After the Indiana game I think the sub is united on Beck needing to be fired. Where you see disagreement is whether it should be now or at the end of the season. I wanted to lay out the case for and against firing Beck in-season:

THE CASE AGAINST:

* There is no obvious replacement: No one has playcalling experience on the offensive staff except Harding. And Harding ONLY called the run plays when he did so at Utah in 2015 and 2016.
* Beck could, conceivably, turn it around: Beck is not Wink. This is Beck’s 4th season as an OC. An OC will always eventually get figured out (as Beck has clearly been) and needs to adjust. Beck could adjust and end up being great.
* Some of his failures seem to be in response to the pressure and the noise: the 3rd and Goal play from the 1 was a terrible playcall. I am an avid MGoBlog fan but I thought the “Very Special Boy” syndrome they described is definitely a possibility but I thought it was equally as possible that Beck made the call trying to save his job on one play. It’s the same thing Al Borges did on the 2 point conversion in The Game in 2013.

THE CASE FOR:

* It sends a message: I don’t care what is said in a press conference. I agree with the MGoBlog host who said, “press conferences are designed to insult everyone’s intelligence” (more on this in a moment). What firing Beck does is send a message that this level of failure is unacceptable. We know Beck is Whit’s boy. It’s a mea culpa.
* The lack of accountability from Beck: I don’t care what is said in a press conference. But I have an eye for what ISN’T said. During the Penn State week presser Beck said, “we are a way better group and way more capable [than what we’re showing on the field]”. Bro, you completely replaced the old offense and installed a new one that’s been figured out. You need to acknowledge you’re not setting these kids up to succeed. Take some accountability.
* He’s already lost the locker room: I’m hard to shock at my age, but the Zack Marshall texts being real shocked me. This is a talented group that deserves better.
* Maybe Alford or Harding are good at calling plays?: Listen, whoever replaces Beck is not going to install a new offense. It’s going to be the most vanilla-ass basic offense. Maybe Alford or Harding replace Beck and are great offensive coordinators.
* How much worse can it get?: Is our offense really going to get worse?

Anyway, what do others think?

Is that Sherrone Moore guy available? Offense seemed to be humming along pretty good when he was OC. Whatever happened to him?

Hey my Fiancé got me ticket for my birthday we are driving from New York. I have a small grill and we’re going to do burgers dress up and a play music. Looking for someone to join. Or anyone can join us too.. we will be dressed in Michigan gear as well as being Cookies and Milk. Young Thirties couple.

So I get Whit isn’t gonna fire Beck halfway through the season. But is he so thick to not understand Beck is literally costing us games?

What if he promotes Alford to co-offensive coordinator?

Just to play it out and see if there’s a difference? We’re literally doing the definition of crazy. And if we do this for the rest of the season then I’ll lose every ounce of respect for Whit.

DO. SOMETHING. DIFFERENT.

Indiana regressed, Ohio State and Oregon both lost their QB’s to injuries, and UCLA is still a bit of an unknown.

Blaming the players is a bad look. Especially when the OC can't coach worth shit.

Simply asking “what do you think the benefits of Rhino are” is not strong enough.

“Through 7 games your outside run and passing schemes have not worked at all yet you guys have continued to do the same thing after change was promised. What is causing you guys to stay on this broken path? Is it time to use last years scheme as that was much more successful?”

Should be the questions at the very least.

In the last 6 quarters (2 against Penn State & Indiana)

Michigan running
Between tackles 7.4 YPC
Outside the tackles 1.4 YPC

For the season
Between tackles 5.7
Outside tackles 3.3

For the 3.3 YPC outside tackles, that ranks us 136/138 in the country for the season

They’ve run the ball outside the tackles on 67% of their carries this season which is 5th most in college football, even though we’re clearly more successful between the tackles

We ran rhino over 50% of the time Saturday and the rhino (TE) released 2 times for a pass, once on the goal line. Therefore, we had 2/3 receivers against 4 DBs and 3 Linebackers when the RBs didn’t release or stayed in for pass protection

Absolutely horrible scheme

Info Graphic

I've been digging pretty heavily into Michigan's offensive play-calling this season, trying to put some actual numbers behind what we've all been watching.

One thing that's frustrated me with Jason Beck's offense is how often we seem to run east-west instead of attacking downhill. So I wanted to see if the numbers actually backed that up.

I analyzed play-by-play data from 122 FBS teams through October 24, looking at how frequently teams run left or right compared to up the middle, and how productive those runs are.

Here's what I found:

How often Michigan runs east-west: - Michigan: 47.1% of directional runs - FBS average: 40.8% - Michigan ranks 26th out of 122 teams in frequency.

How effective those runs are: - Michigan: 4.09 yards per carry - FBS average: 5.89 yards per carry - Michigan ranks 117th out of 122 teams in production.

So Michigan runs east-west more frequently than roughly 79% of the teams in our dataset, despite being less productive on those runs than roughly 95% of them.

And here's another interesting part: Michigan averages 4.55 yards running up the middle, compared to 4.09 running left or right.

Now, there's an important distinction here. The play-by-play data identifies runs as left, middle, or right. Not every left or right run necessarily goes outside the tackles, so east-west is being used as a general description rather than a perfect classification.

And I'm not suggesting that every unsuccessful run is Beck's fault. Blocking, personnel, defensive alignment, and execution all matter.

But I do think it's fair to question why we're calling these runs at a higher rate than most of the country when we're getting considerably less production from them.

This is what I've been trying to understand about Beck's philosophy. Is he adapting his offense to what Michigan's players are actually doing well, or is he continuing to call the offense he wants to run regardless of the results?

I'm not arguing Michigan should exclusively run between the tackles. Obviously, you need variety to keep defenses honest.

But when you're near the bottom of FBS in production on a type of run you call more often than most teams, I think that's worth examining.

At what point does sticking with your offensive philosophy become refusing to adjust to your personnel?

Data Source & Methodology

All statistics were calculated using ESPN's college football play-by-play data for the 2026 season, through October 24.

I downloaded the individual game records and used Python to analyze rushing plays across 122 FBS programs with usable data.

Here's how the numbers were calculated:

• Rushing direction: Runs were classified as left, middle, or right using directional information in ESPN's play descriptions.
• East-west frequency: Left and right rushes were combined and divided by the total number of runs with an identifiable direction.
• Effectiveness: Total rushing yards divided by rushing attempts for the applicable direction.
• National comparison: Each team's frequency and yards-per-carry figures were calculated separately. The FBS averages represent the equally weighted average of the teams in the dataset, rather than pooling every rushing attempt together.
• Rankings: Teams were ranked by their percentage of left/right rushing attempts and their average yards per carry on those attempts.

A few important limitations: This is a 122-team sample, not every FBS program. ESPN's directional descriptions are not the same as detailed film charting, so some off-tackle runs may be classified alongside true outside runs. Quarterback rushes and scrambles may also be included. The frequency and efficiency figures were produced using slightly different classification filters, which is why their Michigan carry totals aren't identical.

This is descriptive analysis, not an opponent-adjusted efficiency model. It doesn't account for defensive strength, blocking assignments, or play design.

The goal isn't to claim these numbers prove Beck is a bad play-caller. It's to examine whether the actual production supports how frequently Michigan chooses to attack in certain directions.

Source: ESPN College Football — game-level play-by-play data, independently compiled and analyzed with Python.

Caught the exhibition game vs Houston in Grand Rapids today. It was a rough game to watch (Houston looks tough again), but it was nice to see basketball getting underway.

A dude with a “Fire Jason Beck” sign got on the Jumbotron 😅