8 — Thursday, September 26, 2019 Sports The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com J osh Gattis told his players a story this week. He recalled a time, three years ago, when his Penn State group sputtered out of the gate. The Nittany Lions lost by three to Pittsburgh early in the year, before traveling on the road and getting shellacked by Michigan, 49-10. They took that adversity and responded, ripping off nine straight wins en route to a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl appearance. The under- lying parallels to this Wolverines group were clear: a talented team, a scuffle out of the gate, a sobering road loss, a moment of reflection. It is possible, the thinking goes, for this team to respond and make something of this year. “Sometimes adversity is some- thing that you never want to use to bond your guys together,” Gattis said Wednesday, “but it’s something that forms a bond.” For Josh Gattis, crucially, that is where the 2016 Penn State parallels diverge. He is not a mere wide receivers coach. This is his offense. It has been from the moment he took the job. And with that the responsibility of its failures. “Being the guy that’s in charge, I hurt when I’m not able to see those guys have that suc- cess,” Gattis said. “I take it very personal just as (the players) take it personal.” After three weeks, Gattis’ offense, expected to bring the dawn of a new era, has appeared to be some combination of ill- conceived and ill-prepared. The unit showed signs of vertical ability against Middle Tennessee State, but ultimately struggled to sustain consistency throughout the game. Against Army, the offense was suddenly devoid of the creativity it promised, ham- mering inside zone into oblivion. Last week against Wisconsin, the Wolverines failed to convert a third down for the first time since at least 1995. Through three weeks, Michigan is 116th of 130 teams in yards gained, 91st in points and 104th in offensive efficiency, according to ESPN. Nine turnovers haven’t helped, either. But if you’ve watched any significant portion of the Wol- verines’ first three games, you don’t need that empirical data to parse through what’s painfully obvious: This offense has been a mess. The promised spread has turned into muddled ineptitude. The impending RPO cascade has bewildered its signal-caller, Shea Patterson, not to mention imper- iled his health. All the while, the most talented weapons on the offense have been indisputably underutilized. To an untrained eye, Gattis appears to have out- smarted himself. The result is a unit that, even its own players say, has no discernible identity. Sometimes a cute hashtag is just that. And now, Gattis faces a moment of truth — a point of inflection, perhaps. A dose of reality, no doubt. Asked Tuesday whether anything has taken him by surprise in his first few weeks as an offensive coordinator, he offered a rhetorical chuckle. “A lot,” Gattis said. If the bye week hadn’t already done so, the 35-14 drubbing at Wisconsin on Saturday poured cold water on the hype. Monday, Gattis put together a 100-play cut-up, both for his own viewing and ultimately to pass along to players. It included every nega- tive play the unit has accrued thus far. For each play, he showed his team what happens when it’s run correctly and what happens when it isn’t. “For us, offensively, it’s a consistency deal,” Gattis said. “There hasn’t been a lot thrown at them that they haven’t pre- viously had experience with. There’s some things that we’re still carrying over from last year.” On Monday, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh did not waver on his faith in his new offensive play-caller. It’s clear, for what- ever it’s worth, that Gattis hasn’t lost faith in himself, either. There is a learning curve to all of this — calling plays, direct- ing an offense — that Gattis never had the luxury to adjust to. When you’re pegged as the savior of a woebegone unit, the vessel through which this pro- gram intended to enter the mod- ern era, that pressure mounts quickly. Still, even the most staunch pessimists couldn’t have seen that breaking point come this early. To Gattis’ credit, he stood in front of the media Wednesday and answered every question. He didn’t deflect. Didn’t excuse any- thing. He assumed the blame, and assured they’d turn things around. At this point, it would be as unwise to relinquish hope in Gattis as it would to assume a breakthrough is imminent. Sure, this team could be a redux of 2016 Penn State. It could just as easily mirror the 2017 Michigan team that went 8-5, a low point of the Harbaugh era. “When you go through the pressure situation, it only makes you tighter,” Gattis said. “I believe in every single one of our players.” The real question now, though, is whether those players feel the same about him. Because if they don’t, this house of cards will come tumbling down sooner than later. Marcovitch can be reached at maxmarco@umich.edu