Michigan is Forever Stuck in Neutral and Shea Patterson is Taking Them Nowhere

When Shea Patterson arrived on Michigan's campus from Ole Miss prior to the 2018 season, Big Blue thought perhaps, for once, they finally had a revolutionary and capable arm behind center.

To quote Lee Corso, not so fast my friend.

While the Wolverines dominated Rutgers 52-0 last week, that's not saying much considering the level of competition. Michigan lost to their only ranked opponent in the Wisconsin Badgers in Week 3, making a positive result against Iowa all the more important for Jim Harbaugh and Co.

Still, Michigan struggled on offense yet again vs a top Hawkeyes defense, marking another wasted opportunity for Patterson to make a statement in Ann Arbor, despite a potentially positive outcome.

Michigan's defense is a large reason as to why Harbaugh's seen relative success in his time in Ann Arbor. However, Michigan can't be expected to win games solely off their defense. They need to be able to score, which they can't seem to do against ranked opponents. Don Brown can only do so much.

The 2018 season supports this as Patterson couldn't seem to find the end zone against top teams like Notre Dame and Florida. So far, 2019 has been more of the same, as Patterson is only a competent quarterback against unranked teams.

Michigan faces just three unranked opponents for the remainder of the season, which means they won't be getting much of a break. Their ranked opponents include No. 12 Penn State, No. 9 Notre Dame, No. 25 Michigan State, and No. 4 Ohio State.

With the way Patterson is moving the offense, there's a chance that they could lose any and all of those.