ANN ARBOR, Mich. – If you were away from a television Saturday and checked social media to see how the Michigan football team fared against Indiana, you might not know that the Wolverines actually won the game.
That's right, Michigan didn't lose to Indiana, despite the doom and gloom emanating from the fan base. Yes, Michigan blew a 10-point lead in under five minutes. Yes, the offense was underwhelming for a second straight week.
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But in sports, situations are rarely as good or as bad as they seem, and that definitely applies here. Michigan's win at Indiana wasn't pretty, but there were positives that came out of Bloomington.
Michigan avoided a disaster
Anybody who has followed Michigan football closely since Jim Harbaugh arrived knows Indiana isn't a pushover during Big Ten play.
This was Michigan's second straight trip to Bloomington that ended in overtime, as the Hoosiers build toward contending with the top teams in the conference. Indiana gave Ohio State a scare in Week 1 and has been close to knocking off ranked teams more than a few times since Kevin Wilson, and now Tom Allen, took over.
Indiana is only 3-3 but has a comparable resume to Florida in the battle for Michigan's best victory. While they were blown out against Penn State and ultimately fell apart against Ohio State, the Hoosiers have three blowout wins, one of which came at Virginia.
If Indiana can win four of its last six games, which is entirely possible with remaining matchups against Maryland, Illinois, Rutgers and Purdue, this will turn into a decent win for Michigan, not one to be laughed at.
Michigan's hopes are still hanging by a thread
When Michigan was undefeated, style points mattered because the Wolverines had to build their resume in the case of an at-large possibility for the playoff. Now, that possibility is out the window.
Michigan's only hope of getting into the playoff and competing for a conference title is to win the rest of its games, and no matter how ugly it is, that will be good enough if Harbaugh can somehow pull it off.
If Indiana had dealt Michigan its second loss -- more importantly, its second Big Ten loss -- it would have completely eliminated the Wolverines from any kind of meaningful contention by the midway point of the season.
Whether or not you believe Michigan should be a playoff contender this season, being totally out of the race by the middle of October would have been a disaster for Harbaugh.
Michigan survived a weekend of college football madness
Do you remember the craziest night of the college football season last year? If you're a Michigan fan, it might be hard to forget.
It was Nov. 12, when undefeated Clemson lost to Pittsburgh and undefeated Washington lost to Southern Cal. Michigan had a golden opportunity to move into the No. 2 spot behind Alabama and separate itself from the rest of the field, but instead, Michigan joined the madness with a loss to Iowa.
This season, a loss at Indiana would have been more of the same.
College football lost its mind this weekend, and it couldn't even wait until Saturday. Defending champion Clemson, which has three wins over top-15 teams and looked like a lock for an ACC title, lost to 3-3 Syracuse. It wasn't a fluke, either. Syracuse dominated for 60 minutes, and never trailed in the game.
Immediately after that game went final, undefeated Washington State because the second top-10 team to fall, losing to 3-3 Cal by an unbelievable score of 37-3.
That wasn't all. No. 10 Auburn eliminated itself from playoff contention by blowing a 20-0 lead against LSU -- the same LSU team that lost at home to Troy last month.
Finally, an Arizona State team that had allowed at least 30 points in 11 straight games held No. 5 Washington to one touchdown, winning 13-7. The Pac-12's best chance at the playoff -- its representative from last season -- lost to a 2-3 Arizona State team in a shocking defensive battle.
There's no rhyme or reason to these wacky college football weekends. What's important is that Michigan wasn't part of the madness, surviving the Hoosiers as many other contenders fell back to the pack.
Michigan needs to get out of the spotlight
Harbaugh has received plenty of criticism since the loss to Michigan State, some of it warranted and some of it unfair.
But one clear flaw with the Wolverines over the last three seasons is their performance in big games. Michigan couldn't win big games against Michigan State or Ohio State to turn a solid season into a special season in 2015. When they needed a win at Ohio State to win the Big Ten East Division last season, the Wolverines threw the game away.
In the Orange Bowl, Michigan failed to pick up its first New Year's Six victory since 2011.
Now, it appears Michigan has only played one really good team in 2017, and it was a home loss to Michigan State. When the lights have shined the brightest, Michigan hasn't come through.
With Michigan's struggles against Indiana, the country has all but dismissed this team. "College Gameday" is heading to Happy Valley this weekend to see No. 2 Penn State stomp Michigan, because the focus is on John O'Korn's struggles and the inconsistency of Michigan's offense as a whole.
Michigan has a young team, and it hasn't handled the spotlight well. Expectations will be at an all-time low against Penn State, which opened as a double-digit favorite. Sometimes, that can give a boost to a struggling team.
This is an absolutely enormous opportunity for Michigan, which could make a statement and put itself in position to ride a winning streak into the two-game gauntlet at the end of the schedule.