Iowa Postgame Presser: Jim Harbaugh
[Upchurch/MGoBlog]
There are portions of my audio where I couldn’t hear because of the reverberations of Iowa folks celebrating, so I pieced together what I could.
What was happening with the offense tonight? Seemed like it was misfiring.
“Not enough—we didn’t make enough plays to extend drives and get first downs. Missed some deep throws. Close. Just…you know, give Iowa credit. They tackled, they blocked, they played a very good football game. So, congratulate them and move on.”
How about your defense? They stood tall pretty much the whole game, it seemed like. Stribling had a big interception. Talk about what
“Yeah, they—I thought they played well most of the ballgame and it was a low-scoring, hard-fought football game.”
Did you think with the facemask, I didn’t see it, but did you see it from your field position?
“I didn’t see it either.”
Did you get any explanation?
“No.”
What did you tell your team after this game?
“Big things and every little thing isn’t going to go our team’s way or anybody’s way. Every little thing doesn’t always go your way, and we’ll make—to make it a win you’ve got to make it that way. We didn’t do enough to make it that way tonight.”
[After THE JUMP: more words]
Do you still feel like this team’s goal are in front of them?
“Yes.”
Did Wilton’s shoulder affect him late in the game?
“It might have a little bit. I thought he threw a good ball there to Amara, the last one, and then he threw a real good one to Jehu as well, the one that got intercepted—or got taken away. And then the last one, I thought Amara’s hand was getting held down, but every little thing doesn’t go your way. I thought he played well tonight.”
There were two Power 5 teams that went down today at home [Clemson and Washington]. How hard is it in your mind [something about going undefeated]?
“It’s difficult but not insurmountable.”
You don’t know much about this team after a loss, this season in particular. How do you think that they’ll respond?
“We’re all going to do our jobs. I mean, that’s part of my job. I’m not the only one, but a big part of my job is to make sure we respond.”
Did anything they did defensively surprise you today?
“They—there were some wrinkles. They played well. They played hard. They set the edge extremely well. They tackled well. Had good coverage.”
The Devin Bush targeting call: did you think that was targeting?
“I did not, no.”
In the running game, did you guys feel like you’d have a little more success against the running game? Especially on first down, they got some pretty big gains.
“Yeah, we would’ve liked to have more production there.”
When they lose the way they lost last week, [I can’t hear most of the question on my recording but it was about whether Michigan lost focus]?
“We just didn’t get it done tonight. We didn’t do enough to make it go our way.”
November 13th, 2016 at 12:21 PM ^
That had to be a tough room to be in.
November 13th, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^
And somewhere deep down inside, there's a whisper that it's awesome that I can be sad that we lost a game by one point ten games into the season. Onward.
November 13th, 2016 at 12:30 PM ^
Michigan will go undefeated in 2018 and 2019. back to back. you heard it here first.
November 13th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^
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November 13th, 2016 at 12:35 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 2:49 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 12:41 PM ^
Kids did not make any plays and they took stupid penalties. Anybody that thinks this loss is on the coaches was not watching the game. Everybody not named Evans or Darboh played poorly. Kids have to make plays
November 13th, 2016 at 12:55 PM ^
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November 13th, 2016 at 12:44 PM ^
What does "accountability" do? If Jim says "It's my fault we lost," does the outcome of the game change?
November 13th, 2016 at 12:57 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:56 PM ^
That says it all.
November 13th, 2016 at 4:22 PM ^
November 14th, 2016 at 7:28 AM ^
A user with a Cristiano Ronaldo user name deriding someone for, in the user's opinion, "making excuses"!
That takes an ability to put your fandom in little boxes that I don't have. Color me impressed.
November 13th, 2016 at 3:55 PM ^
negging this.
November 14th, 2016 at 9:29 AM ^
The team suffered a tough loss and he's upset about it. But, as a great coach he's not going to throw anyone under the bus. Some guys had bad games and it showed, but it's not solely on them, it's a team game.
