Disclaimer: I started writing this during the break before the fourth quarter

Care: A Healthy Offense is a Dangerous Offense

I have to acknowledge the level of competition and the injuries MSU had on their defense. It does matter. But our offense playing confidently, loosely, and calling plays without overthinking it is a fun unit to watch.

The Marvin Harrison Heisman campaign was clearly the flavor of the week and he has both earned it and played well (outside of a ridiculously rare drop). Have fun guarding him, literally anyone.

The timing was great, McCord hit guys in stride, and Day brought a great game plan to target anyone and everyone. The offense is clicking well in a lot of areas (hold thst thought for later) and it gives defenses a lot to prepare for.

Don't Care: Playing below our defensive standard.

There are things to critique about our defense tonight. We let MSU run the ball pretty darn successfully and we were not as tight as we've seen this season. Well calm down folks. We were missing three starters who have been playing at legitimate All-American levels this season, including the guy who runs the entire defense on the field. Not having a decrease in performance would be absurd to expect.

The fact that we are playing multiple true freshmen tonight is a huge deal, both with the on field product by the younger guys and that our youngest players are both getting valuable playing time and playing damn well against starters. This is beneficial and letting both Rutgers and MSU run the ball a little bit is okay right now.

Care: Run blocking is an issue?

(I said stay tuned about the offense) our offense was on a tear today, especially in the first half. But against a team playing down a number of starters, we had a LOT of "run into the middle of the line and get maybe two yards" kind of plays tonight. Maybe it's lax play calling against an overmatched opponent, but when the rest of the offense dominates it makes it very clear when one part of the team doesn't hold weight.

We have to be able to run the ball up the middle if needed.if we can't against MSU, that doesn't bode well for much better teams. It could be a small problem, but I'll not believe it until I see otherwise.

Don't Care: Michigan's Big Win

I said this after we best Penn State: they just suck (on offense). They stacked stats against bad teams but might have one of the most easily defensive offenses in football. Drew Allar is actually awful, not just young; he is a very bad quarterback. Stopping that offense deserves very little praise for teams that consider themselves contenders.

Michigan is a talented, disciplined team (on the field, leave it at that), and that's all they needed to be against PSU to win. Their offense is still the same thing we are used to, depending on the run and a QB that isn't as good as people want him to be. We can beat that team and I wasn't overly impressed today. I may be wrong but they didn't look extremely great today.

Care: Special Teams

Yeah, yeah, yeah... Everyone and their mom knows about this but it still deserves mentioning. Our special teams is GUARANTEED at least two plays a game where something gets fucked up. It could be poor coverage, a stupid penalty, a fake-not-fake-but-still-a-fake-punt, or something else. Just fire Parker Fleming and take over the unit, Ryan Day. At some point this will bite us.

Tonight we saw a timeout because of an illegal formation on our punt team (WHAT), fair catches inside the ten yard line, a missed field goal, and subpar punting. It's a recurring issue that gets more prevalent every week. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. If it's obviously broken, fucking fix it.

Don't Care: Playing Time for Egbuka, Proctor, Ransom, or Eich.

Unless we somehow go down by two scores against Minnesota, these guys should not touch the field. Rest up, get healthy, prep for the 25th. We are in preservation mode for our starters and need to let our young guys get experience. It was nice to see Lincoln at QB tonight, and a LOT of snaps for inexperienced players. Again, that is invaluable. Rest our starters. The timing and rhythm happens during the week. They shouldn't see the field until the 25th. All cylinders firing for Michigan. Let's fucking go.