Michigan 27, Minnesota 24: Unsustainable
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Not all 27-24 wins are built the same. And while last week’s 3-point victory over No. 11 USC was far from perfect, there were still enough good vibes coming out of that performance to have it feel like a pretty clear step in the right direction after surviving a lose-this-game-and-your-season-is-essentially-over matchup.
One week later, Michigan won a rivalry game, improved its record to 4-1 and returned to the top 10 in the AP poll after a win over Minnesota by the exact same score. But this time around, the vibes are far from immaculate. And any attempts to spin Saturday’s win into a positive seem like some combination of forced and foolish, with some other choice words starting with f also in contention.
I’m not here to sugar coat Saturday’s game for you. I’m not here to tell you that the second-half showing was an anomaly and that things will get better. Because if there’s anything we’ve seen in recent weeks, it’s that there are trends developing — and most aren’t the ones you want to see.
But I am here to tell you that there’s still time for Michigan to make some changes. And that’s good, because some pretty major changes need to happen. Whether those changes will be made — and whether the players can execute when and if some of those changes come — is a whole different question. But it’s pretty abundantly clear that something needs to change. It’s clear status quo isn’t good enough. And it’s clear that any sort of season-long success with this personnel and this plan of attack is unsustainable.
Let’s dig in deeper after the paywall jump.
