With Tuttle offering a more even run-pass split, Michigan looking to build more consistent offense

Through the first five-and-a-half games of the No. 24 Michigan football team’s season, it was readily apparent what the Wolverines were trying to do. 

With a limited passing offense that struggled to connect on mid- and deep-range pass attempts, Michigan went all in on the run. Given the Wolverines’ constraints, they found relative success with that identity, barreling their way to wins over Southern California and Minnesota with 32 and 86 passing yards, respectively. 

And finding such success with the ground game while lacking it through the air means that the resulting split of running and passing in the offense has not been even. Michigan has passed a mere 36% of the time so far with 94 more carries than passing attempts. In terms of ground gained, the Wolverines have picked up 62% of their yardage running the ball while averaging almost the same amount of yardage per throw and rush. 

Now, with graduate quarterback Jack Tuttle taking the reins from junior quarterback Alex Orji, the split between rushing and passing in the Wolverines’ offense may become more even. Tuttle offers a different caliber of maturity in the pocket than any of the Wolverines’ other starting quarterbacks have, and with Tuttle able to more consistently stretch the field vertically, it appears more feasible for Michigan to rely on its passing game to extend drives. 

“It feels like it for sure,” graduate running back Kalel Mullings said Tuesday when asked if Tuttle evens out the offense. “… Definitely finding more consistency through throwing the ball will definitely pay off in the throwing game and the run game as well. It’s great to always be able to run the ball and have that, but at the same time it’s also nice to have a bit of both and be able to open things up and take the roof off of the defense.”

Even with Tuttle under center though, the Wolverines’ inability to consistently string together first downs proved to be a recurring issue. In his two-and-a-half quarters as the Wolverines’ quarterback against Washington, Tuttle’s first three drives went for 17 points, while his last five went for a mere three first downs and zero points. And in the eyes of Mullings, consistency remains Michigan’s biggest issue on offense.

“We still need to find ways to continue to be consistent,” Mullings said. “In my opinion that’s one of our biggest problems, just sustaining drives. We were able to do that for spurts, but when push came to shove there was still some stagnant time.”

That stagnant time was what killed the Wolverines against the Huskies. On the three drives immediately after Tuttle was substituted in, the Wolverines pushed for 206 yards. On the five ensuing drives, they totaled 39 and killed just eight minutes of game time while Washington clawed back.

Going forward with Tuttle operating what may be a different, more evenly split offense, the Wolverines will have more ability to gain chunk yardage in ways they’ve lacked so far. However, whether Tuttle and the offense can generate sustained drives is still up in the air, and Mullings believes it comes down to getting to third and manageable. 

“I feel like it’s winning first and second down,” Mullings said. “I feel like if we can get to third and short, knowing Coach (Sherrone) Moore, we’ll probably go for it on fourth if we don’t get it. So as long as we can just find ways to win first and second down and get to that third and short, then we’ll be able to sustain drives.”

The problem with passing more is that it opens Michigan up to third and longs if Tuttle throws incompletions. But needing quicker yardage and possibly turning to a more even offensive split, the Wolverines are hoping that split will result in a less hot-and-cold offense. 

Tuttle won’t completely rewrite the Wolverines’ offensive identity and Michigan will remain a run-focused offense that revels in grinding out drives. What the Wolverines are hoping for with Tuttle is that their offense can be quicker, but also sustained. And whether that potential is actualized will determine much of the Wolverines’ season outcome.

Being the third quarterback substituted into a struggling offense, Tuttle won’t be a fix-all, but he will offer another dimension to Michigan’s offense that it has yet to truly explore. 

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