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Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner went 13 of 28 for 98 yards and 2 touchdowns Saturday. As a whole, Michigan's offense gained just 158 yards -- its lowest output of the year -- in a 24-21 loss at Iowa.

(AP photo)

IOWA CITY -- Devin Gardner sat in the visiting media room Saturday fighting back tears.

Emotional, beaten and speechless -- Gardner had nothing left.

Michigan’s quarterback looked to be in pain, physically and mentally, not just from the disheartening 24-21 loss the Wolverines suffered at Iowa minutes before.

But from the countless offensive failures his club has gone through this season, each one seemingly worse than the previous.

"I lost the game by myself," Gardner said in a barely audible tone. "I fumbled the ball when they trusted me (with it)."

The play Gardner was referring to was Michigan's final offensive snap of the game. Scrambling late in what proved to be a desperation march, Gardner coughed up the football on the Iowa 31 yard line with 2:21 remaining in the fourth quarter.

He was stretching for extra yardage. He was trying to keep his team alive. He was trying to do too much.

But, in reality, Gardner was once again swimming upstream against another seemingly impossible situation -- as Al Borges' offense stammered, stalled and stank from wire-to-wire Saturday.

Gardner made the final mistake, no question about it. But in the end, it was only one in an incredibly long line of head-scratching errors by a Michigan offense that still doesn't have an identity after its 11th game of the year.

"It wasn't what we want," Michigan coach Brady Hoke said. "We've obviously got to play better."

Make no mistake, Gardner is exhausted. His body is beaten, as he struggled to move his shoulder around after Saturday's loss. And his mind is likely beaten, too, as he's been asked to do so much for an offense that gives him so little.

Michigan (7-4, 3-4 Big Ten) tinkered with its lineup again Saturday, starting redshirt freshman Kyle Kalis in place of true freshman Kyle Bosch at guard. But it didn't matter, the Wolverines ran for 60 yards on 29 carries.

Freshman running back Derrick Green seemed to eclipse senior Fitz Toussaint as the club's primary ball carrier, but it didn't matter. Green had 11 carries for 23 yards, Toussaint had six for 12.

Gardner went 13 of 28 for the game, but was hurt multiple times by inexcusable dropped passes. The Wolverines got a touchdown from their defense, and four turnovers -- one of which ultimately stopped an Iowa score and another that basically gave Michigan a score.

Still, nothing worked.

And while execution was, once again, a problem – Borges, the offensive coordinator, is far from innocent in this whole deal.

This is his offense. These are his players. His plays. His scheme. His design. It's all under his watch.

Michigan had four offensive possessions in the third quarter.

It gained six yards.

In a season that's featured some woefully dreadful offensive performances, which included negative rushing days against Michigan State and Nebraska, this was the worst.

Just 158 yards on 57 offensive snaps. That's 2.8 yards per play, mathematically.

Realistically? It's just plain embarrassing.

"I think it's a combination of all 11 guys who are out there," Hoke said. "At times, we hit on 11 cylinders. Other times, it was 10.

"And there's times it's nine. It seems to be rotating through."

Saturday was a mixed bag of offensive failure, and one Gardner ultimately tried to put at his own feet.

But there's plenty more room on the blame shelf for this one.

To the offensive line for still struggling to move anyone. To the wide receivers for dropping passes.

And, most notably, to the offensive coaching staff -- led by Borges and Hoke -- for putting together the season's worst offensive performance.

Execution wasn't great.

But neither was the coaching.

And that, ultimately, is enough to make a grown man cry.

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