There were no smiles on the sideline late in the fourth quarter. After all, the Michigan players were witnessing a train wreck right before their eyes.

All sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson could do was put his hands on his hips and shake his head as he watched Massachusetts score its 37th point and pick up its 439th yard with less than two minutes.

Michigan did win the game, but it didn’t feel like a win — more like an accident that everyone walked away from alive, but scarred and perhaps with a new perspective.

The Wolverines put up 525 total yards of offense on the day — that’s expected. Beating a Football Championship Subdivision school by just five points — that’s not.

Robinson’s Heisman-hyped start to the season clouded fans' perception of this Michigan team. But the Minutemen cut through the fog and revealed Michigan’s true identity: a potentially historic offense that has to make up for the defense's mistakes.

The fog was gone right from the start as a Massachusetts team built a 17-7 lead over Michigan which it held it until late in the second quarter. The visitors led the game for more than 20 minutes in the first half. Remember, this team plays Stony Brook next week.

After the Minutemen scored their last touchdown and kicked an onside kick out of bounds, Robinson walked back onto the field and bailed out the defense handing the ball off to junior running back Mike Shaw three times for one final first down to end the game.

Earlier on, it was junior wide receiver Darryl Stonum and Robinson who connected for two touchdowns in 45 seconds to take a 21-17 lead at the half. And Shaw had a career day running the ball, scoring three touchdowns.

They did their job.

The outcome of Saturday’s game could have been like Toledo. It could have been another Appalachian State episode. Thanks to Robinson and the offense, it wasn’t.

When the Wolverines ran to the northwest corner of the Big House to sing “The Victors,” the crowd joined the team in a lackluster version of the usually boisterous and proud anthem. Rodriguez said that the locker room was quiet after the game. It's clear that even after a win, they were aware.

They were aware that the defense had allowed a FCS school to rush and pass for more than 220 yards.

“Let's not pretend that we're the 1985 Chicago Bears,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said after the game. “Let's not pretend we're that ... Three games in we should get a little bit better and the disappointing part is that we didn't get better today.”

Rodriguez said it was missed tackles and a lack of attention to fundamentals that doomed his defense. Against Connecticut in the opening week, that might have been a valid excuse, but not against the Minutemen from Massachusetts. Michigan will face offenses much more explosive and talented when Big Ten play starts.

Tackling and maintaining assignments were the big issues for the defense entering the season. But we’ve heard this before.

Those issues with the defense were the same sentiments echoed a year ago, during one of the worst seasons defensively in Michigan football history. Saturday, everyone seemed aware of what the problem was, but how do you fix it?

"We just didn’t come out prepared enough," sophomore linebacker Craig Roh said. "I thought we were very focused this week in our preparation, but the thing with this defense is we’re just going to come back here and fight even harder. We’re going to prepare even harder. The concentration and drive of this defense will not let this happen again."

A solution won't be found easily, though. Defensive coordinator Greg Robinson doesn’t have the depth to rotate players who are not performing at the level they should be. It all starts with Michigan’s front seven. If the Wolverines can get pressure on the quarterback and keep the opponents’ running game in check, the secondary can follow suit. Michigan’s most talented and experienced defensive players are on the line.

The talk of the offseason was that the defense would be simpler so that the inexperienced players didn’t have to think as much and could just react. Michigan looked a step behind Massachusetts all day. The Wolverines are lucky this wake-up call came in a win.

When the going gets tough, we’ll see if the defense gets going.