season, but it seems to be more of a leap. Michigan is 0-2 on the road after losing to Washington and Illinois in back-to-back weeks. With rival MSU coming to town this weekend, Michigan will hope to have pulled itself together. 

Joel Klatt said it’s Panic Time

Joel Klatt gave his opinion on Michigan’s struggles in the first half of his Youtube show. 

“Let’s start with the Michigan Wolverines, because right now it ain’t going well,” Klatt said. “Another bad loss on the road, this time against a pretty good Illinois team. This Illinois team is tough. They’re scrappy. Bret Bielema has done a really nice job with Illinois.”

Klatt said Michigan’s issues might spill into next season and beyond. 

“Here’s the first thing that we’ve got to kind of address with the Michigan Wolverines,” Klatt said. “They fall to 4-3 on the season. They’ve got back-to-back losses now. They lost on the road at Washington and on the road at Illinois. Bottom line, boilerplate — Joel, how do we feel about Michigan? I think it’s time for some alarm bells here. I think that this is panic time. This is panic time. Michigan is in a dire spot right now, not only this season, but maybe even looking forward. So let’s dive into it.

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What’s the Deal?

“What’s going on right now? What’s the current state of Michigan? And I think this is the most obvious, and the obvious is, is that they’re getting no contribution from the quarterback position. They’re getting no contribution from the passing game. They’re (ranked) 129 right now in passing offense. 129, that’s just not going to cut it. And not even close, by the way. Their turnovers are up. They don’t convert on third down. It’s far too predictable. Their offense, it’s run, run, and then throw it to Colston Loveland. That’s all they’ve got. And Colston Loveland is double covered in the majority of those scenarios, and so they’re just throwing him contested catches, and if he doesn’t come down with it, they’re punting it away. There’s just no ability for them to have sustained offense right now unless they pop a big run. And I don’t think that they’re a bad running team. I do think that they’re physical at the point of attack. They’re doing some quality things in the run game, but they’re not throwing the football well enough to win.”

Klatt said Michigan overestimated itself in the offseason, and at one position especially. 

“Then you compound that with the fact that they have turned the ball over this year far more than they did a year ago,” Klatt said. “And it’s panic time, because this offense is not anywhere close right now, not anywhere close. And again, namely because they just overvalued what they had on their own roster, at the quarterback position, unfortunately.”

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