• Michigan's defense: "One thing I did hear in the locker room after the game from the players was interesting. I believe it was [redshirt sophomore defensive tackle] Michael Dwumfour saying, 'They'll see now. We're built to play four quarters.'
"Defensively speaking, Michigan's problem the last few years hasn't been slow starts. It's been finishing strong in some big games. Leads against Iowa, Florida State, Ohio State, that they couldn't hang onto. Late in the Wisconsin game, Wisconsin pulled away and won that one comfortably, even though Michigan wasn't leading.
"I will be intrigued to see what happens when Michigan is protecting a late lead against some of those better teams, because you think about it. Their defense has been good late this year. They've not been good early. That's something that needs to get corrected. They've been pretty good late in the games.
"With the exception of late against SMU, where they gave up a bunch of yards and points, but the game wasn't ever in doubt. Let's see if that translates, and whether that's a [strength and conditioning coach] Ben Herbert thing, or whether it's something they've emphasized, we'll see, but I'm really interested to see what happens in some of those big games when Michigan is protecting a late lead."
• Junior quarterback Shea Patterson: "As the game wore on, I think there was less, 'Hey, Shea, work your way through your progressions.' It was more, 'Okay, get the first down. Move the chains. Get the ball into the red zone. Get the ball into the end zone. Let's kick some field goals. Let's get some points out of this drive.'
"That tends to be what you do right away in the bigger games. You're less worried about executing things the way they're designed. Just move the sticks and get points. I wasn't surprised.
"Look, the sequence they used, the touchdown and then the critical first-down run by Shea on the third and six … same formation, with the four receivers split into the diamond out to the left. You bring [sophomore fullback] Ben Mason in motion to stack him on the left side. Then they ran [senior tailback] Karan Higdon right up the gut for the touchdown the first time.
"The second time, same formation, they brought Ben Mason in motion, Northwestern recognized it, they all crashed down on Karan Higdon, minus one. Shea was one-on-one, had to make one man miss to get a first down. That was really well sequenced, and a good play call when you don't want to put the ball in the air to possibly stop the clock, and still get a first down. That was really well executed.
"You're seeing they're finding ways to take advantage of Shea Patterson's versatility. When they needed it late in the game, it was on full display."
• Penn State's play-calling at the end versus Ohio State: "It was a strange turn of events. Their kicker has not been good above 40 yards. So earlier when he went for it on fourth-and-one at the Ohio State 25, with his kicker, that's no gimme. They had the ball in Trace McSorley's hands, and the play probably works if the ball doesn't get batted down.
"Your job isn't to be unpredictable there. Your job is to move the chains. That didn't work out. They've got to execute. I don't hate fourth-and-one passes, but when they blow up in your face, you really look bad.
"I'm not a fan of fourth-and-five handoffs. Maybe [Penn State coach James Franklin] thought, okay, we'll get half of it here and half of it on fifth down, but it didn't work out."
Here's the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/michigan-wolverines-football-podcast-doug-karsch-with-john-borton-1
"Defensively speaking, Michigan's problem the last few years hasn't been slow starts. It's been finishing strong in some big games. Leads against Iowa, Florida State, Ohio State, that they couldn't hang onto. Late in the Wisconsin game, Wisconsin pulled away and won that one comfortably, even though Michigan wasn't leading.
"I will be intrigued to see what happens when Michigan is protecting a late lead against some of those better teams, because you think about it. Their defense has been good late this year. They've not been good early. That's something that needs to get corrected. They've been pretty good late in the games.
"With the exception of late against SMU, where they gave up a bunch of yards and points, but the game wasn't ever in doubt. Let's see if that translates, and whether that's a [strength and conditioning coach] Ben Herbert thing, or whether it's something they've emphasized, we'll see, but I'm really interested to see what happens in some of those big games when Michigan is protecting a late lead."
• Junior quarterback Shea Patterson: "As the game wore on, I think there was less, 'Hey, Shea, work your way through your progressions.' It was more, 'Okay, get the first down. Move the chains. Get the ball into the red zone. Get the ball into the end zone. Let's kick some field goals. Let's get some points out of this drive.'
"That tends to be what you do right away in the bigger games. You're less worried about executing things the way they're designed. Just move the sticks and get points. I wasn't surprised.
"Look, the sequence they used, the touchdown and then the critical first-down run by Shea on the third and six … same formation, with the four receivers split into the diamond out to the left. You bring [sophomore fullback] Ben Mason in motion to stack him on the left side. Then they ran [senior tailback] Karan Higdon right up the gut for the touchdown the first time.
"The second time, same formation, they brought Ben Mason in motion, Northwestern recognized it, they all crashed down on Karan Higdon, minus one. Shea was one-on-one, had to make one man miss to get a first down. That was really well sequenced, and a good play call when you don't want to put the ball in the air to possibly stop the clock, and still get a first down. That was really well executed.
"You're seeing they're finding ways to take advantage of Shea Patterson's versatility. When they needed it late in the game, it was on full display."
• Penn State's play-calling at the end versus Ohio State: "It was a strange turn of events. Their kicker has not been good above 40 yards. So earlier when he went for it on fourth-and-one at the Ohio State 25, with his kicker, that's no gimme. They had the ball in Trace McSorley's hands, and the play probably works if the ball doesn't get batted down.
"Your job isn't to be unpredictable there. Your job is to move the chains. That didn't work out. They've got to execute. I don't hate fourth-and-one passes, but when they blow up in your face, you really look bad.
"I'm not a fan of fourth-and-five handoffs. Maybe [Penn State coach James Franklin] thought, okay, we'll get half of it here and half of it on fifth down, but it didn't work out."
Here's the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/michigan-wolverines-football-podcast-doug-karsch-with-john-borton-1
