The Victors

Forget this game, pound Minnesota, work on things during the bye week, beat a bad PSU team and then take care of business vs Indiana at home. You're 6-1 and have a couple of 'easier games' vs Rutgers and MSU before entering the final 3 games at 8-1. You'd have to beat Oregon or OSU to make the playoff but if you get into that stretch at 8-1, at least you have a shot.

The frustration is that if you lose to Oregon and OSU and finish 9-3, yesterday's game will have kept you from the playoff. But if we get to those last 3 games at 8-1, I could forgive that and hope that the team is rounded into form at that point and we give ourselves our best chance.

The other frustration is that most of the problem appears to be coaching and not on field play. The penalties and bad blocking and hitting the wrong holes is play, but the coaches it could be argued have not communicated their assignments properly. The penalties are player issues but OTOH Michigan football has not been this undisciplined since the RR/Hoke regimes so what has changed?

And if Beck is a stubborn, one trick pony will he change the play calling and schematic approach? Everybody said we improved vs UTEP because we ran less rhino. He seemed to regress yesterday in personnel packages.

I also thought our defensive rotation was too limited. Guys are fading late in games (WMU, Iowa) possibly because we are not rotating. Maybe a burst of Boney and Meadows in the 2nd half would have been a nice change; they didn't play in the 2nd half. Hill was way too passive on bringing pressure and it failed.