SEATTLE — When Plan C is also Plan A, it starts to look like there was never a plan at all.
Saturday night, as Michigan hurriedly packed its gear and escaped the celebration happening inside Husky Stadium, another quarterback emerged from the locker room and took responsibility for a costly mistake. This time it was Jack Tuttle, who invigorated Michigan’s offense after replacing Alex Orji but committed two fourth-quarter turnovers in a 27-17 loss to Washington.
Coach Sherrone Moore focused on the positives from Tuttle’s performance and gave every indication that he would take over as Michigan’s starting quarterback moving forward. But the new plan, much like the old plan, comes with a whole lot of uncertainty.
“In the fourth quarter, those two turnovers were huge,” Moore said. “They got 10 points off of them. We’ve got to do a better job taking care of the football in all aspects. Jack’s going to beat himself up about that, but we can’t let him do that. We’ve got to uplift him and, as a team, take care of him.”
WASHINGTON PICKS IT 🤩
What a great play by Kamren Fabiculanan for @UW_Football 🐺#B1GFootball on NBC 📺 pic.twitter.com/Ece3BrTJwh
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 6, 2024
Tuttle, a 25-year-old journeyman who was once a backup to Michael Penix Jr. at Indiana, appears to be the next man up for Michigan. Regardless of who’s playing quarterback, Michigan has had a lot of the same issues: turnovers, wasted possessions, an inability to stay a step ahead of the other team’s defensive adjustments. After Saturday’s loss, it’s not just the plan at quarterback that’s in question — it’s the entire plan for Michigan’s post-national championship era.
It wasn’t lost on anybody that, at least in name, these were the two teams that met in Houston in the championship game of the College Football Playoff nine months ago. Both programs have undergone massive changes since then, but as Washington coach Jedd Fisch pointed out last week, Michigan had far more pieces returning, including potential first-round picks in Will Johnson, Mason Graham and Colston Loveland.
The goal in promoting Moore to replace Jim Harbaugh was to ride the wave of Michigan’s national championship season as long as possible. It’s obvious now that the wave has crested. Michigan is 4-2 and faces a tough second-half schedule that will make getting to eight wins a challenge. The flip-flopping at quarterback is symptomatic of a program that appeared to be relying on hope and good vibes to sustain the success of recent seasons.
“We’ve all got to look at ourselves and make sure we go fix everything together,” Moore said.
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Michigan entered preseason camp with three quarterbacks vying for the starting job. Injuries knocked Tuttle out of the competition early, and Davis Warren, now Michigan’s No. 3 quarterback, got the nod. When Warren struggled with interceptions, the Wolverines turned to Alex Orji, who led Michigan to victories against USC and Minnesota but didn’t develop as a passer or a dynamic running threat.
After falling behind 14-0 to Washington, Michigan switched to Tuttle, who was cleared to practice two weeks ago. Tuttle, who was dealing with shoulder and elbow injuries that lingered from last season, didn’t go into detail about his recovery or the setbacks he encountered, but he acknowledged it’s been a difficult road.
“It’s definitely been tough,” Tuttle said. “Really just to be able to throw a football again is a blessing from God. Regardless of winning and losing, I thank him always for being able to throw a football again.”
Based on how he performed Saturday, Tuttle would have won the competition in camp if he’d been healthy. It speaks volumes that his play — 10-for-18 passing, 98 yards, a touchdown and an interception — was a noticeable improvement from what Michigan’s gotten at quarterback so far this season.
Tuttle might be an upgrade, but he’s not a savior. That became clear in the fourth quarter as Michigan’s offense stalled again, then doomed itself with turnovers. Even in the best-of-all-worlds scenario, with Tuttle 100 percent healthy from the start of preseason camp, it’s not clear that Michigan’s situation would be substantially different.
Nobody expected the Wolverines to repeat as national champions, but getting back to the Playoff was a reasonable goal. Look at what happened to Alabama, Tennessee, Missouri and USC on Saturday. Michigan didn’t need to be perfect — the Wolverines just needed to surround their returning stars with enough talent to stay in the race.
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Instead, Michigan tried to address its issues with hope. Hope that one of the quarterbacks would turn into an above-average Big Ten starter. Hope that a largely unproven cast of wide receivers would get the job done. Hope that freshman right tackle Evan Link and other new starters on the offensive line would learn on the job.
As a result, Michigan ended up in the dreaded middle, not quite contending but not quite rebuilding, either. The Wolverines are in danger of wasting their final year with Johnson, Graham, Loveland, Donovan Edwards and other stars of the national championship team. The scary part is that most of Michigan’s major contributors are seniors or draft-eligible juniors, meaning next year’s roster could be even younger.
Whatever the plan was for this season, it went out the window a long time ago. Increasingly, it appears the Wolverines are making it up as they go, cycling through quarterbacks and hoping one of them will click. Now it’s up to Tuttle, who might have been the starter from the outset if not for the injuries that held him back.
Michigan needs this one to work. Because there is no Plan D.
(Top photo of Jack Tuttle: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
