Michigan may still be licking its wounds from whatever you want to call that game against Wisconsin. In case you have been living under a rock, it wasn’t good.

While the sky may seem like it’s falling as expectations have changed, Michigan still has all its goals in front of them. Beating Ohio State, winning a Big Ten championship and making the College Football Playoff are all still very much in play, but the Wolverines need to be much better.

Maybe an early-season letdown is a blessing in disguise – a heavy disguise – for a team which had high hopes of winning the Big Ten in Jim Harbaugh’s fifth season. Maybe some of the pressure is off now. Maybe. Maybe not.

The Wolverines shouldn’t have a problem on Saturday with lowly Rutgers, which looks to be far and away the worst team in the Big Ten. It won’t do anything to change the perception regarding Michigan, but it can do wonders for the Wolverines internally and lead to a successful season. Here are three things that are important Saturday:

1. Get Shea Patterson comfortable

It was a tough day for Patterson, who completed just 14 of 32 passes for 219 yards. The former 5-star quarterback was supposed to thrive in new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis’ pro spread formation, but he has struggled in three games this season.

Patterson looked jittery in the pocket, like me when I have too much caffeine. Rewatching that game, there was such a stark contrast between Patterson and Wisconsin quarterback Jack Coan, who seemed to be calm and under control on all of his throws. Coan’s feet always seemed to be set, while Patterson had happy feet and always seemed to be in a rush. Patterson even got benched for Dylan McCaffrey, who subsequently got hurt and had to leave the game.

This wasn’t supposed to be how this season would go. Patterson is rattled and badly needs a game where he puts up 300+ passing yards and four touchdowns. If I were calling plays for Michigan, I would let Patterson pile it on and rack up some stats, because he needs a confidence boost at this point. If he’s going to be your guy, he needs to feel good moving into a more difficult part of the schedule that features three ranked teams in the next four games (vs. No. 14 Iowa, at Illinois, at Penn State, vs. Notre Dame).

This wide receiver group with Ronnie Bell, Nico Collins and Donovan Peoples-Jones is very talented, and if Patterson can start making better decisions and connect with them, the potential is there.

Maybe a UCLA-like explosion is right around the corner. The Bruins couldn’t break 14 points in their first three games under Chip Kelly before erupting for 50 second-half points against Washington State.

Sometimes these new systems just take time. Patterson needs to play better for that to happen.

2. Figure out the defense

Michigan got manhandled up front against Wisconsin. Jonathan Taylor is an outstanding running back, and if he isn’t getting touched for four yards, he’s going to eventually break some big ones. But it wasn’t just Taylor. He sat out the second quarter, and Wisconsin still had two touchdown drives.

There was one demoralizing sequence in the third quarter when Wisconsin backup running back Garrett Groshek ran for 10 yards and it got called back because of holding. He got the ball on the next play on first-and-20 and ran for 23. Wisconsin was just relentless. Anytime Michigan held the Badgers to five yards felt like a win.

It’s clear that Michigan doesn’t have the same caliber of athletes that it had in recent years. They have to find a way to be productive without Rashan Gary, Chase Winovich and Devin Bush.

3. Establish an identity

Identity is definitely a buzzword you’ve probably heard this week regarding Michigan. But there is some truth to it. What kind of team does Michigan want to be?

Wisconsin clearly knows who it is, and it doesn’t deviate. The Badgers want to maul you up front, and they look as good as they ever have right now. Michigan seems to be straddling that line between a power team like Wisconsin and a more wide-open offense like Alabama currently has. It’s understandable to be a power team in the red zone when the field shrinks, but it’s probably not a good idea to give Ben Mason – a defensive tackle who used to play fullback – the first carry in that situation. His red-zone fumble completely changed the momentum.

Going into this season, the hope was that Michigan’s offense would be more explosive. Look at what LSU – a program traditionally built around its defense that has struggled to score – is doing this year. The Tigers are the highest-scoring team in the country, which seemed unfathomable a few years ago. I don’t think anyone expected Michigan to lead the country in scoring, but many expected a similar jump with a more modern offense and the right quarterback to do it.

Most probably looked right past this Rutgers game when the schedule came out, but it has suddenly become very important for Michigan. It badly needs this game to get back on track with a challenging slate upcoming.