There is only one team in the country that has racked up a worse turnover margin than Michigan through the first three weeks of the 2014 season.

The Wolverines have lost the ball eight times so far this season in a wide variety of ways. Sophomore cornerback Jourdan Lewis' interception on the second drive of last weekend’s 34-10 win over Miami (Ohio) was the team’s first and only takeaway at this point. The resulting minus-7 margin is one away from matching Louisiana-Lafayette at the bottom of the national rankings.

“Obviously that’s been a point of emphasis,” first-year offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier said Monday. “It will continue to be a point of emphasis. We’re not going to play winning football if we continue on this pace. Our guys understand that we’ve got to get that corrected.”

Nussmeier’s offense will need to take better care of the ball this weekend if the Wolverines plan to survive a visit from Pac-12 opponent Utah. The Utes and their third-ranked scoring offense (57.5 points per game) have the firepower to cash in on their opponents’ mistakes.

Michigan’s blunders have come in bunches during the past two weeks. Senior quarterback Devin Gardner accounted for three (two interceptions and a fumble) on the first four drives of the second half in a 31-0 loss to Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish led by three touchdowns when that flurry began, but Gardner’s issues eliminated any chance of a comeback attempt in South Bend. He added another interception on the final play of the game.

Opposing defenses picked off Gardner’s passes 11 times last season. All but one of those came in the first six games of the season, which led Michigan to believe those bad decisions were a thing of the past. Head coach Brady Hoke has been steadfast in his stance that Gardner will remain the team’s starting quarterback.

The three turnovers that came in a five-minute span against Miami (Ohio) can’t be blamed on Gardner. His one interception in that stretch was tipped at the line of scrimmage. The pick was sandwiched by two fumbles -- one from wide receiver Amara Darboh and the other on a botched kickoff return -- that let the clearly overmatched last-place MAC team hang with Michigan throughout the first half. Against better competition, the Wolverines will likely pay a bigger price for their miscues.

“You can’t have turnovers,” sophomore tight end Jake Butt said following Saturday’s victory. “That’s something we’ve talked about time and time and time again. Once we took care of the ball, we moved the ball. We just shoot ourselves in the foot when we turn it over.”

Everyone in the Michigan locker room recognizes the dangerous pattern, but Hoke said there isn’t one clear source of the problem or an easy solution.

“Coincidence? I don’t know,” he said when asked why the turnovers were coming in spurts. “Are we concerned about it? Yeah. We need to hold on to the ball and we need to get more turnovers on defense.”

Creating turnovers is an important and somewhat overlooked piece to the plan for a more successful turnover margin this weekend. Hoke said his team missed two opportunities to take the ball away from the RedHawks last weekend.

Despite its success in other departments this season, the Wolverines defense is tied for dead last nationally in total takeaways. The absence of starting cornerback Raymon Taylor and safety Jarrod Wilson, both with undisclosed injuries, has put more pressure on an inexperienced rotation of replacements to make big plays in the secondary.

The good news for Michigan this weekend is that the Utes are equally void of playmakers in the defensive backfield. Kyle Whittingham’s defense, which has no problem getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks, has intercepted only one pass in its last nine games. Last year’s team finished with only three picks, which tied four other programs for the lowest total in FBS. If Gardner and the Wolverines are going to put their turnover troubles behind them, this weekend would be a great time to start.