ANN ARBOR, Mich. — This was not a banner day for the Big Ten, and after one quarter, Michigan was well on its way to joining the ranks of ugly and embarrassing performances.



Nebraska lost to Troy, Rutgers lost to Kansas, Maryland lost to Temple, Wisconsin later fell to BYU.



But after the Michigan offense roared to life, after Shea Patterson hit Donovan Peoples-Jones on a crossing pattern off play action, after the Wolverines had their faults but never really let up from there, the whole conversation changed. No. 19 Michigan beat SMU 45-20 in its final nonconference game, and now the Wolverines enter Big Ten play on the upswing.



“We’re getting closer to being good, really good, but we’re still not quite there yet,” coach Jim Harbaugh said.



Final thoughts from Saturday:



Shea Patterson keeps rolling



Running back Karan Higdon did not play, and the Michigan running game suffered. Harbaugh said after the game...