Trust me Harbaugh knows what went wrong and behind closed doors he's letting people know and they are working on the mistakes and will get them fixed. Airing it in the public does not help.
November 13th, 2016 at 12:37 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 1:26 PM ^
would have made all the difference. How many times has that been the case?
November 13th, 2016 at 1:48 PM ^
One first down would've also made a difference.
November 13th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 5:10 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^
Stupid.
Play this same game same field one hundred time and Michigan defenestrates Iowa 97 times.
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November 13th, 2016 at 12:47 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 8:08 PM ^
I agree there's no explanation (apart from all the factors that actually contributed, as noted by posters). It's just a wrinkle in spacetime, I think, one that UM trips over time and again. At least since 1969, when I started following UM football, we (well, UM teams) have repeatedly played down to the skill level of our opponents, thereby affording them the opportunity to use greater emotion and determination to beat us. (WD, can you tell us how many times in the past 47 years a UM team ranked in the top 10 has been upset by an unranked team, especially a conference opponent?)
I recall one year (don't know which) when Michigan had risen to #1 in the polls just before the Staee game. It was in Ann Arbor and on national TV. A homemade banner high in the north end zone read, "No. One vs. No One." An omen, and not a good one. We lost.
I couldn't predict Iowa would have won on Saturday, but I've had a bad feeling about it since I looked at the 2016 schedule for the first time. (WD, what's our W-L record at Iowa, especially when we're ranked higher than UI is?) We do not play well against teams widely perceived to pose little threat.
Of course, that's most teams. But there's always a snake in the turf somewhere, and too often it seems to have been black and gold.
November 13th, 2016 at 12:49 PM ^
Lousy presser. Two weeks until The Game. Best get busy, Jim.
November 13th, 2016 at 12:52 PM ^
Sucks that we lost, but life isn't so shabby when your only loss results in the opposing fans rushing the field and the opposing coach to cry from sheer joy in the post-game interview... all from a team that went to the Rose Bowl last year. Keep this in mind when you crab people are calling for heads to roll.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:04 PM ^
The elephant in the room:
De'Veon Smith - 4.9 yards per carry this season
Chris Evans - 7.8 ypc
Ty Isaac - 6.0 ypc
Karan Higdon - 7.2 ypc
Yesterday, Smith rushed 12 times for 28 yards (2.3 ypc). Evans carried it eight times for 52 yards (6.5 ypc). Isaac carried it once for seven yards and a TD. Higdon had 3 for -3 yards.
I love Smith; no one fights harder for yardage, and he's a terrific pass blocker. He seems like a classic Harbaugh player. Certainly, he should see the field. But I'm afraid we're giving him too many carries. I can't help thinking our run game has a ceiling when Smith is the primary back.
We talk about riding the "hot hand," but that seems to only be true for decidng which back will complement Smith. It seems to be a given that he'll get the most carries, at least if the game is close. I'm not sure if that gives us the best chance to win, though.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:32 PM ^
He had 4 Carries for 11 Yards.
I will bitch about that 2nd and 9 Pepcat play until the end of time (or at least, the end of this week).
Why the Harbuah and/or Drevno thought, "Hmmm....we need to pick up at least 4 or 5 yards here. Let's run Jabril again --- he's racked up 10 yards on 3 carries so far. Even better, we'll keep a hurt Speight on the field, so it's 10 on 11, and rely on all-world-receiving but mediocre-as-heck-blocker Jake Butt to key the play. Sound good?
November 13th, 2016 at 1:42 PM ^
I have to assume there's a wrinkle they're saving for OSU. Probably a Peppers pass from that formation. The staff isn't dumb and I'm sure they're well aware of the fact that everyone sprints at Peppers as soon as he gets the ball. We used that tendancy against MSU to get that awesome reverse to McDoom that went for 40ish. I would be surprised if Peppers doesn't pass from that package in Columbus.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:52 PM ^
We couldn't stop a run only offense last night. Wait until the two headed monster (Weber and Barrett) of Ohio state shows up, I think we are in real trouble.
