Offense notes: Michigan laments lack of details in loss to Texas

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan Wolverines offense shoulders most of the blame for the 31-12 loss to the Texas Longhorns, unable to sustain drives and hold up in a firefight with the nation’s third-ranked team.

284 yards of total offense will not cut it, and the ball hardly moved through the air until prevent defense and play-it-out substitutions down the stretch for the Longhorns. Starting quarterback Davis Warren lamented the self-inflicted wounds from Saturday’s game, which included three turnovers.

“We just weren’t detailed enough, precise enough,” Warren said. “That’s one of our pillars on offense. That’s not something we did, that’s not something I did enough to make this team be successful on third downs. If you can’t convert on third downs, you can’t move down the field and can’t sustain drives and score points. You can’t give our defense time to come off the field and rest. It falls on me as a quarterback to keep us moving on those third downs. I need to do better on that.”

“We need to be better. I need to be better at that [progressions]. Taking what the defense gives me, and when the opportunity presents itself down the field, making the throw. They gave us some good opportunities. We had a good bead on what they were going to do defensively, and we didn’t capitalize on it. It falls on me to find the open man, assess what they’re doing defensively, get the protection right and hit the guy who is running the route that’s going to beat that coverage. We need to do better. I need to do better.”

This schedule is unforgiving and there is a lot to clean up once again heading into the Arkansas State game, which has the potential to be a get-right spot. Head coach Sherrone Moore is confident things will improve.

“The turnovers are easy to fix,” Moore said. “The first pick was a tipped pass. The second one was a communication in the route concept that those things and then the fumble was … he just didn’t tuck it away fast enough. Those are three things. If you don’t have those, then you’re in a different ball game. But they happened, and they did a good job capitalizing off them.”

Davis Warren takes the blame

Warren is the best quarterback Michigan has, as evidenced by the results of the coveted position battle. However, his best was not good enough on Saturday. He went 22-for-33 with 204 yards with 1 touchdown and a pair of interceptions.

After the defeat, he shouldered the blame for the offense’s performance.

“All execution by us,” Warren said. “I didn’t do enough. I shot us in the foot too many times. We didn’t do enough offensively. It was on us. They’re a good football team. They played well today. But we shot ourselves in the foot and let them win that football game. We do somethings differently, and I do some things differently, and it’s a fourth-quarter game. It’s whoever makes the most plays in the fourth quarter. Those are the types of games we want to be in.

“We knew it was going to be a tight game. We let them off too easy. It’s a really crappy feeling. I know that this team, this offense, has what it takes to win that football game, and we didn’t do it. Just a lot of reflection, a lot of things we need to work on, that I need to work on. I’m confident  that we’re going to face those things. We’re going to face adversity right in the face.

“We haven’t lost a regular season game here in a while. Everyone is taking it super seriously.”

Loveland addresses critical error

Tight end Colston Loveland was responsible for one of the turnovers, a fumble as he was turning up the field after a reception. It’s the type of mistake is into not known for, and he also had to own it during the postgame presser.

“That’s on me,” Loveland said. “I’ve got to get my head around, cross face. Totally on me. Just can’t happen. Got to come back tomorrow, watch tape, see what we did wrong. We shot ourselves in the foot a lot. Just didn’t execute. Just got to dissect the film, see what we did wrong, and keep the train rolling.”

“We’ve got a lot of tough-minded individuals, guys who don’t like to lose at all. We despise it. You always learn from these losses. We’re going to watch a lot of tape and see what we’ve got to figure out. We’re going to respond in a good manner. We’re going to come into the building tomorrow fired up, ready to be perfect.”

Miscellaneous Michigan offensive notes

• Freshman running back Jordan Marshall made his Michigan debut as a kick returner on Saturday.
• Sophomore wide receiver Kendrick Bell and graduate CJ Charleston made their first career Michigan starts in the game. Charleston’s first U-M catch was a 22-yard flea flicker.
• Nine different Michigan receivers caught passes on Saturday.
• Loveland tied a career-high in catches with 8, matching his total from last week.
• Sophomore wideout Semaj Morgan had 5 catches for 45 yards – both career highs – and the third receiving score of his career, a 31-yard reception from Warren.