The Michigan team that has taken the field over the last six quarters is not the same one that was on display through the first six-and-a-half games. Since the second half of the Penn State game, the Wolverines have looked like a brand new team.

Fans noticed, media noticed and former head coach Urban Meyer noticed.

Michigan pounded eighth-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday, cruising to a 45-14 victory over the Fighting Irish to improve to 6-2 on the season. It was exactly the type of performance many folks expected to see out of Jim Harbaugh and company from the start of the season.

During his weekly stop on Big Ten Network, Urban Meyer talked about the change he saw out of Ann Arbor over the last six quarters. He narrowed it down to “something was not right.”

“I made a comment several weeks ago that people that are out there start blaming the players — they have bad players — that’s nonsense. Or, bad coaches. That’s nonsense,” Meyer said. “There was something wrong, and you saw it against Wisconsin. And I watched it really closely, because I know the players they got, I know the coaches they got, they got very good coaches and very good players. Something just wasn’t right. Whatever was not right, got fixed. That’s a credit to the coaching staff and the leaders on that team.

“They played the second half of Penn State, that was a great, great game. You started to see that energy and enthusiasm and toughness that they’ve been known to have. I watched real closely against Notre Dame, and that was a thorough A-to-Z beating.”

With a newfound energy on both sides of the football, Michigan has a chance to register some big wins over the next month of the season. The Wolverines still have Michigan State and Ohio State on the schedule, allowing Harbaugh and his team to get some important victories.

If they play like they did over the last six quarters, they’ll be a tough team to beat.