ANN ARBOR >> The heart and soul of an offense is the offensive line, and if that’s not working cohesively, the domino effect is hard to miss.

The Wolverines (5-5, 3-4) did not play last weekend and are preparing to face Northwestern in the final game at Michigan Stadium this season. They need a win to become bowl eligible, and the players said that has been their motivation.

Michigan’s offense ranks 129th nationally, averaging 290.1 yards, and 118th in scoring, averaging 20.4 points, and while the lack of production is not pinned to one position, the offensive line has not lived up to expectations the linemen set for themselves before the season. The Wolverines were back-to-back Joe Moore Award winners in 2021 and 2022 as the nation’s top offensive line, and last year was a Moore Award semifinalist on a team that won the national title.

This season, however, has been a challenge. The first six games featured the same starting five, but in the last four, there have been three different lineups in part because of injury but also trying different players. In the last four games, Michigan’s rushing totals have dipped, including a season low in the 20-15 loss to Indiana in the most recent game. The Wolverines had 69 yards on 34 carries.

“Not where we want to be,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, who coached the Wolverines’ line the last three seasons, said this week of the offensive line. “You always want to strive to be better but obviously, you want to be able to run the ball better. We’ve taken a lot of pride in that, and the fundamental piece has to be better, and you got to do soul searching within myself to see what I need to do to help to make them better whether it’s things in practice or whether in the game plan or whatever it is but we just got to be better. Not where we have been obviously but definitely you can see us striving to get better and we will.”

Michigan’s offensive line grades from Pro Football Focus have been hardly awe-inspiring. The run-block grade at Indiana was a season-low mirroring the rushing output.

Moore said the problem with the line typically boils down to one of five being off on a play.

“It’s the story of the one guy, one thing here, but you can’t live in that world,” Moore said. “You got to execute five as one, and when you do that that’s when you win.”

The line on Saturday will feature Myles Hinton at left tackle; Josh Priebe, a transfer from Northwestern, at left guard; Greg Crippen at center, Gio El-Hadi is back from injury, Moore said, and will resume his role at right guard; and Evan Gentry will start at right tackle. In an effort to help build depth, Priebe also has practiced at tackle.

“It’s just about us playing better together as a unit,” Priebe said of developing stronger offensive line play these final two regular-season games. “When you see a lot of these things happen on film, it’s a lot of one-man breakdowns. Four guys will be executing their job at a super-high level and doing a really good job, but that’s football. You’re going to get beat physically at times, but I think there’s too much of one play, it’s one guy messing up then the next play it’s a different guy messing up, but you still have four guys executing at a high level. Having more consistency and more of those plays where it’s all five executing at a high level, then you’re gonna break those runs.”

Hinton referred to the line as working like a machine.

“If one part is not working right, the whole thing is going to crumble,” Hinton said. “We’re less singular players and more of a unit.”

It’s more of a challenge on offense to overcome a breakdown than it is on defense, Lou Esposito, Michigan’s defensive line coach said Wednesday. If one of the 11 defensive players makes a mistake, he said it’s easier to mask that with effort.

“On offense, you have one cog,” Esposito said. “Not spinning the right way, the machine don’t work, and I think that’s what’s different on offense. You have to be perfect with your details. That’s the biggest thing. You get one thing spinning in the opposite direction or not spinning at all, the machine don’t move. Defensively, you don’t want that, but you can mask mistakes with effort. That’s the difference.”