Sorry if others have made this point, but I wasn't able to read much 11W the past few days . . .

One possible reason for the offense's sluggish start might be that the coaching staff has been playing the "long game," i.e., trying to set the team to play its best ball in November, December, and January. Here are some examples of how Meyer might have been sacrificing some early season cohesiveness to gear the team up for a late season run:

• 2,000 Rep Club: veteran players like Taylor Decker, Pat Eflein, and Nick Vannett, who had reached 2,000 combined competitive reps in practice and games by the end of the 2014 season, were mostly limited during spring practices (i.e., they did minimal hitting).
• Limit Zeke's carries early in the 2015 season so that he doesn't wear down over the course of a long season.
• Give both JT and Cardale practice and game reps: the staff tremendously appreciates both guys' contributions to the program, and they'll need both of them to step up during a long, grueling season.
• Spread the ball around to all the playmakers at the h-back and WR positions, to keep all these players engaged, and to identify which players excel in different facets of the game, etc.

So far, the result has been a disjointed mess. But I can't really disagree with this approach, in principle. This team is talented enough to make it through the first 5-6 games undefeated while doing some tinkering and without prematurely taxing its resources, so to speak; however, the offense was so bad this past Saturday that - assuming that my above assumptions are roughly correct - Meyer and company might have to rethink this approach . . . do a lot of hitting in practice this week, emphasize "bread and butter" read option football, and give Zeke about 25 carries against W. Michigan.