Does a Winning Out Make Jim Harbaugh’s Third Season an Improvement?
November 5th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 2:19 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 2:31 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
before it started.
November 5th, 2017 at 12:25 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 12:25 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 12:34 PM ^
The MSU loss stings way more than the PSU blowout but PSU lost to MSU as well..everyone is beating each other this season and it's frustrating for everyone
November 5th, 2017 at 12:39 PM ^
Remember when the SEC was going this and they all still sat at pretty high rankings because "its a tough division and they are just beating each other up". The espn headline today was basically B1G losing to B1G proves B1G sucks.
November 5th, 2017 at 12:41 PM ^
It's probably because MSU wasn't ranked to start the season. If they were ranked in the top 10/15 like the SEC usually is, that may have been the narrative
November 5th, 2017 at 1:44 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 5:10 PM ^
1st off: Obvious statement is obvious.
Secondly, and this is actually not in response to you romment but multiple before yours, I don't see how this is "Obvious" one way or another. I think it is a legitimate question. Last year we had 2 losses in regular season play (by 6? total points) and dominated a team that made it to the Rose Bowl, versus this year we have already lost two games by significantly more than last year and one of them was at home. If you are basing it strictly on talent/experience, than this year's team is outperforming last years team, which had 11 players drafted. But just strictly in terms of performance, if we win out then Harbaugh has not achieved any more than last year, and on top of that, the offense has looked pretty damn bad this year(excluding the running game the last two games).
Idk, I thought it was a reasonable question. The answer is probably yes, especially if you factor in the youth and turnover of this year's squad compared to last year's, but last year's team was also a dissapointment at the end considering all the talent that fit the coachign staff.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:49 PM ^
The fact that OSU and MSU both lost convincingly at home to Notre Dame and Oklahoma lends a lot of credence to the position that the top B1G teams lag the other top programs this year. And then PSU in turn lost to both of those teams, while we lost at home to MSU and were not competitive with PSU.
And honestly, when the SEC West has won 6 of the last 10 national championships between 3 different programs in the division, with Florida having another so 7 of 10 for the SEC, they've earned the fawning from the media. It's annoying, but pretty well earned.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:14 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 4:10 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 7:52 PM ^
To be fair, scoring zero points in the playoffs for two straight years doesn't really help the B1G's case.
Perhaps instead of continuing to screw Michigan over, they should simply send their best? Having the officials hand our rivals their games against us then sending them off to slaughter haasn't worked out so well.
November 5th, 2017 at 12:56 PM ^
Why do you assume that the QB decision was "fumbled"? Is it possible that maybe, just maybe, Peters wasn't ready at the outset? Maybe, just maybe, Peters is a mideason late bloomer and got the nod when the coaches deemed him ready, not solely because O'Korn was ineffective? Given Harbaugh's track record with developing QBs (and given how little we threw the ball yesterday, indicating that Peters still has a ways to go), I'm more inclined to give Harbaugh the benefit of the doubt on the timing of settling on Peters as the starter.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
Even with the insider leaks - a multitude of things could have kept Peters stuck behind O'Korn for all those weeks.
"I know that I know nothing" -Socrates
November 5th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^
Speight starting = Completely fine decision and one that 100% of coaches would make.
O'Korn over Peters = Questionable and puzzling.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:49 PM ^
WTF??? Do you people not pay any attention to what Harbaugh says? Last week, after Rutgers, Harbaugh answered the question with finality by saying "...he wasn't ready until a couple of weeks ago..."
At the time, 'a couple of weeks ago' was the Indiana game. No reason to put him into that game, and do you play him at PSU for any reason aside from injury? No. It's fucking stupid to keep questioning this.
HARBAUGH HIMSELF SAID PETERS WASN"T READY UNTIL SOMEWHERE AROUND THE INDIANA GAME!
If you're going to comment, pay attention to the program, for crissakes.
