Michigan Wolverines 3-9, 2-6 Big Ten

Well, if that wasn't the worst season in Michigan history as some have argued, it certainly was the most depressing.

A lot of records were broken in all the wrong ways, and the Wolverines play was beyond dismal throughout most of the season with the exception of the Minnesota game and the fourth quarter of the Wisconsin game.

Outside of those five quarters of football, Michigan never looked like it could compete in the Mid-American Conference, let alone the Big Ten.

Still, I have to support my team and hand out some grades and awards.

Offense

From the very start of the season against Utah, this offense looked like it was going to have trouble moving the ball.

Having two redshirt freshmen to choose from didn't leave Rich Rodriguez a lot of options either. Nick Sheridan, a former walk on, and Steven Threet, a transfer from Georgia Tech, never found a rhythm in RichRod's offense.

That and neither could throw the ball more than five yards downfield.

Threet, an Adrian native, improved each week, but then he got the injury bug and suffered a concussion against Purdue and then again in the loss to Northwestern.

He was obviously the better choice to run the offense over Nick Sheridan and that was apparent in the second half of the Utah game.

Threet has a season ending passing efficiency rating of 105.26, compared to Sheridan's 81.09.

But Sheridan still saw playing time and will be forever remembered for managing the team well enough to hold onto the Little Brown Jug (golf clap).

Now I guess total blame for Michigan's offense ranking 111th in the country averaging just 290.75 yards per game isn't on Threet or Sheridan's shoulders.

Michigan had freshmen wide receivers like Martavious Odoms, Darryl Stonum and tight end Kevin Koger see a lot of playing time. The offensive line was a makeshift unit week to week with John Ferrara converting from defensive tackle. There was enough inexperience on the offensive side of the ball to fill an abstinence camp for virgins.

The one bright spot on offense was the running backs. Brandon Minor was a horse but for reasons unknown he didn't see a lot of carries early in the season. Some say it was injuries others say it was because he wasn't a RichRod guy.

Minor finished the season with 533 yards and 5.2 yards per carry along with nine touchdowns.

Those aren't great numbers but consider that Sam McGuffie got 118 carries compared to 103 for Minor. McGuffie showed some flash early in the season, particularly the Notre Dame game, and gained 486 yards and three touchdowns.

My big knock on McGuffie is that he goes down too often on first contact. Minor just runs people over.

Michael Shaw showed some ability, and I'd love to see more of him and Carlos Brown came back from the dead in the Northwestern game.

Michigan rushed for over 1,700 yards this season and averaged more yards per rush this season than they did last year.

Final Offensive Grade: C-

Offensive MVP: Brandon Minor

Defense

This was my biggest disappointment of the season.

Here comes a unit that was a top 25 defense a year ago, returned eight starters and had arguably the best defensive line in Big Ten if not the country.

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