For Michigan, a game against Rutgers came at the right time.
The Wolverines needed a morale-booster after an uneven start to the season and a major humbling last week at Wisconsin, and they got it in the form of a 52-0 win over the punching bag of the Big Ten. Now they're itching to throw more punches.
"When you’re down and your back’s against the wall, you have to come out and fight," said Jim Harbaugh. "You have to sustain, you have to work harder, work smarter, you have to be tougher, mentally and physically. That’s the only way to do it, in our opinion, and they (the players) really set themselves to doing that."
"We need to be a hard-working, blue collar team, and if we can play good, we have a good chance to win and we’ll be darn tough to beat," Harbaugh said. "If not, we can be beat, everybody on our schedule is good. It behooves us to go one game at a time and be building and attacking at the same time, because we’re right in the middle of the season."
Michigan played angry on Saturday, a week after looking meek in the Big Ten opener. That seed was planted the past few days in practice with an emphasis on physicality. More hitting. More 1-on-1's and 2-on-2's. More drills that make the pads pop and the emotions run hot.
"We just had to get that competitive spirit back, and I think this week in practice we definitely had that," said linebacker Cam McGrone.
By the time the game rolled around, the Wolverines were raring to go. Shea Patterson said they came out with "a chip on our shoulder." His teammates agreed.
"We definitely did," said running back Christian Turner. "I feel like it just showed how we fight through adversity. We just wanted to get that bad taste out of our mouth. We hear all the outside noise about we need to do this or identity and all that stuff, but I feel like we have what it takes to be really good in this room, and we proved that today."
Michigan put up a season-high 476 yards on offense, and allowed a season-low 152 on defense. The caveat of the opponent bears repeating, but this is the formula Michigan wants to execute. And speaking of the team's missing identity, Saturday seemed to remind the Wolverines who they want to be.
"I definitely think this win helped us find our identity," said safety Brad Hawkins. "What happened last week is last week. Moving forward, this week definitely helped us find our identity. We just have to keep going, one game at a time, one step at a time. We focus on now."
McGrone, who personified the team's rediscovered mean streak in his first career start at middle linebacker, couldn't help looking ahead.
"If we just play like we did today, play as a team, have that same morale, I think we’ll be good for the rest of the season, no doubt," he said.
But McGrone didn't stop there. Asked if he grew tired of all the criticism Michigan received for the Wisconsin loss, he said, "We definitely embrace it, because we know that we’re going to see them again in Indy in my hometown for the Big Ten championship. So I don’t really mind hearing about it because I know when we see them again, we’re going to smack them in the mouth."
Who knows if McGrone will get the chance to back up his words. But he spoke every one of them with confidence and hunger, like a player possessed with bringing a vision to life. And that's how Michigan played on Saturday, and how it will have to play the rest of the way to make something of this season. 4-0 Iowa is next.
"I just feel like we all had to look at ourselves and just be accountable for everything that goes on," said Turner, the lead back for the second game in a row with Zach Charbonnet limited due to an injury. "I think as everybody does their part, all 11 players, we’re going to be a really good team."
The longer Turner spoke with reporters, the more he used the word 'energy.' At one point he laughed at how frequently he was repeating himself. He said that was the biggest difference throughout this week and in this game, compared to the start of the season.
"I think everybody was more locked in," he said. "I feel like we just had something to prove."
And what was the point they wanted to make?
"It was really to ourselves," Turner said. "We know what we’re capable of doing, we just had to execute. I think today everybody did a great job of executing, doing their assignments and just playing with energy.
"That’s all we were trying to prove. Not trying to prove anything to anybody else, just trying to show ourselves that we’re capable of being great."