Something changed for the team after the bye week. A lot of nagging injuries and such, but also importantly our first real glaring cracks in execution on either side of the ball. I equate a lot of this to injuries, and the start of the cold season as well.  But right now, we know that for this weekend, two major players are out, one is sick, but is near 100% (Miyan) otherwise and playing, and the rest are either healthy or almost there. That is, if we are to believe the reporting.

This got me thinking, when can we compare the current state of our team's seemingly good health to earlier in the season? I think Wisconsin might be a good point to look at. We did a great job executing and looked fresh, personnel-wise. Our offense, notably Stover and Trey (sad face), was playing at a high level. And Day's play-calling was on point. Defense looked stout and fast. Certain guys still had full use of their hands (if I'm not mistaken). However, we did have to play without both starting cornerbacks in that game. Another game to consider is Michigan State. While we had most players back on defense, we also began to see some execution issues. They also didn't look as fresh, and several appeared to be playing through injuries. Notably, this was the last time Mike Hall looked really healthy and wrecked the front.

So essentially, I'm trying to find the pinpoint in the season where our team was both most healthy and executing at its best. I'm hoping that something like this version of the team shows up to play on Saturday.

Wisconsin:

MSU: