Michigan hammered Central Florida 51-14 in a game that was over about three minutes into the second quarter, if not sooner. Yet former Nebraska quarterback and UCF head coach Scott Frost didn’t leave without making a statement – not on the field but through the media, as has been his history.

"It's hard to say when the score is what it is, but we came out here and outhit those guys today," Frost said. "Standing on the sideline, there's no doubt which team was hitting harder.

“Our guys came in hungry and wanting to do that. It's rare that you can come into Michigan and rush for 300 yards on them. They had to run a fly sweep in the fourth quarter to get to 100 [yards rushing].

“I give our defense a ton of credit ... there's a lot to fix, but there's also a lot to really be excited about."

Of course, the Knights’ only success on the ground came on quarterback scrambles and an 87-yard end around on which redshirt junior linebacker Mike McCray seemed blatantly held on the edge.

Still, Frost wasn’t done.

"Jim Harbaugh's teams are physical, that's what he's known for. We came in here and rushed for six yards a carry against them," he said. "They had 2.9 yards rushing. That tells me our guys are playing hard and fighting. That's really what I wanted to see today.

"There was no lull. We outhit them in the first half; I thought we outhit them in the second half. They've got a lot of playmakers and they made a bunch of plays. But standing on the sideline, watching the impacts and watching the collisions and watching the line move, I thought we won that battle."

They also won the coin flip, something else to celebrate on the long flight home.