The feeling of a glorious come-from-behind win should have been familiar — after all, it had only been 14 days since it last happened. But this one just felt a little sour.

Many students were already heading to the exits before the clock hit zero. The postgame rendition of "The Victors" was disjointed, with some singing the song and some already chanting “Beat the Spartans.” The Wolverines seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief instead of celebrating as they kept their 4-0 record intact.

That’s because the 38-34 win over Notre Dame on Sept. 12, complete with a rousing rendition of the fight song and a packed, screaming crowd, seemed to convince fans that Michigan was back. Saturday’s win over Indiana only seemed to pose the question of when the Wolverines' luck will run out.

“Winning solves everything,” punter Zoltan Mesko said after the Notre Dame game.

At the time, that felt so true. This year’s team is undeniably exciting to watch. Its offense is flashy and glamorous, and it calmly pulls through at crunch time. Saturday’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns — freshman quarterback Tate Forcier’s acrobatic leap into the end zone and his clutch last-minute touchdown pass to Martavious Odoms — are proof of that.

But it’s obvious now there’s only so much longer the offense can continue to cover up the defense’s mistakes.

“To me, I felt like (the comeback) should have never happened,” defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen said. “We made way too many mistakes, and I feel like all we did was bail ourselves out. We were able to get water out of the boat and stay afloat.”

Some of Saturday’s offensive gaffes, like the team’s six muffed snaps, are correctable. Although David Moosman hasn't played center in a game since 2007, he is surrounded by a strong offensive line and the quarterbacks will soon adjust to his style.

The Wolverines are currently leading the Big Ten in both scoring and rushing offense, two foreign thoughts at this time last year. And, of course, Michigan has already managed to surpass last year's win total in just three weeks — the most important indicator of all.

But Forcier’s bruised shoulder may potentially be more serious than he or Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez let on after the Indiana game. And with the Wolverines favored by just two points against 1-3 Michigan State next Saturday, the amount of time the Wolverine offense can compensate for defensive weaknesses looks like it might be almost up.

This weekend, the defense seemed to have no sense of urgency until Indiana had driven the ball inside the 20-yard line. Other Big Ten teams with better offenses won't be as easily held to field goals.

The scary part is that through four games, last year's Michigan defense — the one that allowed the most points per game in school history — may have been stronger than this season’s. The 2009 Wolverine defense has given up 76.6 more yards per game than it did last year, good for ninth in the Big Ten.

The most striking indicator of how much the offense has improved while the defense hasn't may be in points per game.

Last year, through four games: Opponents 22.8, Michigan 20.8.

This year: Opponents 22.8, Michigan 37.5.

That may be a little misleading, though. Even if it looks like the defense has stayed stagnant on paper, the 2009 Wolverines have played stronger after successful halftime adjustments. That has manifested in just 31 total points allowed in the second half of the four games, compared to the 60 they have allowed in the first two quarters.

Their problem is anticipating the need for those defensive adjustments in the first place. Michigan was burned by big plays again early on Saturday, notably on the Hoosiers' first touchdown play, a wildcat formation that caught the Wolverines completely off guard.

The Wolverines have talked for three straight games now about how they’re a second-half team, and how strength and conditioning coach Mike Barwis’s workouts have made it possible to outlast their opponents when the game comes down to the wire. But as they get into the meat of the Big Ten season, struggling to read out-of-the-ordinary plays — and allowing 280 yards before halftime to a three-touchdown underdog — just isn’t going to cut it.

“We dodged a bullet, but I think we helped ourselves to do it — it wasn’t just luck,” Van Bergen said.