Harbaugh angry = best possible outcome?

Submitted by BakkerUSMC on
Reflecting on Saturday's loss, I can only conclude one thing for certain: Harbaugh is angry. Harbaugh loves pure competition, and Saturday's loss was far from pure, hell, it left a sour taste in the mouth of every Michigan man alive. If there's one thing to gain from all this, an angry Harbaugh is a motivated, dangerous competitor. Looking back at the MSU loss last year, Harbaugh used it as all the more fuel to the fire of his competitive spirit. I, for one, can't wait to see the results of the fire he'll bring going into the bowl game, and next year.

ijohnb

November 28th, 2016 at 10:06 AM ^

when his phone is going to be ringing off the hook two months from now from half of the NFL teams in the league.  We got completely jobbed against MSU last year and had The Game taken from us by the refs this year.  I know he is a competitive guy but when does "to hell with this" start to become an issue.  If he is going to be flat out essentially prevented from winning year after year I could see him getting out of dodge.  I am serious when I say that he has gotten a brutally bad whistle from the moment he took this job, beginning with the roughing the kicker against Oregon State all the way through last Saturday.  It is beginning to look rather targeted.

In reply to by ijohnb

WindyCityBlue

November 28th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^

Do you honestly think he'll leave the school he loves because of bum officiating?

The answer: hell no!

He's doing what I think he should do: call out the crap officials, push for greater equality and transparency with regards to officiating and get a better OL/rushing game.

In reply to by ijohnb

True Blue Grit

November 28th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^

on Coach Harbaugh.  He's violated (in their minds) the unwritten rule that coaches don't complain about bad officiating.  So, they're attempting to "correct" his behavior by constantly giving him the short end of calls or non-calls.  Having watched all the games since JH became our coach, I believe this more and more strongly as time goes on.  Saturday's debacle though, has been the worst case of it.  There's more than enough smoke here for Warde Manuel to file some sort of protest or at least a request for an investigation with the Big Ten office.  Most likely though, based on the weak, spineless behavior we've seen from the Big Ten in the past on issues like this, nothing will happen.  

In reply to by ijohnb

Kevin13

November 28th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^

one bad officiated game is not going to chase him away from the Michigan. Even he admitted he has seen poorly officiated games in the past, which includes the NFL. It's not a conspiracy to get him out of college.

He will just want to make sure next time the game can not be decided by the refs.

bigmc6000

November 28th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^

I'm not sure that losing virtually all of the valuable players on both sides of the ball is going to set us up to be better next year. I'm thinking 9-3 or maybe 10-2 at best but I'm just REALLY hopeful that two of those are MSU and OSU




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canzior

November 28th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^

The defense will be good...at the very least Boston College under Don Brown good...with slightly better athletes instead of hugely better athletes.  

And a 2nd year starter Speight?  If he improves on a 2400 yard season and 17/6 ratio...qb play alone could lead this team to an extra couple wins.  

woodfeld

November 28th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^

There's no way the D is as good (or really, nearly as good) with all the talent leaving, but don't undersell the importance of 2nd year in Brown's system....players are now familiar with it and should see a jump after going through spring and fall camps, as they get to focus on the little things and the technique aspects, install of learning a new playbook.  The offense should look to carry team early though as a lot of the young guys on O got some valuable experience this year (Evans, Bredeson, McDoom, Crawford, TWJr, Asiasi).  Schedule also sets up nicely I think....don't see Florida's offense taking a leap forward and will lose Tabor (most likely) and other key pieces from D.  Cincy is going backwards, Air Force will be interesting (damn you Brandon), then @ Purdue, then bye week before facing Sparty at home....and who knows what Sparty will look like next year (losing McDowell will hurt no doubt).  Think, by then, D will be rounding into better shape.

LKLIII

November 28th, 2016 at 4:23 PM ^

Man, that was a rough recruiting class back in 2015.  Our top rated player not even on the team anymore.  But holy smokes, think of the 2019 team--likely loaded with 4 successive top 5 recruiting classes and probably losing only few big contributors of varying skill levels from the 2015 class.

