How worried should Michigan be after nearly blowing 21-point lead to Minnesota?

Michigan improved to 2-0 in Big Ten play Saturday, picking up another close win to defeat Minnesota, 27-24. Unlike last weekend's win over USC, Saturday's result wasn't as encouraging for the Wolverines.

After taking a 24-3 lead in the middle of the third quarter, Michigan allowed Minnesota to rally and almost let the Golden Gophers get the ball back in the final minutes. Minnesota recovered an onside kick with under two minutes left, but it was called back due to an offside penalty. Michigan recovered the ensuing onside kick and was able to run the clock out from there.

Still, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore wasn't pleased when he spoke with FOX Sports' Jenny Taft moments after the game ended. 

"I'm not very happy with the performance," Moore bluntly told Taft. "We've got a lot to clean up. The kids worked so hard and as coaches, players we've got a lot to do as a team, as a group, to get better."

Even though it won, Michigan's offense was outproduced by Minnesota's, at least statistically. Minnesota had more first downs (20 to 15) and yards (296 to 241) than Michigan did. 

Minnesota also threw for three times as many yards as Michigan, continuing the troubling trend that the Wolverines have had at quarterback. Alex Orji completed 10 of 18 passes for 86 yards, a touchdown and an interception in his second start as Michigan's quarterback. While an improvement from last week, that was a low bar to clear as he threw for just 32 yards against USC.

Michigan was able to win again despite its lackluster passing attack. As Michigan's conference schedule heats up and gets tougher in the coming weeks, FOX Sports college football insider Bruce Feldman doesn't believe it's sustainable for the Wolverines to win games if their quarterbacks are passing for fewer than 100 yards.

"They're so one-dimensional right now. They don't have anything, realistically, in the passing game," Feldman said during FOX's studio show. "I feel like their margin for error is so small that they're going to lose several times down the stretch. They have four road games left this season. You've got, obviously, the big one at the end of the year at Ohio State. That doesn't look promising at all. Then, you've got Washington coming up. You have Indiana, who looks really good. I think Indiana's better than them right now. You also have an Oregon game at home. 

"I just think if this team can't get a semblance of a passing game downfield going, I don't think they're going to be a playoff team. They're going to be a team that's, at best, 8-4."

Michigan's lack of an adequate passing attack played a large role in its first loss of the season. Davis Warren, who started the first three games at quarterback for Michigan, threw for 204 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions in a 31-12 loss to Texas in Week 2. He was benched for Orji following his three-interception performance against Arkansas State in Week 3. 

With the loss to Texas, Michigan's margin for error to make the postseason is already slimmer than what it was at the beginning of the year. With the level of play that Michigan's had at quarterback, Feldman believes that there's even less room for error.

"I think the difference with this team now and when they had J.J. McCarthy, they would get in a third-and-long situation and he could make plays with his legs, or he was really accurate throwing on the run," Feldman said. "These quarterbacks they have are not that. He was a top-10 draft pick. Now they have guys who don't look like NFL quarterbacks. That's a big drop-off in addition to everything else they've lost on offense. 

"I think [the problems are] a lot on the offense and the defense is going to have to be carrying everything if they're going to be a playoff team."

Even though the defense wasn't as anemic as Michigan's passing attack, it wasn't significantly better than its offense on Saturday. It allowed Minnesota to score on its final three drives, with the Golden Gophers converting 6 of 15 third-down opportunities and both fourth-down opportunities. 

Entering Saturday, Michigan had allowed 323 yards and 20.8 points per game. Those numbers are worse than what Michigan recorded last season, when it led the nation in yards (247 per game) and points (10.4) per game. That's why FOX Sports college football analyst Chris Petersen believes each holds a bit of the onus on the team's underwhelming 4-1 start to the season.

"It's a little bit of both," Peterson said on Michigan's struggles to close Saturday's game. "It was 24-3 late in the third quarter and both sides of the ball were kind of playing on their heels. I think that's why you saw Sherrone Moore be so discouraged. You really want to play your best football in the fourth quarter. As a coach, you just do. Even when you put your backups in, like you see all these coaches get mad on the sideline because you want everybody to play their best in the fourth quarter."

However, Petersen was a bit more hopeful for Michigan moving forward. 

"This is Michigan football. Even if they throw the ball better, they're going to win tight, ugly games," Petersen said. "That's OK, as long as you win. We like to pick them apart and those types of things, but I think it's going to be them winning ugly."

Even so, it's evident that Michigan's title defense and the Sherrone Moore era haven't gotten out to the start that it hoped it would. Moore took the blame for Michigan getting outplayed in the second half, telling Taft that Minnesota "came out with a lot of energy and we didn't." 

When Moore was asked to grade Orji's performance, he said that the quarterback "has his things he's got to get better at," pointing at a missed throw. However, that criticism isn't exclusive to Orji. 

"We've got to go back to the drawing board and keep rolling," Moore said.

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