Iowa football: Why Shea Patterson is the most important Wolverine

The Wolverines starting quarterback Shea Patterson has been a subject of criticism this season, which is why he’s so important vs the Iowa football team.

Heading into this season when addressing the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten, it would often go Adrian Martinez, Justin Fields, and then Shea Patterson with Nate Stanley somewhere in the mix behind those three. But through four games, only Justin Fields has really emerged as an outstanding quarterback from those three. Martinez has struggled, but Patterson’s issues have been so bad that it has some Wolverine fans calling for him to be benched, which is why he could be the most important player against the Iowa football team.

Often times, if the quarterback isn’t good, the team isn’t good, unless your Wisconsin or LSU who seemingly can never put anyone worth a darn behind center, save for Russel Wilson a decade ago and Joe Burrow this year.

When Shea Patterson transferred to Michigan after joining Ole Miss as a five-star recruit, it was thought that the head coach Jim Harbaugh finally got his guy, and he did well enough in his first season in Ann Arbor. Last year, Patterson completed 64% of his passes for 2,600 yards and 22 touchdowns to just 7 interceptions.

In year two at Michigan, despite a change in offensive systems, it was expected that Patterson would take the next step in his evolution as a quarterback.

Some sites even pegged Patterson as a First Team All-Big Ten quarterback. However, through four games, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Patterson has looked uncomfortable in his time under center. For the season, his stats don’t look terrible, but his completion percentage has dropped five points to 59.3% and he has been sacked nine times in four games while throwing two picks. Furthermore, his 61.0 QBR ranks 61st in the country. Not exactly First Team Big Ten worthy.

For comparison’s sake, Justin Fields ranks 3rd, Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan ranks 12th and the Iowa football team’s very own Nate Stanley ranks 18th.

Again, I want to reiterate that it’s gotten so bad, especially against Wisconsin, that fans were calling for his backup Dylan McCaffery to come in the game.

Against Rutgers, he looked better (albeit still not great given it was Rutgers), but if he does take the next step against the Iowa football team and actually begins utilizing his star-studded group of wide receivers, the Hawkeye defense will be in big trouble.

That being said, if the Iowa football team is able to put pressure on him and force him to make a few mistakes, Michigan could be in for a long day. In the absence of a potent running attack, the quarterback position becomes all the more important, and the Jekyll and Hyde nature of Patterson makes him this game’s wildcard player and ultimately the most important player to the Wolverines in the 61st meeting of these two teams.