 

BakkerUSMC

November 28th, 2016 at 10:08 AM ^

Sorry my lowly peon points aren't worthy of topic posts, just hoping to gain some semblance of sanity amongst the chaos this weekend. I know Harbaugh will always bring 100%, no doubt there. Perhaps at least his fire will allow the players and recruits to see his passion and dedication to fair play and competitiveness. I know true Michigan men will emerge victors valiant no matter the price to pay.

Tater

November 28th, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^

I was happy to see Harbaugh reject the "code" and "out" the refs for their terrible "work."  Harbaugh has a high profile and it''s great to see his voice being used to call attention to obvious injustice.  

As for his anger, it is even better because while we "hate" Ohio State, Ohio State really does hate us.  So does Sparty.  It's great to have a coach who is going to hate them back as actively as they hate Michigan.  There won't be an edge in "intangibles" for OSU or Sparty from this point forward.

o0MaizeNBlue0o

November 28th, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^

OSU fans are calling Harbaugh a crybaby...and that it will impact recruitment negatively.  



I think it will only help recruiting.  You want a coach who is competitive, agressive,  willing to hold refs accountable for poor performance, and who fights when their players are wronged. 

You Only Live Twice

November 28th, 2016 at 10:42 AM ^

unless they're delusional.  Won't hurt recruiting one bit that Harbaugh actively looks out for his players and coaching staff.  Never throws them under the bus - ever.

The officials are also fair game for criticism, no need to fear them.  

Whoever has the 10:00 show on WTKA at this moment (never listened to this show before) he started out by saying don't talk about the officials, because Michigan failed to seize the moment, then completely reversed himself and said the refs were not competent and that M absolutely stopped Barrett short of the 1st down.

That's the game.  OSU knows in their heart they didn't actually win, hence all the drum beating (the same beat, too.. over and over)  and the photoshop "sky cam"...... ultimately they have cheapened the rivalry, and cheapened their victory. Big 10 not looking good to the world right now.  Impartial observers who don't care about Michigan are saying WTF assigning this crew.

MGoRob

November 28th, 2016 at 9:57 AM ^

You say that as if he held some of it back? I just can't see him holding any fire or passion back to begin with. He's balls to the wall all the time. I can't see Harbaugh getting any more intense. 

Pickle Rick

November 28th, 2016 at 10:20 AM ^

Wasn't it Rich Rod that stated the process for turning a program around was:

1. Lose by a lot
2. Lose by a little
3. Win by a little
4. Win by a lot

Both Michigan State and Ohio State rivalry games appear to be currently trending in that direction since Harbaugh has taken over.

MSU

'15: L 23-27 (lose by a little)
'16: W 32-23 (win by a little)

OSU

'15: L 13-42 (lose by a lot)
'16: L 27-30 OT (lose by a little)

Following this projection, 2016 is setting up to be a great year!




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mGrowOld

November 28th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^

Will be for Harbaugh to ask in his presser how and why those particular officials were selected for the game.  While WE all know their background I can assure you the vast majority of the public does not.  This morning at my office, for example, I spoke to at least 1/2 dozen OSU fans and not one was aware of the OSU ties of the officials.  Not one.

Along with getting on the soapbox for inclusion in the final four I think Jim needs to double down on the officiating bullshit and not back away from it out of fear of censure.  The B1G purposively stacked the deck against us - people need to know that and today for the most part only Michigan fans do..

ryholly

November 28th, 2016 at 10:31 AM ^

Anybody else nervous we turn into Florida from last year in our bowl game?  With so many seniors who had playoff expectations, a Orange Bowl on December 30th will probably be a letdown. Guys like Lewis, Peppers, Taco, Butt, etc. will be working on finding agents and combine prep. 

I'd like to hope Harbaugh can keep the team focused, but tough when 10-12 guys are prepping to make themselves as much money as possible.

