Ann Arbor – Nine games into the season, the conversation after Michigan’s seventh win sounded a little bit like a team coming off a loss.

Michigan was hardly impressive in a 21-16 victory over winless-in-the-Big-Ten Purdue Saturday night at Michigan Stadium. Now the Wolverines (7-2, 5-1 Big Ten) get a break this week before their final three-game regular-season push toward their goal of a playoff spot.

But a win is a win, and it seems like that’s been said a few times this season in a way that someone exhales and wipes a brow and says, whew. This team is not going to win any beauty contests. There have been games – USC, for example – where the defense has had a letdown. And there have been games – the last two come to mind – where the offense has sputtered in the pass game, and every ga

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