Michigan TE believes offense is close to breaking out after Iowa loss

The Michigan football offense has quite literally seen improvement week-to-week, with yardage going up from Week 1 to Week 3, with only two fewer yards in Week 4 against Iowa than in Week 3 against UTEP. But against the Hawkeyes, the Wolverines got just 19 points compared to 45 offensive points scored a week before against the Miners.

Penalties, red zone mistakes, and turnovers have plagued the team all season long, and such was the case on Saturday. But you can see the offense starting to click, particularly in the pass game. And tight end Hogan Hansen says that once the Wolverines stop shooting themselves in the foot so much then they should really thrive.

“I just feel like overall, we have been improving as an offense week by week, but it is the little stuff and just the situational football that we really need to hone in and lock in on,” Hansen said. “And that’s definitely a point of emphasis this week. So we’ve got all the tools and the talent and the ability to go out and do it. We just need to start doing the little stuff right and a lot more consistently, which I know we can.”

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The positive thing is that Hansen doesn’t feel like the offense is inconsistent in practice. Which means that there’s a stronger chance of consistency showing up in games.

While he notes that part of practice is making mistakes in order to correct them, the team is too talented to continue to be so inconsistent. And given what he’s seen, and the onus put on being more disciplined, he feels like the offense is close to truly breaking out.

“I wouldn’t say they trip us up in practice. I would just say the first four weeks, we’ve had a lot of good, but it’s just been consistency,” Hansen said. “In practice, you’re always going to have mistakes here and there that you’re focusing on. And it’s not like we haven’t been practicing situational football. But like I said, it’s just about going out and doing it on Saturday, and to have a loss like Saturday really come back and bite you in the butt. I think it just emphasizes that even more.

“And that’s on the forefront of everyone’s minds, because like I said, we have all the ability in the world on offense. We’ve got one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. So just got to lock in and be disciplined.”

Now the Wolverines have a loss, and one in the Big Ten, to boot. But the team doesn’t feel like the mistakes and all have doomed them — if anything, they’re galvanized knowing that they have to be perfect moving forward.

“Everything’s still in front of us,” Hansen said. “We’re just focused on going 1-0 in the Big Ten. Our goal of winning the Big Ten championship is still out there. Like I said, we have all the ability and talent in the world, so I don’t think anyone’s swayed in that regard.”