Michigan Football: 5 things we learned from loss at Penn State

Slow starts on road continue

A lot of things that happened Saturday night in Happy Valley weren’t the fault of Jim Harbaugh. But one thing that absolutely is his fault is falling behind 21-0.

This has become a regular occurrence on the road for the Wolverines and it’s absolutely something this coaching staff has got to fix.

Last season, there were slow starts on the road against Notre Dame, Northwestern and Ohio State. This year, it has been at Wisconsin and Penn State. In all five of those games, the Wolverines got down by double digits in the first quarter.

That means the team isn’t showing up ready to play. I’m not sure how that happens against the No. 7 team in the country, but the failure to execute early in the game, especially on offense is mind-boggling. It’s also a big reason why this team is sitting at 5-2, not 6-1.