Michigan escaped Western Michigan with one of the wildest finishes imaginable Saturday night.

Kyle Whittingham was in no mood to pretend that made the previous 59 minutes acceptable.

The Wolverines needed Bryce Underwood’s 47-yard Hail Mary to JJ Buchanan with one second remaining to survive Western Michigan, 13-12, in Whittingham’s Michigan debut. Afterward, the veteran coach sounded more relieved than celebratory.

“Absolutely not. Yeah, but we found a way. Our guys found a way. Ain’t over till it’s over, as the old adage goes. But there was not a lot of hooting and hollering in our locker room. We understand that. We got a lot of deficiencies. We got a lot of things to fix, a lot of things to work on and credit to our leaders. They were not happy about the way we played tonight. Didn’t defend the run well enough, not nearly well enough. Didn’t run the ball well enough. Lost the turnover margin, what, two, zero? I believe it was maybe three zero. Two or three, zero, I guess it was. You’re not going to win many football games when you look at all that. So to coming out of there with a win was really nothing short of a miracle. And we got it done. Like I said, JJ Buchanan made a great catch. Bryce made a great throw. The line protected him well enough to get the ball out. But, you know, it’s just disappointing,” Whittingham said during Michigan’s postgame show.

The numbers explain his frustration.

Michigan committed three turnovers, drew nine penalties for 80 yards and possessed the ball for only 19:52. Western Michigan ran 67 plays to Michigan’s 48 and held the football for more than 40 minutes. The Wolverines also struggled badly on the ground, with Jordan Marshall managing 44 yards on 11 carries and freshman Savion Hiter adding 15 yards on five attempts. Michigan’s official postgame notes confirmed the narrow victory moved Whittingham to 1-0, but little about the performance resembled what Michigan expected from its opener.

Whittingham was especially bothered by what happened after Michigan’s opening touchdown drive.

“We score on the first drive of the game. That’s like someone turned off a light switch. And nothing until the very last play of the game. And so that’s on me. I gotta do a better job preparing these guys. I don’t believe we overlooked Western Michigan. The focus and the concentration, the intention and practice was good, but we just seem to be in a funk tonight. And I, you know, right now, standing here, I don’t have an explanation for it. Got to watch the film Tomorrow. But I promise you this, we will figure out what we need to do be better,” Whittingham said.

That may be the most important takeaway from Whittingham’s first night at Michigan.

He didn’t blame the officiating, an opening-game adjustment period or his players. He put the preparation on himself and acknowledged that Michigan has substantial problems to correct.

Before kickoff, we identified five questions Michigan needed to begin answering against Western Michigan. The Wolverines did provide some answers. Unfortunately, several created new questions.

The good news is Michigan survived, thanks to Underwood and Buchanan’s remarkable final-second touchdown.

The bad news?

No. 10 Oklahoma comes to the Big House next Saturday. Michigan has one week to figure out who turned off Whittingham’s light switch, and how to turn it back on.