Care: Team Focus

A big, emotional win over a Top 5 team the week before and a subpar opponent at home this week...it's a recipe that shows a lot of teams play down to their opponent as they spent a ton of energy the week before. Focus is a frequent issue in these situations but that wasn't a problem for our guys.

During the game I did find myself thinking we weren't running well, Purdue was moving the ball, etc. Those thoughts were unwarranted as we experimented a lot with personnel and scheme. It was great to see some young guys on the field earlier in the game and I thought they played well for the most part (I see you, Houston...clean that discipline up).

A 45-0 win on a ho hum Saturday, where we escaped with no apparent long-term injuries, is a huge win in my book.

Don't Care: Our unfortunate opponent

It's been awhile since I had been this disinterested in a game before and during. Once it became clear that Purdue was as bad of a team as advertised I mentally disconnected from the game in a way I wasn't aware I could. We were going to do whatever we want and still score a ton of points.

No fault to Purdue, as I think their receivers are actually going to be studs if they have a QB and OC that can get them a ball, but they need major changes after this season.

Care: Trey is our best RB

I've actually been saying this since the first couple of games, but Trey is our best back and I don't mean that as an insult to Judkins. Trey's balance, physicality, receiving ability, pass blocking, and gamebreaking speed are just an unfair combination.

His stats are better but we also run Judkins in more short-yardage situations (at least I think so) so that comparison isn't entirely fair. But how we used Trey against Purdue is exactly how he should be used every week and will give DCs nightmares. He's going to be a tough matchup for anyone on the field and they can scheme him into favorable situations easily.

I've been curious as to why we've used Judkins so much more than Trey and I'd love to see that be more balanced because Trey deserves 15+ touches per game.

Don't Care: Indiana's close win

Indiana was not nearly as effective against Michigan as they have been the rest of the season. This is clearly somewhat of a product of playing the best defense they've faced all year. However, they now go into a bye week before they play us and I caution that we try to take too much from this one game to make us feel more confident.

Indiana is a very good football team and while their schedule has been very weak, they have the horses to test our defense in ways it hasn't been tested since Oregon.

It's going to be a very good game in the Horseshoe in two weeks. Indiana is not as bad as they appeared in the second half yesterday.

Care: Undeserving teams finally losing

This season has been chaos so far and it's been very fun to watch. But there have been a number of teams undeserving of their ranking simply due to the lack of losses on their resume. Another team in this category lost on Saturday, in Miami, and the idea of "it will all shake out in the end" continues to be undefeated.

Miami was a flashy team with a really fun QB to watch...but they hadn't played anyone well all year and it finally caught up to them. I didn't like the idea of them earning a bye simply because they aren't a great team that deserves it.

We're now into the true meat of the schedule, nationally, and it's becoming clearer by the week which teams are pretenders. It's nice to see those teams finally face reality.

Don't Care: Negative Talk about our DEs

This requires repeating because I've said it before: our DEs are very good for who they are tasked with being, and who they are. The majority of criticism on here appears to be rooted in unfair expectations at this point. We can't say "but they were five star recruits" this long into their tenure because recruiting rankings don't matter much after four years.

Sawyer and JT are excellent run defenders who are very strong but not quick. They aren't beating most tackles of the ball but they will bullrush as well as anyone.

Kudos to the defensive staff for scheming blitzes and pressures around their abilities because it's been very effective the last couple of games.

I wish our guys were like the game wreckers we want, but they aren't. But understanding who they are and what they are capable of showcases team players who eat blockers and make the occasional big play. They'll likely both finish with 6+ sacks among other stats on a defense that is shutting down every opponent not named Oregon.

I'll take it.