Iowa 30, Michigan 28. The really big question from all quarters of the many-headed Michosphere is going to revolve around the decision to keep glorified single-winger Denard Robinson at quarterback to guide the Wolverines' last-ditch drive with a little over a minute to go, which, yes, was fairly weird: Robinson had just led a nice touchdown drive to bring Michigan within two, and even completed a pass on that drive, after Tate Forcier was pulled in the wake of the worst game of his young career. But given that Forcier has already conjured up three dramatic fourth-quarter drives in his first five games, and Robinson is a noted nonentity in the passing game, you'd think the reins on the must-have drive in the dying seconds would be passed to the proven magic-maker in that situation, not the hot hand with no accuracy beyond 10 yards -- and in hindsight, having witnessed Robinson's wobbly duck of an interception to end the threat and the game, you'd be right.

But the Wolverines still scored 28 on the road against one of the Big Ten's feistiest defenses (seven on an early interception return), and the trials of the freshman quarterbacks were secondary to the ongoing issues that allowed the Hawkeyes to pass their way to 30.

I mean, Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi is competent, but hardly a world-beating figure in the pocket; his 287 yards through the air tonight was a new career high, half of it coming on four completions that covered at least 35 yards -- including two touchdowns down the middle to tight end Tony Moeaki, who found no one waiting in the Michigan secondary. But even going back to the chin-raising September winning streak, this is something of a theme by now for the Wolverines, who'd already been gashed for at least 400 yards three of the previous four weeks, looking hopeless in coverage against Notre Dame, chasing after big plays by lowly Indiana and being slowly choked to death by long drives last week at Michigan State. At least they held up well against the run tonight (the Hawkeyes had a season-low 63 yards on less than two per carry) for the first time since the opener against Western Michigan; for the nation's 91st-ranked total defense, getting shredded only by the pass is an improvement.

So there's a fairly obvious reason Forcier has had to don the comeback cape on a weekly basis to pull the team's feet out of the fire, and it can't be a surprise that the trend is starting to break down. Aside from terrific corner Donovan Warren, the Wolverines' hopelessly green, volatile secondary has been on the verge of breaking almost from the beginning, and they paid again for their generosity with the official elimination of their long-shot Big Ten title hopes.

All of which, it must be said, has been true from the beginning, down to the alternating precociousness and inconsistency from the pup signal-callers. It just seems a little more ominous when Forcier isn't there to manufacture a happy ending.