Well, that sucked. And this suck is becoming the norm. Michigan is 2-3 in their last 5 games, with those three losses being OSU 62-39, Florida 41-15, and Saturday’s 35-14 drubbing at the hands of the Badgers. Even the two wins in there sucked, and we chalked it up to whatever we could throw at the wall and make stick: Not showing the whole playbook, MTSU/Army are good, injuries, etc.

I’m really not certain what that was we saw Saturday. What could possibly be the reason Michigan came out so flat, so ill-prepared, so un-motivated? It was like turning back to clock to that helpless Rich Rod feeling. A team that has so much potential and talent, and it’s clearly being wasted by either lack of motivation or massive gaps in gameplan vs our opponents. Either way, the problem is at the top, where at best Jim has some scheme issues that are aggravated by injury and player turnover, and at worse he’s lost the team. The time to criticize has come, and that’s very difficult for me. It’s like stomping on the grave of Bo Schembechler. The process and the plan and the making of better men as outlined and executed with the best of intentions by Coach Harbaugh, has not worked in years 1-4 when it comes to producing championships. Early signs are that in year 5, without some kind of miraculous turn around, championships will be the least of the Wolverines problems.

I can get past the National aspirations, and understand the shortcomings associated with geography when it comes to competing at the Alabama and Clemson level. I can even recognize the head start Ohio State has had with building an elite program. What I can’t wrap my head around is getting housed by basically any other Big Ten team. So here I am, not able to wrap my head around Wisconsin looking light years ahead with a team comprised of people from basically Wisconsin.

The yearly progression of hype-to-hate maintains the fanbase’s shitty demeanor, sparking attempts to FIRE HARBAUGH and perhaps inspire the team through shitty threats and words of discouragement on twitter. And it’s tough to try to say it’s not warranted. This team has learned how to quit. You see it game after game.

In order to succeed, in order to survive, they need to learn how to come back. In a Drive. In a Quarter. In a Game. In a Season.

Michigan needs to finish.