Michigan Football: 5 Things we learned from wild win at Rutgers

The defense nearly blew it

As good as it was to see Michigan football pull out a win, because the alternative is too terrible to think about, the Wolverines put together another really bad defensive showing.

There were some promising signs early with Chris Hinton getting a sack and the run defense doing a better job than in previous weeks, but the pass defense was rough.

In games against Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State, Noah Vedral didn’t throw for more than 169 yards. He has had seven interceptions in his first four games but against Michigan, he was 29 of 43 for 381 yards and three touchdowns. He did throw a pick but not until the final play.

The Wolverines allowed just 83 yards less than all three of those teams combined and he more than doubled his season average which was 181 yards per game.

In four of his previous six starts, he didn’t reach 200 yards and before playing the Wolverines, he had never thrown multiple touchdowns in a game without also throwing multiple interceptions.

The Wolverines also managed just two sacks in addition to the one turnover. In the last four games, they have three notched sacks and have forced only two takeaways.

Those numbers and the fact that Michigan is allowing 273 yards per game through the air are the only reasons needed to give Don Brown his walking papers. It should have happened already.