A team should never complain about winning. Michigan football has nothing to apologize for in terms of its 24-10 win over Wisconsin.
A win is a win as they say. But if Michigan football wants to make the College Football Playoff and beat the best teams on the schedule, it will need to play better.
Beating the Badgers is nothing to scoff at. It was the second win in a row over Wisconsin, as well as the third win in a row overall. Here are five observations.
The offensive line needs to play better
The Wolverines ran for 175 yards against a team that was allowing 50 per game. There's something to be said for that, but the pass protection was a problem at times, too.
Michigan only gave up one sack. It had 445 yards of total offense. In hindsight, it feels nit-picky to be overly critical of the offensive line. However, Andrew Sprague was beaten one-on-one far too many times.
The reason Michigan was so conservative in the first half might have been due to a concern about pass protection. The offensive line helped create some big plays, but for the most part, it wasn't controlling the line of scrimmage the way it did against Nebraska.
Negative plays can kill a drive. Michigan had way too many of them simply because one or more offensive linemen were beaten badly on a block.
We thought Michigan took a step forward against Nebraska. Wisconsin is a different animal on the defensive line, so you have to adjust expectations some, but the offensive line needs to play better for Michigan to beat USC. Plain and simple.
The passing game hit its stride in the second half
Wisconsin did a great job of controlling the clock in the first half. The Badgers had more plays than the Wolverines did. That played a huge role in Michigan only scoring 10 points. It didn't help that Bryce Underwood only threw it nine times compared to 19 in the second half for 215 yards.
The tempo for Michigan was a little sluggish. Some drops didn't help, or the fact that Michigan didn't challenge what should have been a first-down catch by Andrew Marsh. It was marked short, and Justice Haynes was stopped on third and short.
Michigan punted when it didn't need to. A Max Bredeson drop also led to a punt in the first half. Yet, Underwood cooked in the second half. He completed the long pass to McCulley, who then caught a touchdown pass on his way to a 100-yard effort.
The true freshman passed for 215 yards in the second half. He averaged nearly 10 yards per pass attempt and completed multiple explosive pass plays to McCulley and Andrew Marsh.
Underwood also didn't have a turnover. He has two in five games as the Michigan football starting quarterback, which might be his most impressive stat so far.
The end of the game was weird
The last 2:30 minutes were just weird. Wisconsin battled. You have to give the Badgers credit. They started with the game with their third quarterback, at least at the start of the season, and despite falling behind by 17 points, they still didn't quit.
Derrick Moore's sacked foiled the Badgers fourth-quarter scoring drive and forced them to settle for a field goal.
That trimmed the lead to 24-10. That's a long shot with three minutes left, but not impossible. Fickell attempted an onside kick, then sat on three timeouts as Michigan ran out the clock. It was strange to say the least.
Wisconsin could have stopped the clock outside the two minute warning and just decided not to. Then, in an ever weirder twist of events, Michigan started speeding up after a final first down. It could have taken a knee, but instead tried to run a play.
I'm not sure what the motivation could be. I doubt Michigan cares about covering the spread, but it's hard to explain what either team was doing at the end.
Michigan football has legitimate options in the passing game
The Wolverines had two wide receivers go over 80 yards receiving in the same game. Wisconsin has struggled to defend the pass this season, allowing 234 yards per game, so keep that in mind.
Michigan didn't apologize for running all over a poor Nebraska run defense and it shouldn't apologize for throwing the ball well against a poor pass defense. McCulley made two big-time plays in the third quarter.
First, the Indiana transfer tapped his toe to make an acrobatic catch up the sideline. That sparked the offense, which scored soon after on a touchdown pass to McCulley, another play where he made something happen, this time after the catch.
Marsh also had an acrobatic catch that led to a field goal in the first half, as well as an explosive play on a corner route in the second half.
Marsh and McCulley combined to have 10 receptions for 192 yards. They each caught a pass of more than 30 yards. Semaj Morgan had a 19-yard gain. Marlin Klein needs to get more involved, yet this offense isn't void of playmakers.
Far from it as we learned on Saturday.
Justice Haynes is the best running back in college football
Justice Haynes was the first Michigan football running back to start his career with four consecutive 100-yard games. Now, he's the first U-M running back to start his career with five after 119 yards on 17 carries against Wisconsin.
Haynes didn't have a 50-yard run this week. Michigan had to settle with a long run of 43 yards. Wisconsin was allowing 2.1 yards per attempt. Haynes got 6.2 and scored twice.
The Wolverines got 175 yards total. The offensive line had some good moments. They struggled to win some one-on-one blocks.
Yet, the offensive line and Max Bredeson did enough to spring some explosive runs. Haynes has had at least one run of 20 yards in every single game this season. He's the definition of a home-run threat.
If the Heisman Trophy race wasn't a QB popularity contest, the Alabama transfer would already be in the mix. Some are starting to put him in the conversation.
Regardless of that, through five games, there hasn't been a better running back in all of college football.