Michigan’s Complete Offensive Dud Against Illinois Left College Football World Aghast

Michigan was always in line for a step back in 2024, given the loss of its national championship-winning coach (Jim Harbaugh) and quarterback (J.J. McCarthy), along with the expansion of the Big Ten and uncertainty surrounding the program.

It seems that even the most pessimistic Wolverines fans didn’t expect this.

No. 24 Michigan dropped its third game of the season to No. 22 Illinois on Saturday by a score of 21–7. The Wolverines played good defense and actually outgained the Fighting Illini, but were unable to generate the explosiveness necessary to outpace a powerful Bret Bielema-coached team.

College football fans had a lot to say about the entire endeavor, very little of it good for Michigan.

Ohio State fans, scarred by the last three years, have already begun worrying.

The Wolverines’ personnel took criticism from top to bottom.

Michigan fans wondered if they could turn back time.

The Wolverines are living the old football adage that the team with multiple quarterbacks has no quarterbacks.

Fans started reminiscing about some of Michigan’s pre-Harbaugh 21st-century struggles.

The game was proof positive that no sport can create cognitive whiplash year-over-year quite like college football.

Illinois’s throwback uniforms just added insult to injury.