It hasn't been easy at multiple points this season for Michigan. Sometimes making it more difficult than it needed to be with coughing up leads and unable to put teams away when on the brink.

Outside of the singular blemish this season, the Wolverines have responded when things get tough. Any other year, it's the same old story. Tails get tucked, momentum gets lost and never returns.

On Saturday against Penn State on the road, just like as it did against Nebraska on the road, the Wolverines found a way.

Sometimes, that's all it needs to take.

With things looking dire for the Wolverines as the Nittany Lions took a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter, there was a sliver of hope for U-M.

A strip-sack on Cade McNamara saw the Nittany Lions have excellent field position. Just when it looked dire, the Wolverines stood tall and forced PSU to a field goal. Something that might not have happened a year ago.

“That was so big,” U-M defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson said after the game. “I felt like everything was going against us in that moment. They got the tud, two-point, stopped us, strip-sack and we kind of came together as a defense. We’re not going to let that ruin our hopes of a championship. We came together, fought that adversity, got that stop. It was crucial.”

The offense had the spark it needed, the cushion to push through. A few plays later, tight end Erick All found himself with acres of green grass bounding to the endzone with a bad ankle, subsequently giving the Wolverines what it needed to stay out ahead for good.

It was a spark provided by the defense who stared down adversity in the face and answered the call.

"It gives us confidence and makes us want to do well even more for them,” McNamara said. “We know it’s our job to go down the field and score points. When they give us that extra momentum, it gives us more confidence to do it even more.”

Now, the defense needed to do it once more. Just one more stop and the Wolverines could walk away with the win and go on to live another day in postseason contention.

The defense did just that.

While the demons of adversity certainly haven't been exorcised after a single victory in Happy Valley, a chance to get a jumpstart on writing a new narrative is two weeks away.

The preparation began after last season ended.

Now, things could go a different way for this group. Something that hasn't happened to the program in quite some time.

“We realized that in the offseason,” McNamara said of responding to adversity. “As Aidan, Josh, some of the leaders of the team, we’ve understood that’s been the case for a long time. We knew that we’re going to figure out whether this team is different and all the work we’ve been putting into changing the culture is going to show when we’re facing moments like this. I think we’ve proven, again, that we’re different.”