Michigan’s ‘somebody’s gotta pay’ mentality moving forward

Michigan didn’t hit rock bottom after their first loss of the season eight days ago in East Lansing, 37-33 to Michigan State — but it sure felt like rock bottom.

Michigan had no time to dwell on that defeat, and by Monday, head coach Jim Harbaugh said that the grieving is over. Harbaugh told the media he knows how his team deals with adversity, to outside chatter — he expected them to respond.

Overall, it was a good night for Michigan, they did what they should’ve against an Indiana team who now has a surprisingly porous 2-7 record. Michigan’s 29-7 win on a crisp and cold fall night gives Michigan an 8-1 record heading into a road tilt versus Penn State.

Michigan has some things to clean up, but the game was never really in question from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. For edge rusher Taylor Upshaw, who had a sack and 2 tackles for loss, Michigan’s performance had some anger attached to it.

“We bounced back from last week,” Upshaw said on Michigan radio after the game. “Nobody was happy with last week’s results, and we said ‘somebody’s gotta pay’ — and so, today was Indiana.”

Harbaugh, and Michigan players interviewed after the game (Luke Schoonmaker, David Ojabo, Hassan Haskins, D.J. Turner), all shared the same sentiment and demeanor, the room had a vibe, and it felt like Penn State was already on their mind.

The focus and mentality Michigan carried into the game against the Hoosiers is something Upshaw expects the team to replicate heading into Beaver Stadium.

“Same as this game, somebody’s gotta pay. We’re not happy, we got places we want to go and we’re not gonna stop,” Upshaw said.

Michigan is currently ranked No. 7 in the College Football Playoff Rankings, and their biggest goals can still be attained.

Block out the negative, accentuate the positive, and attack.

“We were preaching that all week because obviously ya’ll saw what happened last week — Michigan State, and that’s out of our control,” edge rusher David Ojabo said. “But going forward we said ‘whatever happens, somebody has to pay’, and it just happened to be Indiana. That was our mentality coming into this week. Probably gonna keep it goin throughout the rest of the year. It’s workin’ for us so far.”

Three more times will have to pay, three more teams are in Michigan’s way — Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State.