After the Oregon offense put up 500 plus yards and upset the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, Washington’s offense had other plans just a few hours north. With a national spotlight on them, and a chance to assert not only themselves but the Pac-12 as a whole, John Donovan’s offense fell flat on its face. They were held scoreless in the first half, and averaged a whopping 0.8 yards per carry. The cherry on top was that they didn’t even cross midfield until 7:10 remaining in the second quarter.

Despite that, Donovan decided to call runs up the middle every chance he got, even though there was nowhere to go. He consistently put his quarterback in second and third and long situations after trying to establish the run time in and time out, which did nothing to help Dylan Morris get in any kind of rhythm under center.

Donovan didn’t even think about opening up the playbook until the score was 24-3, and by that point, it was far too late. The defense had the ball run down their throat all day long, but it truly doesn’t matter. Even though the total time of possession numbers looked pretty close at the end, Michigan was able to sustain drives early and often, and wear down the Husky defense. On the other side, Washington had one drive that lasted more than seven plays in the first half. That tires a defense out, no matter how good they are.

A late touchdown and a few drives that were honestly nothing more than stat padders were almost more embarrassing than the rest of the game. Yes, Michigan was sitting back in prevent coverage most of the time, but simple misses from Dylan Morris, most notably what could’ve been a huge play to Giles Jackson over the middle, were what fans saw.

Cade McNamara threw for 44 total yards. If you read that anywhere else, you’d think that Washington’s defense had one of the best games of all time. Yet, you’re reading this after a multiple possession loss. That really should say everything about Saturday’s performance from Washington in The Big House.

But, instead, I’ll let you sit with this quote that Sean McDonough referenced on ESPN. The name of the person he’s quoting escaped me, but it shouldn’t matter who said it, as it related to Michigan’s 2-4 COVID shortened season in 2020. “That was embarrassing to me, and I said, ‘well, what can I do to change that?'” That should’ve been the mentality after Montana, and since it very clearly wasn’t, it better be now for Jimmy Lake and his staff. If not, this already long season is just getting started…