The Michigan defense simply couldn't hold on long enough to escape East Lansing with a win. Giving up five touchdowns to a Heisman-hopeful running back doesn't give you a great chance to win, especially when your offense has struggled to put the ball in the end zone throughout the game.

So, what exactly went wrong on defense? On paper, it actually doesn't look all that bad. Payton Thorne was kept to 196 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 2 picks on the day. Michigan did well to put Thorne in consistent pressure situations and he never really looked comfortable throughout the day. However, now we have to turn our attention back to Walker. He proved himself worthy as a part of the Heisman discussion with this performance, manufacturing a lot of yards for himself on the day and proving that his yards after contact ability is top-notch.

Below are my three main takeaways in putting this video together:

1. Safeties struggled in their run fits consistently.

2. Walker created the majority of his yards.

3. The substitution strategy for Michigan is unfathomable.

It's a tough pill to swallow because Michigan has the bodies on defense to keep Walker & Michigan State in check. The defensive line overall did very well, and I was encouraged by the play of the cornerbacks, as well. A few lapses from the safeties in the run game and a few key passes, and a continued substitution issue that Michigan State continued to take advantage of proved to be too much for Michigan to overcome.

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