Free Press columnist Jeff Seidel offers observations from Michigan's 14-10 loss to Michigan State on Saturday night in Ann Arbor:

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh was outcoached by Mark Dantonio

The Spartans came out aggressive, and all the credit has to go to Dantonio, MSU's 11th-year coach.

The Wolverines couldn't do anything on offense and made countless mistakes, turning the ball over five times, three interceptions and two fumbles — and the blame starts with Harbaugh.

Michigan’s top-ranked defense was shredded by some clever Spartans play calls in the first half.

One play in particular seemed to sum it up. In the first half, MSU called a fake reverse, screen pass to Madre London that gave MSU a 14-3 lead. It was a thing of beauty. It was so wide open, the MSU blockers were looking for somebody, anybody, to block.

Meanwhile, some of Michigan’s play calling was curious, to say the least.

Michigan opened the game with a machine-like, 16-play, 64-yard scoring drive. Five players carried the ball for the Wolverines, and they averaged 3.9 yards per rush.

The drive fizzled in the red zone when the Wolverines abandoned the run. A couple of incomplete lobs to the end zone forced them to settle for a field goal. After such a machine-like drive, it was curious that the drive was left up to a pair of lob balls.

Michigan QB John O’Korn has to take care of the ball

If he doesn’t, Michigan is in a heap of trouble for the rest of the season, or as long as Wilton Speight is out with injury.

►ESPN: Wilton Speight likely out for year with '3 fractured vertebrae'

O’Korn threw three interceptions on Saturday.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, in a torrential downpour, O’Korn fumbled the snap. But he made it far worse. O’Korn scrambled and threw a horrible pass, and it was intercepted by MSU linebacker Joe Bachie. It was O’Korn’s second interception of the game and Michigan’s fourth turnover.

Later in the fourth quarter, O’Korn overthrew Ian Bunting and was intercepted – his third of the game.

It should be pointed out that O’Korn struggled with interceptions at Houston, where he threw 34 touchdowns and 18 interceptions before transferring to Michigan.

Wolverines doomed by turnovers, penalties

A holding penalty by Karan Higdon wiped out a long touchdown pass.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Devin Bush gave MSU a first down in the red zone. In a short time, MSU quarterback Brian Lewerke scored a fantastic on a 14-yard TD run, where he dove into the end zone.

Late in the second quarter, Sean McKeon fumbled when he was stripped by Justin Layne. The turnover killed any hope of a scoring drive at the end of the second quarter.

Michigan has a lot of work to do with its offensive line

Michigan’s offensive line seemed to collapse under pressure by the Spartans. Michigan was sacked three times in the first half alone.

Some of those sacks were because U-M’s receivers weren’t getting open. And sometimes, O’Korn seemed to bail too quickly.

The Wolverines ran the ball 21 times but gained only 43 yards in the first half.

Michigan’s defense did all it could

Making some adjustments at halftime, Michigan’s defense played outstanding in the second half. The Wolverines were getting stop after stop.

But that offense kept turning the ball over.

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