Postgame podcast: Michigan coaching 'No. 1 takeaway' after close call at Northwestern

The Michigan Wolverines moved to 8-2 (6-1 in the Big Ten) on Saturday thanks to a 24-22 walk-off victory over Northwestern at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Wolverines held a 21-9 lead early in the fourth quarter, but eventually fell behind and finished the game with 5 turnovers.

Michigan found a way to win, but it was another bizarre performance for a group that has made its living off them.

TheWolverine.com’s Anthony Broome and former Michigan defensive lineman Ryan Van Bergen discuss the team’s win on Saturday, and what led to it being closer than it needed to be.

 ”[Michigan] coaching, I think, is the number one takeaway for me,” Van Bergen said. “After a bye week, you should see a well-oiled, executing, high-efficiency offense, defense and special teams. You should have a game plan and be crisp, sharp, fast. You should be fresh. And you didn’t see any of that. I think Wink Martindale and the defense held their own. There are some times when I feel like in coverage we broke down, but I also feel like we’re exposed a lot more than we maybe need to be because of where the offense is going. And with five turnovers. I thought Chip Lindsay tried to install some more RPO, which was feast or famine early on.

“We feasted on the RPO late in the game. I think Bryce Underwood may have become overconfident or was trying to overcompensate for some of the mistakes he made and easy give-aways that were four or five, six yards easy for all. And if you were watching the game on the live broadcast, Joel Klatt was kind of going over their coverage and their quarters and how their safeties were coming down to support the run. And I mean, that wasn’t that hard to pick up on. And Northwestern kind of cat-and-mouse with Chip Lindsay and they ended up getting those picks.

“There were some strides that went forward, but when you have the undisciplined mistakes, there were penalties, there were, there are penalties that weren’t called for sure. Not to be that guy, but we got away with some stuff. Those types of things. The miscues on special teams, those are the type of things after in Week 12, talking about it in every press conference, ‘we have some things to clean up,’ I am kind of standing on that it’s not clean enough. So now what? That’s kind of where I’m at with the coaching staff.”

Michigan fans can watch or listen using the embedded players above and below, on our YouTube channel, or get the audio versions wherever you get your podcasts.

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