November 5th, 2017 at 1:53 PM ^
I respect Jim Harbaugh, but I think this is a decision where the coach got it wrong (no shame in that, it happens to everyone in every job and I'm sure it will happen to him with less frequency than almost everyone) and that press conference answers don't tell the whole story.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:10 PM ^
First, you have no idea what practice looked like therefore no one can comment on who was better in practice. Second, did you watch last night's game? Clearly, the training wheels were bolted to Peters and he got no opportunities to throw down the field. Why do you think that was so? Because in addition to the running game, they don't trust him yet. They don't trust him because they see him every day. End of debate.
November 5th, 2017 at 4:16 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 6:16 PM ^
What about Peters performance thus far is worse than O'Korn's performance?
If they don't trust him, then that's on them as they seemed content to give a QB who is at least as bad (probably worse) more leash.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
advice and had him leave the game so shell-shocked that he never played another meaningful down.
Peters success goes farther proving Harbaugh was right than anything. You can do nothing but speculate based on little or no objective evidence. Harbaugh can point to wins.
November 5th, 2017 at 3:27 PM ^
Meh. It's possible Harbaugh was wrong... that was the point of Brian's article about all the coaches that were "wrong" about guys that ended up tearing it up once they got in. It's not an indictment on Harbaugh. Sometimes weird things turn out to be the case and all the practice evidence turns out to be crappy data. Unfortunately, you end up making decisions on what turns out to be crappy data, which might be the only data you have.
November 5th, 2017 at 4:44 PM ^
The argument that you can "ruin" otherwise good QBs by putting them in a tough game is just so stupid to me. Please name one example of this happening.
November 5th, 2017 at 5:45 PM ^
Devin Gardner.
Joey Harrington.
Russell Bellamy.
Nick Sheridan.
Shane Morris.
Oh, wait. You only wanted one...
November 5th, 2017 at 6:12 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 6:29 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 3:56 PM ^
I just don't agree with it.
Harbaugh has said repeatedly that Peters was not commanding enough in the huddle to get where Harbaugh wanted him to be, the vocal leader of the offense. I am not saying he did not have command of enough of the offense, which is pretty obvious if you watch the games. It was a no-win situation to put Peters in there when he was about ready. I'm not really sure he's ready now. But he's still probably better than O Korn.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:20 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:49 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 7:39 PM ^
We've seen two redshirt freshmen win Heisman trophys (Manziel and Winston) recently. Youth and inexperience don't have anything to do with poor performance. Sub-par coaching does.
November 5th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:43 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^
The quarterback decision was not "fumbled".
An OSU team with playoff-level talent just got their doors blown off by an 8-4 Iowa squad. Shit happens, even to team with immensely more experience than we have.
November 5th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^
QB decision was fumbled?! Ever consider the fact that Peters was just not ready until midway through the year? Not everyone can be Chad Henne, Jake Fromm or Jalen Hurts and come in start day 1.
Just because Peters has looked good, so far, doesn't mean he was this good in the fall. Harbaugh has played this position in both college and the pros, pretty sure he knows far more than you and he clearly felt Peters wasn't ready to go until he played him. When can we stop with this ridiculous narrative?
November 5th, 2017 at 2:06 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 3:06 PM ^
it is a very dumb question. finish with a win at wisconsin, who is undefeated. beat a highly ranked osu team and win a major bowl game finishing 11-2. i would say in any world that would be a big improvement.
November 5th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^
Are you aware of what "winning out" entails? The last time Michigan beat a top 10 team on the road and beat OSU was 2003. Before that it was 1999 and 1997.
November 6th, 2017 at 10:06 AM ^
Winning out means at worst 11-2 record and beating Ohio State.
Winning out means at best 12-2 B1G Champs.
Both of these would be an improvement over back to back 10-3 seasons and third place finishes in the B1G East. Both of these would have happened in a "rebuilding" year.
November 5th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
November 5th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^
Undoubtedly given the youth and injuries. Yet it doesn't mean that Harbaugh should not make some coaching personnel changes in the offseason. The season would be an improvement, but the level of improvement could be greater.