ANN ARBOR – Defense is the only one thing Michigan can count on through seven games this season, and reality has set in that a championship-level defense is being wasted on what has been a mostly inept offense and mediocre special teams.

Michigan is 4-3, 1-3 Big Ten and is preparing to play Saturday, Oct. 31, at Rutgers (2-5, 1-3), which usually would be considered one of those “get-right” games, but who knows at this point.

What is known is that defensive coordinator Jay Hill’s defense is ranked No. 3 nationally, giving up an average 250.1 yards, and is second in fewest yards per play (4.0). The defense is the reason why the Wolverines stood a chance against defending national champion Indiana last Saturday in a 13-6 overtime loss. The Hoosiers were held to season lows on offense, including 81 passing yards from Josh Hoover, who didn’t complete a pass in the second half until the second play in overtime for the eventual winning score.

“Offense is definitely not performing as well as the defense right now. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out,” Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham said after the Indiana loss. “However, it doesn’t matter in that locker room, in our building. We’re one football team. We’re not divided. If the offense scores six, then we got to allow five or less. I mean, that’s how we approach it.”

Michigan’s defense is shouldering the burden of an offense that ranks 130th (300.6 yards per game), can’t dominate with a run game that ranks 101st (134.7), and isn’t scoring. The Wolverines rank 118th averaging 20.3 points per game, but removing 52-17 blowout of UTEP in Game 3, Michigan has averaged 15 points a game through six games. The Wolverines are last in scoring in Big Ten-only games, averaging 15 points, just behind Michigan State’s 16.8.

Meanwhile, the defense is left picking up the pieces and trying to keep the Wolverines in games.

“Overall, the whole defense, we did everything we could,” defensive back Zeke Berry, who had an interception and 37-yard return to set up Michigan’s first field goal said after the IU game. “I’m proud of the guys that we got on the field. I’m happy that we did everything we could.”

The Wolverines also rank 95th in time of possession (29:30), which suggests a toll on the defensive players. But they certainly aren’t going to say that they’re taxed. Against Indiana, Michigan’s defense faced two short field after turnovers and were able to hold the Hoosiers to field goals. The Michigan offense sustained two long drives of 14 and 15 plays, one that resulted in a missed field goal and the other a made, so those allowed the defense to take a breather.

It’s tough on defensive players to see the offense unable to pull its weight.

“I mean, it sucks, honestly, but at the end of the day, we got to do our job, right?” defensive back Smith Snowden said. “We got to rely on our offense every single day of the week. I don’t care what happens. I’m going to ride with my guys regardless.”

After Michigan’s loss at Minnesota, its second straight to open Big Ten play, the talk among the offensive players and Whittingham was about a “disconnect” from how they practice to how that translates on the field during games. After the IU game, that was still the theme regarding the offense.

“Yeah, it’s not a talent problem,” Snowden said. “I think when it comes down to it, we’ve just got to execute. The talent’s there. I look across the field, and I know that the people on the field are there for a reason, because they make plays in practice, and you practice how you play. So we just have to figure out what’s going on right now to flip the script and turn this around.”

What’s a shame for the defense is that the abysmal offense is the focus of this season. Hill has built a formidable group that he said before the season he wanted to look like Michigan’s 2023 defense that helped lead the program to a national championship.

Whittingham after the Penn State game reveled in the fact Michigan had four missed tackles and referred to the defense as “elite.” He again described the defense as elite after the IU game for holding receivers Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh to under 60 yards and kept the Hoosiers from any big chunk plays.

Michigan has played seven games and it needs to be a finished product before comparing defensive stats to previous defenses, but at this moment, the Wolverines are allowing 250.1 yards per game and in 2023, they allowed an average 247.0. Michigan’s pass defense, which had four pass breakups and an interception against IU, ranks No. 7 nationally (154.6), and in 2023, Michigan allowed 157.0 yards passing. Michigan was stingy giving up points in 2023, allowing 10.4 and the Wolverines currently rank No. 15, giving up 15.7 points.

“It’s sound, first of all,” Whittingham said during the week leading up to the Indiana game when asked why Hill’s defense has translated well here. “Fundamentally, technique-wise, X and O-wise, it’s all very sound stuff. He’s not making stuff up. It’s stood the test of time. The players have really bought into it and executing it.

“It goes back a lot of years. The basis of this defense that we play goes back 30, 40 years. We’ve tweaked it through the years and modified it as the game changes, but it’s a very sound scheme, and they’re excellent teachers of technique and fundamentals, which really are the basis of it. You’ve got to block. You’ve got to tackle. If you can’t do that, no schemes matter.”

And if an offense isn’t performing, it overshadows an elite defense.

Michigan at Rutgers

Kickoff: 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 31, SHI Stadium, Piscataway, N.J.

TV/radio: BTN/94.7 FM

Records: Michigan is 4-3, 1-3 Big Ten; Rutgers s 2-5, 1-3.

Line: Michigan by 14.5.

Series: Michigan leads 9-1 (Last meeting: Michigan defeated Rutgers, 31-7 on Sept. 23, 2023. The Wolverines have won nine straight since losing the first meeting, 26-24, at Rutgers in 2014).

achengelis@detroitnews.com

@angelique

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan’s defense shouldering burden of inept offense

Reporting by Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News / The Detroit News

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect