5 things we learned from demoralizing Michigan football loss to Texas

It's far past time for transactional over transformational

It might be easy to blame the current Michigan football coaching staff, but they aren't the ones who decided that Michigan was going to act like NIL didn't exist while every other blue-blood was paying a premium price for top-end talent.

Michigan didn't want to pay up for an elite quarterback like Dante Moore and this is the result. Moore should have been starting for the Wolverines on Saturday and it's baffling that Michigan didn't make a stronger move for him in the offseason when he became available again.

Maybe stars didn't matter as much with Jim Harbaugh, because he's Jim Harbaugh. But eventually, that was going to catch up with the Wolverines. Last year's team had five-star talent but if NIL had been a thing in the 2021 class, Michigan wouldn't have signed Edwards or J.J. McCarthy.

That's the truth. So, Warde Manuel and the entire Michigan athletic department need to come together, because unless Michigan gets aggressive with pay-for-play on the recruiting trail, the gap between it and teams like Texas and Ohio State will only grow larger.

The secret weapon (Jim Harbaugh) isn't around anymore and Michigan needs to act accordingly. So far, it hasn't.