What To Take From The Nebraska Game

The [Very] Bad

Denard Robinson is Michigan football

It's been in the back of our minds for some time now: what will happen when Denard goes down and can't come back to save the day? The answer came in the form of a harsh reality check, with Michigan fans across the country watching as the defense did it's best to make up for a complete lack of offensive production. Robinson produced 101 yards of offense in just under one half of play, and Michigan finished with 188 total yards of offense. Until he comes back everyone on the schedule is a threat, and Ohio State is a guaranteed loss.

The Good

The defense

Is it possible to praise this unit enough right now? Probably not. They only gave up 23 points despite playing alongside an offense that did nothing to help it out, stopping Nebraska drives that were fueled by Michigan turnovers on more than one occasion. If Robinson played the entire game I doubt Nebraska would have topped 17 points, which is an extremely impressive performance considering what Nebraska had done to defenses in previous games.

--

Not exactly a deep analysis, but the game didn't show us much more than the importance of Robinson and the strength of the defense. The Wolverines simply don't have the weaponry on offense to make up for Denard's presence, and although the defense is great it isn't that great. It'll be at least two years before Michigan is deep and talented enough to power through major injuries of this sort.