Rodriguez’s Last Year

The 2010 Michigan Wolverines finished 7-6 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play. They scored 426 points (32.8 per game) but allowed 458 (35.2 per game). Under third-year coach Rich Rodriguez, Michigan became bowl-eligible for the first time since 2007. The season was the first after the Michigan Stadium renovation was completed. Rodriguez was dismissed on January 5, 2011.

Regular Season

Michigan started 5-0: Connecticut (30-10), at Notre Dame (28-24), Massachusetts (42-37), Bowling Green (65-21), and at Indiana (42-35). Denard Robinson, in his first full season as starter, immediately became the face of the offense.

Conference play then produced three straight losses: Michigan State at home (17-34), Iowa at home (28-38), and Penn State on the road (31-41). On November 6, Michigan beat Illinois 67-65 in three overtimes—the highest-scoring game in program history. Robinson threw for 302 yards before leaving with concussion-like symptoms; Tate Forcier finished the game. The victory made Michigan bowl-eligible. A 27-16 win at Purdue followed. The regular season closed with losses to No. 6 Wisconsin (28-48) and at No. 8 Ohio State (7-37).

Postseason

In the Gator Bowl on January 1, 2011, in Jacksonville, Mississippi State defeated Michigan 52-14. It was the most points one team had scored in Gator Bowl history and Michigan’s worst bowl loss. Rodriguez was fired days later. His three-year record was 15-22 overall and 6-18 in the Big Ten. He finished 0-6 against Michigan State and Ohio State.

Statistical and Contextual Notes

Robinson passed for 2,570 yards and 18 touchdowns, rushed for 1,643 yards (an FBS quarterback rushing record at the time), and finished sixth in Heisman voting. He was the first quarterback in college football history to both rush and pass for 1,500 yards in a season and broke Drew Brees’s Big Ten single-season total-offense record. The offense ranked sixth nationally. The defense ranked 110th in total defense and 112th in pass defense.

The 2010 season was the last chapter of the Rodriguez experiment: an offense that could score from anywhere, a defense that could not stop anyone, and a program still searching for an identity after the Carr era.