Charles Woodson is one of the most famous Michigan Wolverines of all time, and is the school’s most recent Heisman Trophy winner. He’s still invested in his school, and when he says something about them, it’s probably worth paying attention to.
So it’s not a great sign when Woodson, an analyst on Fox’s studio crew for the game, said he was “embarrassed” by the state of the program after the team’s 35-14 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday.
Michigan legend Charles Woodsen on @CFBONFOX: "I'm sick about how Michigan looks right now….I'm embarrassed."
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 21, 2019
It’s easy to understand where Woodson is coming from. Michigan lost by 21, and frankly, that margin still flattered them. It was 28-0 Wisconsin at halftime, and the Badgers put up 487 yards of total offense, with 359 of those coming from the run game. To make matters worse, the blowout loss comes on the heels of a bye week, which means the Wolverines had two weeks of prep time after a narrow escape at home against Army and still got run over. It also adds to Jim Harbaugh’s mediocre record against top-tier opponents during his tenure at Michigan. Most of these issues were visible last season, but haven’t improved enough.
The Wolverines were considered College Football Playoff contenders before the start of the season, but they’ve already lost once before the end of September. It’s reasonable to say that they might have to win out to make that happen. That would mean winning at Penn State while holding serve at home against Notre Dame and Ohio State. With how they’ve looked this season, that looks like an increasingly tall order.
