Jim Harbaugh chose two words to aptly describe Michigan's blowout loss to Wisconsin on Saturday.
And he's well aware that it happened in front of a national audience.
"Watching the film, it was pretty obvious to everyone in the entire football world, really A to Z, it wasn't good," Harbaugh said. "Wasn't good enough. Not acceptable."
Michigan was down 35-0 before it got on the scoreboard, manhandled by Wisconsin on both sides of the ball. The mismatch was particularly clear in the trenches, which doesn't sit well with Harbaugh, a coach whose teams pride themselves on toughness.
Wisconson racked up 359 rushing yards to Michigan's 40.
Harbaugh accepted the blame for one of the Wolverines' worst losses in his five-year tenure.
“We didn’t play physical enough," Harbaugh said. "We were out-hustled. I take responsibility for that. In any ways that we were out schemed, also take responsibility for that. That’s my job to make sure that we’re completely sound in all offenses, defenses, everything that we’re running. How I manage the team and get them to play hard and play tough."
The loss dropped Michigan from No. 11 to No. 20, with the meat of the schedule to come. Rutgers is next, followed by No. 14 Iowa. The season has reached an early crossroads for the Wolverines, whose mettle is about to be put to the test.
Where they go from here is dependent on how they respond. And Harbaugh's fate may hang in the balance.
“The only way I know is to go back to work and dedicate yourself to improvement and fixing," Harbaugh said. "That was a bad day. That was not a banner day for Michigan. You don’t want that to turn into two losses. Won’t let one loss turn into two."
Harbaugh said the coaching staff has dissected the film and is ready to make improvements. It sounds like a premium will be placed on physicality.
“Make it part of the practice plan more and play the players that are dedicated to playing physically and hustling, hustling at all times," Harbaugh said. "Get those players in the ballgame.”
For a team that was picked to win the Big Ten, Michigan looked awfully vulnerable in its Big Ten debut. It's back to the drawing board for Harbaugh, who knows the only way out of Michigan's big-game failures is through them.
"As I said, A to Z, wasn’t good enough. Determined to get it fixed is where we’re at right now," he said. "I could go into all the details, but every single detail is saved for our team. We’ll talk about it. Already have as a coaching staff, what our plans are and what ways that we’re determined to see the improvement.
"Confident that we’ll rally and get that done.”