Early this morning I had a dream that I was on Jeopardy. I was going against Danny Bonaduce and one of the Kardashians, and since all the topics magically revolved around college football and those two are dumb as fucking rocks, I was kicking ass.

Then it was Final Jeopardy time. Alex Trebek offered the final clue:

• David Molk
• Junior Hemingway
• Donovan Warren
• Brandon Minor
• Tate Forcier
• Martavious Odoms

I responded with “what are ‘guys that when they limp make me piss my pants, suck on Krispy Kreme glazed fruit pies, and ponder the depth chart black magic powers of Mike Barwis?’, Alex” I was correct (obviously, since this is a dream and it’s all about me and my own negbanged thoughts). I won a trip to the Amalfi Coast and a consequence-free night with Kate Beckinsale and Rick Leach. Then I woke up to the first cold rain of the season for Charleston, and this all made sense.

Before the season began, 6-6 was the goal with Notre Dame offering the best opportunity to “jump up” to 7-5. Everything has gone according to plan, and with the bonus win over ND, 7-5 remains the goal. There is no magic bullet single offseason that can transform a bad defense into an iron curtain, nor can one or two true freshmen QBs transform a cartoonishly horrific offense into a shredder. Revolutions take time, and this is no exception.

The Penn State game sucked, no sugarcoat, and my entire family gets to shit all over my college choice for another year…again. More disturbingly, the Angry Michigan Turnover and Injury Gods are still around, and are still angry. But as we all kneejerk vicious rhetoric and “UNACCEPTABLE!!1!!” comments around in the wake of this miserable loss, the implications of the injuries should starkly remind us of the job RichRod has in front of him: since the beginning, this has been and still is a rebuilding job, and there is nothing quick or easy about that.

Ponder for a moment what this team looks like and how it will play down the stretch without: David Molk (which is now definite); a healthy Tate Forcier (definite); any kind of Tate Forcier (increasingly likely); a healthy Brandon Minor (definite); a healthy Martavious Odoms (probable); and a healthy Donovan Warren (after last year we’ll never know but still possible). And when you’re doing this pondering, remember that there is always the likelihood of new injuries happening down the stretch to any one of, say, Brandon Graham, Troy Woolfolk, Stevie Brown, David Moosman, Craig Roh, Carlos Brown, and oh god no more pondering plz. Just one or two more injuries, and doom will be impending us all.

True fact: this team has always been a few injuries away from catastrophe and some of those injuries have already happened. You cannot accept the veoracity of that statement without finally dismissing the absurd notion that RichRod was handed a “talented” team or a “full cupboard” or anything like that. So please stop talking about Georgia Tech- tailoring a moderately talented (albeit inexperienced) roster to suit your schemes only takes 1-2 seasons, while rebuilding a desperately thin, untalented, and inexperienced roster takes 3 or more seasons. Paul Johnson had the former, and Rich Rodriguez has the latter.

7-5 is the prize on which we must remain focused. It is the marker to show progress to fans, recruits, media, etc. Losing to Penn State sucks and essentially eliminates Michigan from any (delusional) hope of a Big Ten title, but the season-making/7-5 achieving games are still out there. The team still has much to play for.

These are the moments where good coaching and good fandom can help. When the kids fall down and the world throws dirt on them, it is the responsibility of the teacher to instruct them to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and go do it all over again. As fans, all we can do is support them through the process, hope that they have the right stuff to successfully respond, and most importantly enjoy watching this maturation process unfold before our very eyes.

Eyes on the prize, people. These kids are now shooting for 7-5, and it’s going to be a harrowing journey to get there. Get the fuck up and enjoy the ride.