LSAClassOf2000

November 28th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^

I couldn't even tell you if such lobbying worked when it came to the CFP committee. It isn't as if their criteria are absolutely transparent, but I don't know that I've ever heard anyone say that they listen to this. Well, unless this is part of what is meant whenever the word "deserving" comes up, but I guess if there is hope to be had, then we can hope that a very wide dissatisfaction with the result for reasons beyond the score helps when evaluating that loss. I have my doubts personally.

Jkidd49

November 28th, 2016 at 11:50 AM ^

Nothing, zero.

Losing a ton of senior starters, missing conference and national championship opportunities, letting OSU off the hook and probably propelling them to the playoffs.  Let's not kid ourselves, every single part of that was bad and a massive disappointment and whatever comes of the bowl season (CFP ain't happening) is a let down from where this group was a month ago.

Perhaps even worse, OSU could be 2 wins from another CFP championship and there team, in all likelyhood, will be better (more experienced) next year. 

 

MGoBlueMyself

November 28th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^

As dour as your outlook is, I can't say I wholly disagree. Anything "positive" about saturday can only be for next season. We had a great team, tons of senior leadership and talent, and a top 2 defense that smothered people. But we went 1-2 in our last three games, offense looked like shit all three games, we have no shot at a conference title, not even in the title game, no shot at CFP, lose all the seniors plus our most talented player, two teams we destroyed will play for the conference, our rival is a lock for the CFP, we will play in a good bowl game but the only implications will be if we lose we end up with the same fucking record we had last year, without the excitement of a blowout bowl win to propel us into recruiting and the next season. 

12-0 or 11-1 was right in our players and coaches hands, and they dropped it. And it sucks and hurts. 

did we get fucked at OSU? you bet. But beat fucking Iowa and it doesn't really matter.

Hope the youngsters get tons of reps during the december practice season, cause that is what we are playing for at this point, next season.  

MGoBlueMyself

November 28th, 2016 at 12:26 PM ^

As dour as your outlook is, I can't say I wholly disagree. Anything "positive" about saturday can only be for next season. We had a great team, tons of senior leadership and talent, and a top 2 defense that smothered people. But we went 1-2 in our last three games, offense looked like shit all three games, we have no shot at a conference title, not even in the title game, no shot at CFP, lose all the seniors plus our most talented player, two teams we destroyed will play for the conference, our rival is a lock for the CFP, we will play in a good bowl game but the only implications will be if we lose we end up with the same fucking record we had last year, without the excitement of a blowout bowl win to propel us into recruiting and the next season. 

12-0 or 11-1 was right in our players and coaches hands, and they dropped it. And it sucks and hurts. 

did we get fucked at OSU? you bet. But beat fucking Iowa and it doesn't really matter.

Hope the youngsters get tons of reps during the december practice season, cause that is what we are playing for at this point, next season.  

I dumped the Dope

November 28th, 2016 at 12:01 PM ^

with a burning ember in his skull is one of the most dangerous men in America.

Witness what we did to Florida last year...beat them until they gave up the will to continue fighting.  The teams were supposed to be closely matched and it was a maize and blue tsunami.

The genius of Harbaugh is this.  He sowed enough doubt worldwide that osu needed "aid" in their "victory" that if there is to be any comparison between the two teams later in the season, everyone will have skepticism as to whether OSU was the better team by a large margin.

ajchien

November 28th, 2016 at 2:25 PM ^

FWIW, I think Harbaugh already accomplished his goal with the presser rant. I think the whole locker room felt that way, and if Harbaugh says it, that means no one else on the team has to say it.

Harbaugh will take any fine. He's fine with absorbing any criticism. He doesn't care what people outside the team think about him.

If he didn't say it, and a player was goaded into saying it by the press, they'd be labeled as a whiner and loser. Because you know, the press already wrote an article about X player whining about the officiating. Harbaugh made them change the story.