Punt-Counterpunt is more insightful than it presents itself.  This was addressed there.

The problem Michigan has now, is that the program has a scarlet letter.  First off, football fans are on average so dumb that the firing of Stalions is immaterial; every win in the past, present, and future is Michigan "cheating".  And even if against great odds you convince the idiot in front of you that Stalions is literally gone, that just means Michigan has moved on to another method and simply hasn't been caught yet.  The narrative is set; facts are just your tainted opinion.

This is what I hate about sports fans, and people in general.  They're so awful on the inside that they need for certain things to be true, even if they're complete fabrications, to justify their own awfulness.  The loudest complainers about this "scandal" are all whiny, petty, sniveling Gollums.  This was never about whatever trivial violations Stalions committed; everyone in the B1G was looking at Michigan's success and was screaming for any excuse to tear them down (but sure, it's OSU that's against the world).

Corum had a nice run against Minnesota, I believe, where he bounced around some guys.  But I agree the big plays haven't been there.

They definitely are missing Olu and Hayes, but you also see defenses doing somewhat extreme things to stop UM's running game and bet McCarthy to beat them in these blowouts.  That's the one thing I have a hard time taking away yet - Michigan hasn't had to try to mess with teams much on the ground and there are talented guys here that even if they were 80% Olu and Hayes you'd expect bigger runs at times.  So some of it may just be the play calling coupled with a step down in performance.  

I also suspect some of it may just be weird luck; Edwards in particular has been shoestring tackled a dozen times in plays where if he breaks that one last guy he's off to the races.  It's a bit like last year where the offense kept bogging down in the red zone for weeks and then they broke out in the last 3-4 games with something like a 70% TD rate.  So maybe the luck turns a bit and they get some big runs against teams like PSU, Maryland, and OSU now.

Unless injuries are involved (realistic with Corum and Edwards), this doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

There are three returning O-line starters and two of them were considered good NFL prospects last year (Zinter for sure, possibly Keegan). Have they regressed?

Hayes (a practice-squad NFL player at this point) and Olu (5th-rounder, made roster and has played) were good, yes, but are Henderson and Nugent (multi-year starters in a Power Five conference) that much of a drop-off?

I can't see issues anywhere else. Bredeson seems improved and Barner has blocked well. Trente Jones seems to be filling the Honigford role well.

It is starting to feel like the offensive line and running backs in their current form are just guys

Let's not overlook that Corum has 16 TDs on 126 carries.  

I would agree that he hasn't looked Heisman-good this season overall, but he's still incredibly consistent.

It is just reflecting the times.

Breaking Bad reference there. Heisenberg ultimately does fall.. but no one else took him down.

Maybe he had a cold, idk he was just off on a few throws, i wouldn't read too much into it.

i have a feeling we spent much of our 'off' time on the bye-week working on PSU and ohio stuff.  we played very vanilla vs. purdue, played with our food a little in the middle of the game, but we were never in any danger of that even being a close game.  

I don’t know that the reads were completely off. I thought I saw one time in the red zone where JJ handed off to DE, who gained 5-6 yds, but it looked like JJ wanted to keep the ball as he could have walked into the end zone. Maybe that was just me and it was more of a poor handoff from JJ. 🤷‍♂️

JJ is our meal ticket; we shall not want. He maketh us to lie down in green gridirons. Etcetera. Just seeing him flattened between two NFL-quality Purdue defensive ends on one play, and coming up wincing, was enough to convince me that you titrate those runs carefully, baby. We already know that he can read the play, decide whether to keep. But I'd rather see us get a halfback rotation of Corum and Mullings really churning next Saturday, and JJ using the wheels when needed, rather than watching them come off, maybe the whole season with them. 

Go watch the line again and the push they got and the fact that 2-3 linemen were available to block 2nd/3rd level guys. Run that play under center and it may be a TD. Still think bush push or Orji direct snap better coming out of a time out.

On 4th and 1 we should have all tight ends on the edges, not wide receivers. The risk of a pass is still present but the body is bigger and used to blocking defensive linemen. 

Innocent until proven guilty only matters when the govt is trying to put you in a box.  In every other instance it doesn't apply.

That's largely been my vibes all year.  McCord is a bit more mobile and Allar is a bit better arm but they're largely the same guy with different surrounding casts.

I think you could put Harrison in Iowa's roster and they'd average 25 points a game, that's how good he is.

And even then, only if he's having an off-for-JJ day! Many of those incompletes were complete if JJ DOs them like has been doing every past week (except the memory holed).