SEATTLE, Wash. — In the sixth game of his seventh year of college football, Jack Tuttle came off the bench and took his first snap of the season. And Michigan’s wild ride at quarterback continued.
Tuttle gave Michigan’s offense a spark after replacing Alex Orji, but his fourth-quarter fumble opened the door for Washington to score the go-ahead touchdown, and an interception on the next drive sealed a 27-17 victory for Washington that snapped Michigan’s 27-game winning streak against Big Ten opponents.
Here are four instant takeaways.
Tuttle’s spark fizzled quickly
Michigan trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter after punting on its first three drives. The game was getting away, and Michigan’s offense looked helpless to stop it. That’s when Michigan made the switch to Tuttle, who dealt with injuries throughout the offseason and was only recently cleared to play.
Tuttle completed 9 of 17 passes for 92 yards as the Wolverines scored 17 unanswered points to take the lead. His ability to go through his progressions and find open receivers was something sorely missing in the first five games of the season, and it gave the offense an instant spark. Tuttle also has the ability to extend plays with his legs, as he showed by escaping the pocket and finding a wide-open Colston Loveland in the end zone for a third-quarter touchdown.
The magic was short-lived, however, as Michigan had back-to-back three-and-outs before Tuttle’s fourth-quarter fumble. There’s no doubt the offense was more dynamic with Tuttle at quarterback, and he looked like an upgrade over Orji and Davis Warren, the quarterbacks who combined to start Michigan’s first six games. It would make sense to give Tuttle the opportunity to start after an off week, but the loss left Michigan searching once again. — Meek
Defense’s rough start hurt Michigan
Michigan’s offense wasn’t solely responsible for putting the Wolverines in a 14-0 hole. The defense had a part in that, too, as Washington had Michigan’s defense on its heels in the first quarter. The Huskies attacked Michigan vertically and hit big plays to wide receivers Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson, targeting cornerback Jyaire Hill as teams have done successfully at times this season.
Michigan did some good things on defense, sacking quarterback Will Rogers four times and snapping his string of 269 consecutive pass attempts without an interception on a fourth-quarter pick from linebacker Ernest Hausmann. The offense put the defense in a bad spot once again after Tuttle’s fumble, and Washington converted a short field for the go-ahead touchdown. Michigan’s defense played well enough to win from the second quarter onward, but for a team with little margin for error, the rough first quarter was hard to overcome. — Meek
The Wolverines are reeling
Michigan entered this game with a 4-1 record and a No. 10 national ranking, but anyone who watched the Wolverines realized they had issues. The quarterback situation was top on the list, and after a brief spark from Tuttle, it’s still there.
This loss all but eliminates Michigan from the conversation for the College Football Playoff — the Wolverines entered Saturday with just an eight percent chance of making it per The Athletic’s model. Michigan’s schedule gets significantly tougher in the second half of the season with games at home against Oregon and on the road against Illinois, Ohio State and unbeaten Indiana. With an off week ahead, Michigan will need to do some soul-searching and figure out how to keep this season from sliding downhill. — Meek
Washington’s revenge?
It’s hard to say Washington avenged the national championship game against Michigan, given how different both teams are, but it’s an important win nonetheless. It’s proof of concept this program can be successful in the Big Ten.
Washington joined the league out of necessity when the Pac-12 fell apart in August 2023, knowing it might be at a disadvantage financially to the top programs in the conference. It lost at Rutgers last week. But Ohio State and Michigan remain the faces of the Big Ten, and the Huskies already knocked off one of them in Year 1. It’s an encouraging sign as Jedd Fisch works to rebuild the program post-Kalen DeBoer. — Mandel
(Photo: Joe Nicholson / Imagn Images)
