Disappointment oozes from halls of Ann Arbor

Rich Rodriguez isn’t having the season he had hoped for in his first year at Michigan.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Rich Rodriguez acknowledged his first season on the sideline at Michigan has been rougher than he expected.

The Wolverines (2-4, 1-1) have their worst record through six games since 1967, which was also their last losing season.

College football’s winningest program is in danger of losing eight games for the first time in school history, surpassing the seven setbacks it had in 1962, 1936 and ’34. Also in jeopardy is Michigan’s streak of 33 straight bowl games, the longest current streak in the country.

Many cut Rodriguez slack when Michigan opened the season with a loss to Utah and went on to get beat at Notre Dame and by Illinois.

But Saturday’s setback to Toledo, a lackluster Mid-American Conference team, has led to a lot of questions about how Rodriguez is managing the rebuilding season.

“I think it’s fair for everybody to question it,” Rodriguez said Monday. “They’re going to question everything I do. I think they’ve questioned everything I’ve done since I’ve been here, the last eight, nine months. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Michigan hired Rodriguez away from West Virginia, where he built his alma mater into a Big East power, in December after Lloyd Carr announced he was retiring.

The Wolverines were always likely to struggle on offense this season because they lost stars such as Jake Long, Chad Henne and Mike Hart to the NFL while quarterback Ryan Mallett and offensive lineman Justin Boren chose to transfer in part because they didn’t want to play for Rodriguez.

But Michigan has been worse on offense than expected, averaging a Big Ten-low 19 points, and an experienced defense has given up 25 points a game to rank ninth in the conference.

Rodriguez said he was more upset and angry with his players when he addressed them Sunday night compared to previous team meetings, but insisted his mindset and philosophies will not change.

“It starts with me and the coaches. We got to stay the course,” he said.

“It’s easy to waver. I know there’s a lot of people disappointed, a lot of fans disappointed. We’ve got great fans. We’ve got a great university. We’ve got great tradition. They’re used to winning a lot of games. That’s a good thing.

“I believe in what we’re doing. I believe in where we’re doing it at. I also believe in our players.”

Offensive tackle Stephen Schilling said the feeling is mutual.

“We believe in our coaches,” he said. “I think we’ve all bought in throughout the summer and through camp. We believe that it will work. We just maybe have to employ a little bit more patience than we thought.”