There’s no doubt the first six games of the Michigan Wolverines’ 2024 season have been incredibly disappointing. The Wolverines sit at 4-2 with a blowout loss to Texas, a disappointing loss at Washington, and four uninspiring wins at home.

The majority of the fan base has been understandably full of doom and gloom. Speaking for myself, I’ve rewatched the Ohio State, Rose Bowl, and National Championship games from last season at least twice since this season started. Turning the page is tough to do.

With all that said, there are still more games to be played. What does Michigan need to change in the second half to start playing better football?

The passing offense has been brutal, the secondary has been incredibly vulnerable, the punting unit has regressed, and the coaching staff has come under intense scrutiny for baffling personnel and play-calling decisions. However, not all that is fixable. Spare me the “fire everyone” discussion, as that isn’t happening in year one of a new regime.

So today’s question I will pose is this — What can we reasonably expect to change in the second half of the season?

Michigan isn’t going to magically have a Heisman-caliber quarterback walk through the door. It appears Jack Tuttle is the guy if he can stay healthy. At least for a quarter and a half, the Wolverines had a legitimate passing attack, which helped open up the run game. What we know at this point is Sherrone Moore and Kirk Campbell have no interest in running an offense tailored to Alex Orji. I think it’s fair to expect a more balanced offense under Tuttle.

On the offensive line, the pass blocking has to improve. It’s unreasonable to expect a Joe Moore Award performance by this group, but if they could just climb to an average level, it would make a huge difference. Evan Link has been one of the worst tackles in college football, according to PFF (Editor’s note: And everyone with a pair of eyeballs). The coaches clearly see something in him, so we need to see improvement.

On defense. the evidence shows Wink Martindale is who he is at this point. No matter the amount of grumbling by the fan base, he’s still going to run infuriating blitzes at inopportune times. What we need to see is better execution of the play calls. The amount of busts and miscommunication we’ve seen from the secondary has been jarring compared to the last few years. It’s fair to expect that to improve by the end of the year.

On an individual player basis, Jim Harbaugh’s program prided itself on player development. Moore hasn’t had enough time to prove or disprove he will continue that. However, there are several key contributors who can and need to develop. Jyaire Hill appears to be a future star, but he has consistently made simple mistakes; his development will be key to Michigan’s success. Other players such as Zeke Berry, Ernest Hausmann and Marlin Klein also need to continue to get better.

It’s looking like it’s going to be a rough second half of the season, but improvements can be made. What do you think we should expect to be fixed in the second half? Is winning eight games now unreasonable?

Let us know what you think in the comments below.