What they're saying after Michigan's 38-17 loss to No. 1 Oregon

The Michigan Wolverines fell to 5-4 on the season with a 38-17 loss to No. 1 Oregon on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, failing to put up an upset bid against the nation’s top-ranked team.

There were plenty of local and national reactions to the loss for the Wolverines. Here is a sampling of what some had to say after the Week 10 loss.

Ryan Van Bergen, TheWolverine.com Postgame Show

Reaction: Coaching costs Michigan potential upset bid vs. No. 1 Oregon

“I feel like the coaching is what let these guys down today,” Van Bergen said on the show. “Were there some individual things that happened that performance-wise wise could have impacted the game? Sure. But the penalties [cost them], especially pre-snap penalties, the lack of situational awareness, those types of things, especially in November. We’re now in November football, and those are the type of things that you shouldn’t have exist on your team at this point. It does feel good to see some progression in some areas, but I feel like we’ve taken some step back in other places where we’ve moved forward here, we’re backwards here.

“When you play noncomplimentary football against a team like Oregon, they’re one of the best teams in the country. I have no doubt about it. They’ve earned their ranking. They’re definitely in the top five. I think that they’re at a tier along with Texas, who we also played. With the guys that we have on our roster, we probably can’t compete nine games out of 10 in those scenarios, but I thought that this team could have given themselves more opportunities to be there and be within a little bit closer reach at the end.

“But I do think that coaching in all facets, there were some defensive mistakes, offensive mistakes, special teams mistakes, coaching all around. We got out-coached and outplayed in certain positions. And this is the end result.”

Chris Balas, The Wolverine

Oregon 38, Michigan 17: Notes, quotes, and observations — no silver linings

We’re not going to lie — the first thought at halftime of Michigan’s 38-17 home loss to Oregon was, ‘can’t believe we’re back to starting our postgame columns halfway through a game.’ It was something we’d gotten used to from 2008-2014, when we pretty much knew what the angle was going to be and that it wasn’t likely to change.

Only months removed from a national championship, the shorthanded Wolverines were outclassed in a loss to Oregon (though to their credit, they didn’t quit). The game was 28-10 after two quarters and might have been a complete whitewash at the break had it not been for a fumbled Ducks punt that led to a short-field Michigan score (of course, U-M might have been in better shape, too, had officials not blown a call on Oregon’s first “touchdown” — we’ll never know).

Regardless, Oregon was going to win this game 10 times out of 10 minus something crazy, and Michigan fans seemed to sense this beating coming. Many dropped their tickets faster than Penn State fans lost their “this is our year” signs following their latest loss to Ohio State. They couldn’t even give them away Saturday morning for a game against the nation’s No. 1 team.

Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News

Wojo: Wolverines no match for Ducks, no easy answers coming

The champs have officially, fully fallen. It was an expected plummet, but that doesn’t make it palatable to fall this far, this fast.

The Wolverines didn’t have much of a shot against No. 1 Oregon on Saturday, although to their credit, they gave themselves a shot in the fourth quarter. But by the end, the same deficiencies were apparent, unlikely to be fixed the rest of the season.

Michigan is 5-4 after its 38-17 loss to the Ducks in Michigan Stadium, and less than 12 months after going 15-0 and winning the national championship, the Wolverines are just scrounging for a bowl bid. Humblings they delivered for three full seasons are now coming their way, and the question is, how do they respond, now and in the future?

In the first year under Sherrone Moore, Michigan is short on playmakers and depth, outmanned and occasionally outcoached. One invariably leads to the other, and much of it was inevitable. You can’t overreact, and I don’t think anyone at Michigan will.

But you can’t chalk it all up to attrition, although the Wolverines lost 19 of 22 starters and most of their coaching staff, led by Jim Harbaugh. Moore has kept his players together so far, with three challenges remaining — at unbeaten Indiana, home to Northwestern, at Ohio State. Neutral observers and even the most ardent UM supporters saw some of this messiness coming, but not necessarily all of it.

Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire

Five takeaways from Michigan’s 38-17 loss to Oregon

A week after having no turnovers and no penalties, only one of those metrics held against Oregon. Michigan had five penalties for 35 yards, and nearly all of them came at the worst possible time. Creating longer fields for the offense, shorter fields on defense, or in the case of special teams, extending an Oregon drive which resulted in three points, Michigan shot itself in the foot often throughout Saturday’s game.

Against a team of the caliber of Oregon, you can’t beat yourself. Michigan needs to find a way to be more disciplined more consistently.

Austin Meek, The Athletic

Top-ranked Oregon remains unbeaten with road win at Michigan: What we learned

Expectations were high for a Michigan defense that returned playmakers like Will Johnson and Mason Graham from last season’s national championship run. With injuries and schematic issues adding up, Michigan’s defense wasn’t up to the challenge of upsetting the No. 1 team in the country.

Michigan played without both of its usual starters at cornerback, as Johnson and Jyaire Hill both missed the game with injuries. Oregon was able to take advantage by hitting some big plays through the air, including a 38-yard gain when Traeshon Holden ran by cornerback Aamir Hall. Gabriel also ran for a 23-yard touchdown as the Ducks piled up 304 yards in the first half. Michigan played better in the second half, aided by another third-quarter lull from Oregon, but the Ducks iced the game with a long touchdown drive that ended with Jordan James plunging into the end zone with 25 seconds on the clock.

Wink Martindale is one of the highest-paid defensive coordinators in college football and was hired to help the Wolverines win games like this one. Playing without Johnson for the past two games has been a challenge, but Michigan still has the pieces to perform better on defense. The offense, though still far from dynamic, gave Michigan a chance to hang around thanks to two touchdown passes from Davis Warren. But the Wolverines aren’t equipped to win a shootout and needed more help from the defense.

Rainer Sabin, Detroit Free Press

One play in Oregon loss revealed the hubris of Michigan football, leading to its downfall

There they were, 10 yards away from the Ducks’ end zone and within striking distance of making it a one-score game midway through the fourth quarter. It was fourth down, and 5 yards were needed to keep hope alive.

On a team with weak options at quarterback, and a running game malfunctioning for much of the afternoon, it was assumed Michigan would turn to the one guy, Davis Warren, who had demonstrated he could at least throw a decent forward pass. Before this do-or-die moment, Warren had delivered 12 completions, including two that resulted in (gasp!) goal-to-go touchdowns.

But no — deploying Warren, right then and there, would have made too much sense.

Instead, offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell inserted Alex Orji, a backup who had used his arm just once in live action since his benching during an Oct. 5 loss at Washington.

What ensued next went about just as bad as anyone would have expected.

Orji took the snap, and of course, didn’t drop back to pass. Instead, he faked one handoff and flipped the ball to receiver Semaj Morgan, who was running an end-around. Morgan, who had never attempted a throw in his college career, then turned, reared back and fired.

The ball floated toward the sideline … drifting, drifting and drifting some more until it was so far out of bounds that his intended target, Orji, crashed into a camera stanchion yards beyond the field’s white border.

A befuddled crowd groaned in agony, watching the turnover on downs unfold. They then saw Oregon slowly sink a stake into the heart of their beloved Wolverines while they marched the length of the field to produce one last touchdown in the final minute.