Instant Analysis of Michigan-Penn State

Game just ended. It's late, but some quick thoughts.

• Michigan won't play Penn State again until 2013. So this loss is going to linger for a while.

• I picked us to win tonight. But I said all week that playing at Happy Valley at night scares the crap out of me every time. Something about playing on the road on Saturday night. Just ask the last 3 #1 teams in the country how easy that is. If this game was a noon kick, does Michigan win?

• What really sucks is, Penn State's not very good. Royster is good, but they started a sophomore walk-on QB tonight, and he lit us up. At least Iowa and MSU have proven to be good teams (not so much for Sparty today though). Its maddening to know that Penn State will probably lose to tOSU by 50 in a couple weeks.

• Denard showed us all why we love him so much. Kept Michigan in this game almost single-handily. Finished the game 11/23 for 190 yards and 1 touchdown. Ran the ball 27 times for 191yards and 3 scores. Clearly, this kid doesn't give up. His talent simply won't let him. Truly a special talent.

• Whatever defensive changes that were made during the bye-week, I don't think really made a lick of difference. Bad tackling is bad tackling...I don't care who's doing it. I saw Mouton, Demens, Fitzgerald, Cam Gordon, Vinopal, Talbot, Floyd and Kovacs all miss tackles. I'm sure there were others.

• I'm not going to go all "Fire Rich Rod" on you tonight, because that's not the answer. But a firing of some sort might be in order after this season is done unless things get better. I think our offense is very talented, and if we had any sort of defense at all, we'd be undefeated.

• Clearly, Greg Robinson is going to get the brunt of the criticism this week. Should he be fired? I'm not in a place to answer that. To me, it looks like GERG is trying his hardest with the players he's got. We're brutally young on defense, especially in the backfield. But at what point do you go from "Our guys are just young and inexperienced." to "Is it time to start blaming the coaching?"

Rich Rodriguez and Dave Brandon must be asking themselves this by now.

• I feel bad for Rodriguez in a way, because he attached his star to Greg Robinson's in 2009, and stuck with him for 2010. That could very well prove to be the biggest mistake Rodriguez has ever made. Rodriguez can only go as far as his defense will let him. And right now, he's going in reverse. Sure, we have an offense that can score points, move the ball, make electrifying plays, but they can't stay on the field the whole game.

This is going to the topic that dominates this blog for probably the remainder of the season. But for now, it's time for bed.