Long overdue for Michigan to start Dylan McCaffrey over Shea Patterson

It’s just not working out for Shea Patterson at Michigan and Jim Harbaugh needs to pull the plug and play Dylan McCaffrey the rest of the season.

Michigan is getting housed by Wisconsin and the Badgers aren’t even playing with Jonathan Taylor who left with cramps after topping 100 yards and two touchdowns. The Wolverines were the preseason pick to win the Big Ten but they don’t even look like they can finish in the top three of the Big Ten East. A large part of the struggles rests on the right arm of quarterback Shea Patterson who needs to be placed on the bench.

It’s time for Dylan McCaffrey (younger brother of Christian McCaffrey) to take control of the Michigan offense and see if he can provide a spark. Quarterback is always the first position to be under the microscope when points aren’t being scored. After being shutout at halftime vs. Wisconsin, it’s time to make the change, even though Patterson isn’t the only one to blame.

The Michigan run game used to be the calling card for this program. The run game has been in hibernation all year, the offensive line can’t move the opponent off the line and the receivers haven’t lived up to their recruiting hype.

Then again, neither has Patterson who was once a five-star recruit and No. 1 quarterback prospect when he originally signed with Ole Miss. In his second year at Michigan, it’s clear it’s just not going to work out for Patterson or Michigan.

And if you’re looking for more people to blame, look no further than the head coach where Harbaugh is supposed to be a quarterback guru. He did it with John Johnson at San Diego. He did it with Andrew Luck at Stanford. He did it with Colin Kaepernick with the San Francisco 49ers.

He’s not doing it at Michigan despite a revolving cast of cast-offs.

It’s time to see what McCaffrey can do.

The 6-foot-5, McCaffrey is a former four-star recruit from Valor Christian in Colorado where he was the No. 5 pro-style quarterback, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

It’s time to see if he can make plays when Patterson hasn’t been able to do that.

It’s time to see if the offense responds to a different voice in the huddle.

It’s time to see if Harbaugh can develop McCaffrey where he couldn’t develop Patterson.

It’s time to see something from this Michigan offense.

Michigan football is better than what they’ve shown so far this year. At least, that’s the rallying cry around Ann Arbor but at what point do fans get resigned to their fate and realize this is what they are now.

Michigan can’t be Ohio State if they can’t find a quarterback.

Ohio State loses Big Ten record-holder for passing (J.T. Barrett) and replace him with a first round pick (Dwayne Haskins) and then replace that guy with someone who may be even better (Justin Fields). Heck, even Ohio State backups like Joe Burrow are thriving elsewhere. Burrow is a Heisman candidate for a top-five LSU team.

Michigan just isn’t in the same class as Ohio State in large part because of the failures by Harbaugh finding and developing quarterbacks.

It’s clear Patterson isn’t the answer for the Wolverines.

It’s yet to be determined if McCaffrey can be the answer, but Harbaugh owes it to McCaffrey and the rest of the team to see if he can be.

Part of Harbaugh’s failures at Michigan has been a stubbornness to stick with what used to work.

But that hasn’t worked.

Harbaugh needs to get out of his comfort zone and try something different.

If he doesn’t, Michigan is going to realize that Harbaugh isn’t the answer either and will look for his replacement.