or on Twitter @Max_Marcovitch. A moment of truth for Gattis Amid questions, Gattis keeps faith At times when Josh Gattis spoke on Wednesday, it seemed his every other word was “adversity.” Over 22 minutes, he used the word nearly 15 times. During one 25-second stretch, he used it four times. It was when he got asked if there were any surprises over his first three weeks. And when you come in the way Gattis did as Michigan’s offensive coordinator and perform the way he has — overpromising and underdelivering through three grueling weeks of offensive football — what else is there to do besides fall back on the language of cliches and overcoming challenges? “We ran what we wanted to run,” Gattis said. “The thing is, we just didn’t capitalize on the plays that we had in front of us.” This comes just a couple days after multiple offensive players brought up questions about identity, saying they were uncomfortable throwing the ball as many times as Michigan did on Saturday. A large portion of that likely isn’t what Gattis had planned — once the Badgers got out to a big lead, there was little choice but throw the ball — but it’s still hard to comport that statement from Gattis with what Jon Runyan Jr. said on Monday. “Once you get knocked back on our heels like that during the game, we kinda have to stray away from (the plan),” Runyan said. “… We were throwing the ball 42 times that game, which is something I haven’t seen at Michigan since I’ve been here.” While the rest of the Wolverines are in the midst of an existential crisis post-Saturday’s 35-14 drubbing at the hands of Wisconsin, Gattis tried to convey some semblance of confidence. He took responsibility for the issues, but like he did after a disappointing performance against Army, he pointed to turnovers as the biggest part of the problem. He said Michigan left plays on the field. He stressed consistency. He’s not wrong in any of that. The conversation surrounding Michigan right now would be drastically different if it hadn’t turned the ball over nine times in three games. Things would be a lot better if the Wolverines executed in games the same way they purport to do so in practice. Consistency folds into all of that — and so do injuries, as Gattis said his unit has yet to practice with all 11 starters. But the questions outside the building have turned to the viability of the system itself. Senior quarterback Shea Patterson is averaging 7.0 yards per attempt, down a full yard from last season. The offensive line has struggled to open up holes in the run game. Junior receiver Nico Collins, who seemed destined to take a leap, has eight catches — most of little consequence — through three games, and has rarely been involved. When Michigan reached third down on its first drive of the fourth quarter on Saturday, Collins ran straight past his man, into open space. Instead of hitting the open man downfield, Patterson threw to Ronnie Bell in double coverage, just short of the sticks. Collins threw his hands as the ball fell incomplete. “I don’t think you can look out there and say one person was frustrated,” Gattis said. “I think all together, including myself, offensively, we were frustrated.” Still, that doesn’t change what everyone can see. The receiving group as a whole — which figured to be a massive strength with Collins, Tarik Black and Donovan Peoples- Jones, who returned from injury Saturday — has underwhelmed. “We’re not where we need to be in that room,” Gattis said. “That falls on me.” Doubtless, that wasn’t what Gattis envisioned himself saying to a room of reporters about his most talented position group a few days before a game against Rutgers that should be chalked up as an automatic win. On Monday, Gattis put together tape of 100 plays — all the negative plays Michigan has had — and watched it with the players. Then he showed them how those plays would look when they worked. But practice and film rooms, as Gattis has found out the hard way, is different from games. And regardless of where that disparity comes from, it’s his to fix. MAX MARCOVITCH ETHAN SEARS Managing Sports Editor BY THE NUMBERS Michigan’s offense through three games under Josh Gattis 3.5 Yards per carry, down from 4.8 in 2018 and on pace to be the worst-ever mark Michigan has had with Jim Harbaugh as head coach by a margin of 0.7 yards. 35.9% Michigan’s third-down conversion rate, including 0-for-10 on Saturday against Wisconsin and good for 81st in the FBS. Last year, the Wolverines ranked seventh in the category at 48.39%. 9 Total number of Michigan turnovers through three games. The Wolverines’ -1.3 turnover margin per game ranks 114th in the FBS. 104th Michigan’s rank in offensive efficiency, per ESPN.com, down from 12th in 2018. The Wolverines are averaging 5.1 yards per play compared to 6.1 in 2018. ALEC COHEN/Daily Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis must fix his unit’s problems after a 35-14 drubbing at the hands of Wisconsin.