This might be a quick one because I'm exhausted and there was SO much good that came from this game. So here goes:
Care: Offensive Line
Welcome back, O-line. Our starting RBs rushed for 174 yards on 19 carries. I'll do the math for you: that's 9.15 yards per carry. That's more than twice what the Wisconsin "I literally do not know how to do anything but run the ball well" Badgers achieved on a per-carry basis.
We did give up two sacks today and I'll have to go back and review those plays specifically, but our ground game was an extreme pleasure to watch tonight. Western Michigan will not go down in history as a great team. In fact, I think Akron's front seven is likely better. But for tonight, our guys up front did their job, and did it very well. Both of our backs had impact plays and our backup O-line, with many faults, still gave James Peoples some room to run.
We have much tougher games ahead but this was very fun to watch.
Don't Care: For the whole state of Michigan
Getting this out of the way early and will be the only non-OSU section for the night. Man Michigan sucks. I know Texas is going to likely be a playoff team this year and Quinn Ewers is Heisman candidate numero uno right now...but Michigan looks like a bad team, not just a team that lost a lot.
It was pleasurable to watch them get blasted at home today and I can't wait to watch that happen at least three more times this season...because it's going to.
I hate Michigan and this season, coupled with the impending release of the NOA and their punishments, is a long time coming. So hooray for everyone not from that state!
Care: Brandon Inniss the Glue Guy
Not only can this guy ball, and he can ball hard, but he does everything the team needs from him and more. There are more talented guys on the team, and guys with more noticeable box scores, but his effort on the field in every phase is so fun to watch. You can tell he just wants to be on the field and do everything he can to help us win. It may be by catching the ball, but it's also recovering fumbles (yes it was a fumble, not a drop), returning punts, blocking, and generally being everywhere.
I love watching him play and he may not be as flashy as Tate or as talked about as our top two receivers, but having him as our fourth receiver is a ridiculous thing to say. He keeps the effort up, he's playing like a future Block O recipient.
Don't Care: Early 3rd quarter stagnation
This was very noticeable when watching the game but after thinking about it, it looks like Chip was really trying to put some new things on the field. There were some penalties and miscues, but the plays themselves weren't bad.
I want to see out team come out hot in the first and third quarters every game, but when you have the luxury of a 35-point lead...experiment and try some stuff in a low risk situation.
I think Howard can play a bit better, as exhibited during this quarter, but it doesn't worry me because the first half was so well run.
Care: Defensive dominance
Western Michigan did not break 100 yards of offense. They did not achieve 100 yards of offense, folks. This is an astounding metric to me. They rolled up 261 on Wisconsin. We didn't even sack them much (only 3 times). But our defense was lock down in every facet of the game.
We may have had a hiccup with Burke's accidentally-being-pushed-into-a-ball-carrier-that-was-heads-down-leaning-into-contact targeting penalty, but we didn't let up at all after he was out. This team is loaded beyond any team we've fielded in the past. The depth is more than anyone can hope for and the talent is hard to believe.
Acknowledging the quality of opponent one more time, I still don't know the last time we held a team to this little production. The shutout is nice (first since 2019, I believe), but also a gift from a missed field goal, but the ability to stop any semblance of offensive momentum, even with our backups, is great.
Don't Care: Big Ten officials criticism
Please, come at me if I'm missing something big, but outside of the targeting call I don't think they called a terrible game. The Kojo drop was, in fact, a drop. The holding on Judkins' long TD run was, in fact, a hold.
One may point to the penalty discrepancy as evidence to the contrary, but the calls made were mostly understandable. Even the forward progress that Day was angry about was actually called correctly because the receiver reestablished his footing and attempted to run again; if he had just gone down at first contact it would have been forward progress (oh, and we also got the first down the very next play anyways).
I saw a lot of shitting on the officials this game but I think most of the flags and calls were correct, though the Burke call wasn't targeting to me...or at least worthy of an ejection. The helmet contact wouldn't have even happened if Downs hadn't hit the guy as he did.
We'll have plenty to gripe about in the future about officiating our games, but I don't think this was as poorly called as some others do on this board.