OPINION

By Dave Curtis

updated 3:02 a.m. ET Nov. 22, 2009

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Spend a few minutes around these Michigan Wolverines, and discover the happiest 5-7 team in college football history.

Everything's fine in the Big Ten basement. Schembechler Hall, football headquarters here, doubles as Shangri-La. Each player and coach and ankle-taper in maize and blue is, as this season's UM slogan screams, "All in for Michigan."

And the distance between the Wolverines and the outright Big Ten champ Ohio State Buckeyes, who walked out of Michigan Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a 21-10 victory? Get a load of this.

"Ohio State's not that good of a team," UM punter Zoltan Mesko said. "We beat ourselves." Say what? Mesko won something called the Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award, which makes him maybe the smartest Wolverine. Saturday, he sounded delusional.

So did the rest of his teammates, who pledged, again, that championship contention isn't far away. So does outgoing Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, who extended the nothing-to-see-here attitude by pledging before the season ended that coach Rich Rodriguez would return for the 2010 season.

Ah, Rodriguez, who's spent the past two years becoming college football's most polarizing figure. He's a genius or a joke, a messiah or a mess. On this day, though, he sounded like the only sane person associated with the Wolverines. With firm grasp on each side of a podium, Rodriguez defended himself once again after the loss.

He talked about the past:

"The last three or four Februarys have hurt us a little bit."

The present: "We're going through a growing process that we're not accustomed to at the University of Michigan."

And the future:

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"We'll beat Ohio State when we have a better team than Ohio State."

Then in summation, he added, "The University of Michigan will be just fine." It's not that simple, though. Evaluating Michigan football and Rodriguez's impact on it, gets complicated. Take the quarterbacks. On one hand, Ryan Mallett's transfer to Arkansas and a lack of veteran depth prompted the staff to play true freshman Tate Forcier as its primary quarterback. On the other, Forcier regressed this season, capping his rookie year with four interceptions against the Buckeyes.

The same goes for the defense. At least eight of Saturday's starting defenders return. But given that UM ranked last in rush defense and scoring defense during the first seven weeks of Big Ten play, does Michigan want them back in those roles?

Check with the Wolverines, and it's unanimous. Keep them all. In fact, don't change a thing about this program.

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"Coach Rod is going to get it done," outgoing defensive end Brandon Graham said. "We're on the road to a championship. You saw the progress this year, even though we got stuck at five (wins). Coach Rod is the guy."

But changes need to be made, and at least Rodriguez recognizes that. He and his staff need to recruit big numbers at every position. Player development needs a boost too, and a shuffle of the defensive coaching staff would count as a good start.

So set the Rich Rod clock for one calendar year and start it right … now.

When Michigan meets Ohio State again, UM will have a new athletic director, one unafraid to change things. The delusion, by then, will be no more. For better or for worse.

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