Confidence?

Forgive me if this has been posted before, but could this team be playing so dreadful because of there lack of confidence. Starting the season these guys really believed in themselves and even some guy from ESPN picked them to upset USC. And they almost upset them. USC might not be better then Michigan (close game if they played eachother though), but they are sure better than Purdue. And we get embarrassed twice? I don't question Jerry Kill's coaching abilities, but could he be to harsh on them. He's not giving a whole lot of compliements (publicly). I can only imagine what he is saying at practice and it can't be good. Maybe these players are just to sensitive.