Michigan football head coach Sherrone Moore on Monday took a different approach to the team's most important position.

Moore declined to name a starting quarterback for Saturday night's annual rivalry showdown against Michigan State at Michigan Stadium.

Moore, speaking at Schembechler Hall in Ann Arbor, was terse in his response to a question on the plan at quarterback, two days after a no-juice 21-7 defeat at Illinois that experts called "pathetic" and "embarrassing," particularly coming off a bye week.

"We'll see as we practice this week," Moore said.

Reporter: "But no, not even a starter going into the game?"

"Yeah, we'll just see as we go this week."

The Wolverines over their past 15 possessions with quarterback Jack Tuttle have scored one touchdown and committed five turnovers, dating back to the middle of the third quarter of the Washington game.

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The first two times Michigan quarterbacks struggled in debuts this season, Moore sugar coated the performance postgame.

Saturday in Champaign, Illinois, he did not, after Tuttle, a seventh-year quarterback, completed 20 of 32 passes for 208 yards in his first start. Though it was a season-high for any U-M passer, it came with general sloppiness including an interception in the red zone and a fumble in Michigan's own territory at Memorial Stadium.

Michigan got into Illinois territory six times, yet managed seven points, the fewest in a game in more than a decade.

“Overall offensively, it was not good enough, at all,” Moore said Saturday evening. “Disappointing in a lot of areas. Jack can’t turn the ball over. When we’ve got guys open, we’ve got to complete those passes. Just got to be better.”

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Now, it's rivalry week for the Wolverines (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) who find themselves in the middle of continued quarterback controversy ahead of a contest against Michigan State (4-3, 2-2) on 7:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network).

In East Lansing, MSU has the momentum after bruising Iowa, 32-20. MSU coach Jonathan Smith on Monday was asked about U-M's QB situation.

"You prepare what you see on tape, and we've got tape of all the players we've seen offensively," he said.

The hope coming out of the bye week for the Wolverines was Tuttle would be the final answer, but he has committed four turnovers in his past five quarters. Just one week after calling Tuttle the guy who "gives us the best chance to win" Moore wouldn't commit to a quarterback one way other other Saturday postgame. Instead, he repeated the same point made after all three losses, and even some wins this season: The turnovers are simply too costly.

“You can’t turn the ball over,” Moore lamented. “You don’t want to go to four quarterbacks. You don’t want to have to go through this process, but you got to take care of the football. We’re going to see what we have to do and have that conversation as we go."

On Monday at his weekly news conference availability, Moore had no further clarity about who would start vs. the Spartans.

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There has been a multiple-game sample size for all three passers who were considered for the job at the beginning of the year — junior Jayden Denegal and true freshman Jadyn Davis have been the fourth and fifth options in the room since spring — and each has been concerning in their own ways.

Tuttle is 30 of 50 passing (60%) for 306 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in two games (one start).

He entered Week 6 in a 27-17 loss at Washington in place of Alex Orji, who had completed just 23 of 43 passes (53.5%) and started three games. Though he had the best ratio of three touchdowns and one interception, Orji managed just 148 yards passing, an average of a meager 3.44 yards per attempt, without a single play of more than 16 yards.

It was Orji who entered in place of Davis Warren, the senior who won the starting battle out of fall camp over Orji when Tuttle was sidelined with injury. Warren remains the team's leading passer, completing 48 of 72 passes (66.7% completions) for 444 yards, but his two touchdowns compared to six interceptions began this carousel when he was benched during the second half of Week 3 against Arkansas State.

The options aren't clear at the moment, but Moore and U-M insist they're up to the task to solve the problem.

That has not been the case to this point, leaving questions on whether Michigan will even win another game this season, let alone two to reach a bowl.

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Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football QB vs Michigan State: Sherrone Moore says we'll see