Michigan 14, Alabama 41: That was a beat down.

There is no other way to see it.  Bama kicked our a__.

Here's how they did it.

• Their offensive line dominated and shredded our defensive line and linebackers.  
• On defense, they dared Michigan to beat them throwing.  And we couldn't. 

I'm very surprised at how bad our defense played.  Not surprised at Alabama's offense.  They are a machine.  Good skill players supported by possibly the best offensive line in the country.   It doesn't seem like we were ready for the game.

Bama's defense took away our run.  Both our running backs and Denard Robinson, although he didn't attempt many runs.  They gave Denard the pass.  Our offensive line gave him time to make the throws.  He couldn't make them.  Bama covered our receivers pretty well, but not perfectly.  

Robinson is only effective as a passer, when he is also a threat as a runner.  So why didn't we run him more.  Not sure if this is a strategy problem, trying to make him run an offense that he can't run, or that Bama really took the run away from him.  I suspect it's a bit of both.  Either way Robinson needs to be running the ball to be effective as a passer.  And we miss Toussaint Fitz.

How good are we: not as good as our 11-2 record from last  year indicated.  We aren't fully recovered from the RR years yet.  Getting better. But not ready for prime time yet.

BTW:  The referees were abysmal last night.  Lot's of no-calls that were obvious calls.  Not an excuse for our loss.  But will we be facing poor officiating all year, because a number of college refs are filling the void during the NFL strike?  I hope not.

We have a tough schedule in front of us, and Alabama just demonstrated to the country our weaknesses as a team and how to beat us.  Lots of work ahead of us.  Time for the real coaching to begin.  Let's hope the old adage is true,  that a team improves the most between their first game and their second.

Still

It's great, to be, a Michigan Wolverine.
Go Michigan, beat the Falcons
Go Blue