The Michigan football offense hasn't looked how anybody in or around the program hoped it would through two weeks, and those who call Schembechler Hall their second home have detailed there are a number of reasons for the slow start.

New faces (10 new starters on offense), uncharacteristic turnovers (four through two games) and tougher-than-usual early season competition (back-to-back games vs. top-25 teams from last year) than in recent years has made getting out of the gate tough this season for the Wolverines.

However when head coach Sherrone Moore addressed his team's 31-12 loss to Texas on Monday, his focus wasn't on what Michigan has done, it was on the things U-M didn't do.

“We’ve got to run the ball more efficiently and do things to help us move the chains and get the ball in the end zone, which we’re not doing enough,” Moore said of his offense that's netted three touchdowns in two games. “I want us to be a physical offense that’s detailed and can score points.

“For us to do that, we’ve got to be better running the football. I think we’re more consistent running the football, and when you get in games like (Texas), versus really good teams, when you get behind it becomes the throw game.”

Speaking Monday night on the 'Inside Michigan Football' radio show, offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell doubled down on Moore's message on staying ahead of the sticks via the run game. He pointed to his offense's first drive vs. Texas as a primary example, where on first-and-10 the line was flagged for a false start.

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Now, the team was looking at first-and-15 and instead of the pass play Campbell had dialed to open the game, he said he checked to back-to-back runs to get his team settled in. While each went four yards, instead of looking at third-and-2, U-M was faced with third-and-7 and failed to convert.

"We really hurt ourselves in that game," Campbell said. "We have to have heightened sense of awareness that we can’t do that Saturday."

After the game, Campbell said he had a meeting with his team to discuss what the goal is for the offensive identity. Sure enough, the plan hasn't changed from recent years, where the Wolverines were a balanced, run-first team that uses their downhill attack to open up the play action passing game.

However to this point, that final part has been almost non-existent, largely because Michigan's running game hasn't generated anything consistently. Donovan Edwards, who entered the year as the team's lead back, has run 19 times for 68 yards (3.5 yards per carry) and no scores with just one rush going for more than 10 yards and has only forced one missed tackle.

Meanwhile Kalel Mullings, identified as the thunder-back, ran 15 times for 92 yards (6.1 per carry) in the opener before he was held to just six touches for 25 yards this past weekend.

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"Both are really good players and you sit there and it’s like ‘you have to give them ball more’ but the game didn’t present that," Campbell said. "But them getting in space is going to be a huge part of our offense."

The way Campbell spoke Monday evening was similar to Moore who, earlier in the day, implied the Wolverines are "not far" away from the level where Texas was at this weekend. Campbell detailed how the offense felt good about its plan entering the game and that he had a lot of "heat on the sheet" that he was ready to call, but once Michigan fell behind by multiple touchdowns early it spent the whole day playing catch up.

It's exactly the opposite of how Michigan has played in recent years; and the last time it happened was also the last time U-M lost a game: 51-45 to TCU in the 2022 College Football Playoff.

“We’ve got to do a better job of establishing that play-action and run-action stuff off it, which we will,” Moore said. ”There’s enough good (runs) in there that you see it can be done. It’s just sustaining those all the time, and if we do that then we’ll be in a much better position.”

Michigan has run just nine play-action plays all season, and Warren has been largely successful by completing 7 of 9 attempts (77.7%) for 61 yards with one touchdown, one interception and an ADOT (average depth of target) beyond nine yards.

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On his other passing attempts, with no run-action, Warren is 30 of 49 (61.2%) for 261 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions and an ADOT less than eight yards. When one doesn't happen, it's hard to open things up for the other.

"(Offensive success) starts with the run game and how we impact the run game to help them be more successful so passing game can open up," Moore said. "(We have to) make it even simpler to help the run and the pass game."

That's the plan for this week for No. 16 Michigan (1-1) vs. Arkansas State (2-0), as Campbell said he wants to keep the offense simple for his team but complex for the defense: The goal is to find the balance of working the ball to the perimeter, while also using physicality inside to soften up the underbelly of the defense and then hit it deep over the top.

There are some who support the maize and blue who feel Warren is overmatched in his role as quarterback (just take a look at social media or message boards) and that those deep shots may never come. His coaches, however, are not in the same camp.

After completing just one pass more than 10 yards down field in his season-opener, Warren was 6 of 10 on shots more than 10 yards down the field vs. Texas and was the highest-graded player in the attack, according to Pro Football Focus.

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"Davis overall played good − didn’t play exceptional − but didn’t put ball in harms way," Moore said. "One (interception) was tipped pass, the other (our receiver) didn’t cross face of safety. Then, the fumble by Colston. ... The picks are terrible that it happened and looks like he threw two picks, but we as ball catchers, our receivers, tight ends have to help him."

For perhaps the first time since taking over as the head man, Moore acknowledged this group is not the same as last year's. Moore spent much of his offseason speaking of how there won't be a fall off, how those in Ann Arbor know the standard and it will be "next man up" as the run of dominance continues.

For the first time, Moore seems to now know it's easier said than done.

"What we do on offense has to be simpler for them. we’ve got to help them out," Moore said. "This is a different group than last year and the year before where you could practice a play, give them one rep and if the left side got it, then the right side got it based on just watching the left side do it. Whereas this group they need all the reps to do it to be successful.

"So we need to make the packages smaller on offense, do things to bring out their strengths to be successful."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football aims to 'run the ball' as it seeks offensive fix