The Michigan Wolverines took to the road for the first time this season after spending the first four weeks in the friendly confines of The Big House.

Sloppiness in the first half was masked by two big plays from Michigan’s linebackers to give them a 14-7 halftime lead.

If you have watched Michigan this season, however, you know that things were not going to be simple.

If there is a mistake to be found, this team will find it.

Michigan’s offense and special teams turned the ball over three times in a span of four plays. A 14-7 lead turned into a 20-14 deficit early in the fourth quarter.

Michigan got the ball back with 1:46 to change the narrative of their season.

Loser: Kyle Whittingham

Slow to react, and not a lot of satisfying results.

If there were a phrase to describe the Kyle Whittingham era at Michigan thus far, that might be the best way to do it. He’s often late to make changes, or react to what he’s seeing in front of him. Michigan has had 10 players on the field in too many key spots this year.

They’re undisciplined, careless, and incapable of doing anything consistent other than shooting itself in the foot.

Yes, players need to make plays, but that falls on the coaching staff as much as anyone.

The Wolverines hired Whittingham under the guise that his teams would play a clean, disciplined, and physical brand of football.

Michigan led the turnover battle 2-0 at halftime. They trailed the turnover battle 3-2 by the start of the fourth quarter despite running just three offensive plays in the second half to that point.

They’re not clean.

That sounds impossible, but it isn’t. If there’s a mistake to be made, this group will find it. If there’s a way to shoot itself in the foot, Michigan will find the biggest bazooka available to them to blow their limbs away.

This is not clean. It’s not disciplined.

They’re not physical either. They have not run the ball all season. That continued on Saturday as they could not run the ball against Minnesota, and routinely had piles pushed against their defense when Minnesota decided to run the ball.

It’s a brand of football that has not been seen since the end of Brady Hoke’s tenure at Michigan. We all know how that turned out.

Furthermore, Michigan does not lose to Minnesota. They’d won 18 of the last 20 meetings. There are games on every schedule that are supposed to be banked wins, with the tougher games on the schedule determining the ceiling of the season.

None of Michigan’s games have looked easy, save for a second half domination of the UTEP Miners.

Through five games of Whittingham’s coaching tenure, it’s hard to think that the Western Michigan game was not a big flashing red light that was a harbinger of things to come.  

Loser: WR/PR Andrew Marsh

After two big weeks, Marsh was quiet on offense and was a major culprit in some self inflicted wounds.

Michigan’s offense had a drive stall in large part due to the first drop of Marsh’s career in the first quarter.

Later in the game, Michigan’s defense stopped Minnesota’s offense around midfield and forced a punt after being on the field for more than seven minutes of game time.

Marsh ran forward in an attempt to make a fair catch, which he muffed. That’s Marsh’s second lost fumble on punts this season, and he’s looked shaky in decision making on what punts to field versus which ones to let bounce.

Marsh’s fumble led to a Minnesota field goal to pull the Gophers within 14-10 and gave them more time on the field. Marsh may be young, but he’s one of Michigan’s best players. He’s played a lot of football in his short time on campus. These mistakes are the ones players like him cannot make.  

Loser: OC Jason Beck

Find someone who loves you as much as Jason Beck loves killing drives with a horizontal run game that has proven itself incapable through five weeks this season.

If this is the offensive coordinator who led a top offense a season ago, I have some severe questions about the defenses he was facing.

Players have to do their part as well, but it’s hard to watch the offense and say that they are being put in the best possible positions to succeed.

Beck’s day started with a wildcat run on third-and-1 that was predictably stuffed. It continued throughout the course of the day with little-to-no rhythm, and a quarterback who was shook by the pressure he was receiving.

There are not enough easy plays for Michigan to find offense, and there are not enough explosive plays either.

That showed its ugliest head on Saturday. Of Michigan’s 14 points, only seven came on offense, which was set up by a short field.

The other seven came on a pick-six.

Michigan never really threatened to score after that. Their offense was dreadful, and this was a significant setback.

Loser: QB Bryce Underwood

After three weeks of improvement, Underwood took a step back on Saturday against Minnesota.

Underwood’s happy feet in the pocket, which had been absent, made a triumphant return. That notably was true on Underwood’s interception midway through the third quarter when Michigan’s offense was desperate for them to put a drive together, if nothing else to keep their tired defense on the sideline.

Instead, Michigan ran two plays, took 51 seconds off the clock, and an ugly interception put the Wolverines’ defense back on the field to protect a tenuous 14-10 lead.

Michigan’s defense held Minnesota’s offense to a field goal. Michigan’s next play was another interception on a run-pass option where Underwood was hit as he threw the ball. Not his fault on the play, but another turnover that gave the Gophers the ball in prime scoring territory.

Michigan’s tenuous lead was gone three plays later, as a touchdown pass from Lindsey to Darius Taylor put Minnesota ahead 20-14.

He got the ball back with a chance to flip the script and help Michigan escape Minnesota with a victory.

Instead, a day of mistakes finished with one more big one.

Underwood finished the game completing 10 of 21 passes for 101 yards.

He threw two interceptions and was sacked three times.

His last pass of the game was airmailed out of bounds to finish off a comedy of errors that was the entire game.

Winner: LB Troy Bowles

Game changing plays are hard to come by from the linebacker position, but Troy Bowles found one with Michigan’s defense reeling in the first quarter.

Minnesota had a 7-0 lead and was looking to drive the field to go up two scores when Bowles was sent on a pressure to change the game.

Bowles got home, hitting Drake Lindsey as he threw the ball, which caused his pass to the corner to float.

The ball floating in the air fell into the arms of Smith Snowden, who secured his first interception as a Wolverine.

Bowles has been up-and-down during the season, but his high end flashes are really high. Michigan should be excited about his future if he continues to develop.

Winner: LB Nathaniel Staehling

The two biggest plays in the first half came courtesy of Michigan’s linebackers. The first of which was from Troy Bowles. The second came on a Minnesota possession where it looked like they were trying to retake the lead late in the first half.

As the Gophers set up a screen, Nathaniel Staehling had other ideas on the end result of this play.

Staehling jumped the route, intercepting Lindsey’s pass and rumbled down the sidelines for a 79-yard touchdown that gave the Wolverines a 14-7 lead.

Staehling has been a nice addition to Michigan’s defense as a transfer from North Dakota State. Big plays like that will always get you in the winner’s circle.

Staehling lands there today.

Winner: CB Smith Snowden

Getting beat is part of playing cornerback, but sometimes its what you do after getting beat that makes the difference at that position.

Smith Snowden has been excellent early in the season, and rebounded nicely on Saturday from giving up the game-winning touchdown last week against Iowa.

Snowden was on the receiving end of Drake Lindsey’s floater caused by a hit from Troy Bowles. Snowden’s interception gave the Wolverines the ball in prime position to score a touchdown and tie the score at seven.

Michigan’s defense has been desperate for some takeaways this season, and Snowden finally caught a ball that was begging to be caught by the defense.