Go blue
November 13th, 2016 at 2:01 PM ^
I really wouldn't have wanted Peppers to throw his first pass of the season deep in our own territory with 1:50 to go in the game.
He just shouldn't have been in as wildcat at all. Keep Speight in at QB. Maybe use Peppers as a WR going in motion as a decoy.
November 13th, 2016 at 2:36 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:15 PM ^
I do not believe this bodes well for future predictors vs. the Great Satan in the Snakepit in 2 weeks.
Go Blue
November 14th, 2016 at 8:48 AM ^
We gave up 164 yards rushing on 49 carries. Beathard passed for 66. That's not a bad defensive peformance. If we hold OSU to anything like that, I'll be elated.
I'm more concerned about our offense and lack of consistency.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:57 PM ^
...but there are tons of plays that could have employed Peppers as a decoy once or twice this year. They could have run one or two and saved a couple specifically for OSU.
November 13th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^
Aren't there more than one wrinkle possible -- one for Iowa, one for OSU? And don't we want to beat Iowa? Up 2 points with 1:30 left, needing one first down to win the game, would have been a good time to use any non-insane "wrinkle" (e.g., no way should Peppers throw his first pass of the year at that point).
Speight should have still been the QB, so the Michigan "pass / run" option would have actually existed. Instead Harbaugh put up a big "HERE COMES A PEPPERS RUN!" sign, Iowa reacted accordingly, and the play got stuffed. A play completely wasted when plays were at an absolute premium.
Just bonkers.
November 14th, 2016 at 8:41 AM ^
But Meyer is no idiot. He knows that we are likely to use Peppers as a decoy or to throw the ball or to hand off on a reverse. He will instruct and coach his D to stay in their lanes and maintain their coverages.
The idea of saving gimmick plays for bigger games later in the season is fine with me. But when we are in a dogfight NOW and need to put a team away NOW, we ought to use them.
We can always draw up more, Hell, we can even use the threat of a gimmick play that we have shown to set up something counter to it.
All that being said, if we win out, we will have no problems. The next game is always the biggest.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:44 PM ^
I thought the lack of carries for Evans and Isaac (or maybe moreso the amount of carries going to Deveon) was increasingly baffling as the game went on. Smith wasn't doing anything last night while Evans was consisting getting 5-7 yards and Isaac just didn't appear again after his TD. I have no idea what the thought process was there
November 13th, 2016 at 2:08 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 2:10 PM ^
In my post, the YPC numbers are for the whole season; the Iowa game numbers are below that.
November 13th, 2016 at 3:02 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 4:04 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:47 PM ^
Smith is in there because he is the best at pass blocking by far. For a PA-heavy team like ours, that's a big deal.
So that's the coaches' dilemma . . . sacrifice effective pass blocking for a better run game, or sacrifice a better running game for effective pass blocking.
That's why it's a $12million+ staff, to make these hard decisions.
November 13th, 2016 at 6:07 PM ^
November 14th, 2016 at 9:32 AM ^
of Issac. One very good carry for seven yards and TD and then he's on the bench the rest of the game. It didn't make sense to me. He's big and strong and sees the field well. Seemed like a perfect game to get him some carries.
November 13th, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 3:06 PM ^
UM was up 20 on MSU and dominated Wisconsin. The rest of your post indicates that you had some sort of medical emergency while writing it. Dial 9-1-1 quickly.
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November 13th, 2016 at 3:51 PM ^
November 13th, 2016 at 5:33 PM ^
So Wiscy and Sparty had us on the ropes did they. Exactly what games were you actually watching? Your comment is very moronic to say the least. "I believe there is a lost somewhere", the "Iowa farm boys" multiple references and the obvious lack of comprehension as to what you are commenting about is quite asinine. I bet in your neck of the woods the men are men and the sheep are nervous there Cletus.
November 14th, 2016 at 8:30 AM ^
Our defense gave up 12.
We get a first down at the end and we win.
They have to boot a FG on the last play to win.
Not at all an ass-kicking.
November 13th, 2016 at 2:16 PM ^
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