Michigan/Harbaugh Narrative Watch

Submitted by RealElonMusk on December 19th, 2023 at 10:27 AM

Prior to the Game in 2021, the Big Noon and Sportcenters talking heads and game announcers loved to highlight a variety of Narratives about Jim Harbaugh's Michigan teams:

1)  Harbaugh can't beat Ohio State- 

Pete Finebaum's quote from 11/24/2021 " "No, no, no," he said. "Greeny you can ask me this question until I'm 150 and the answer is still no. I don't think this Michigan team - although they are better than they have been, significantly better - can beat Ohio State. This is a really good, if not great Ohio State team and I think there is something in Jim Harbaugh's brain. I don't know what it is, I don't really want to know. He is incapable, incapable Greeny of beating his biggest rival."  

Sorry Pete your quote did not age well-   Michigan under Harbaugh has won 3 straight while OSU had their best QB ever, Stroud and generational talent at WR- Marvin Harrison

2)  Harbaugh loses to B10 rivals .500 or worse against Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, & Wisconsin

Since 2020 has a 100% win record against every B10 team except Staate where he is 2-1

3)  Harbaugh can't win tough road games:

15-3 in road games since 2021 with 1 regular season loss to Staate, & playoff losses to Georgia & TCU

4)  Michigan performs poorly in Bowl games-  0-2 in playoff games

F those guys-     Time to put this one behind us-  Go Blue!

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MGoCarolinaBlue

December 19th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^

I said all along that the "Fire Harbaugh!" brigade was overreacting and creating dumb narratives out of small sample sizes. Never wavered.

Therefore, I reserve the right to make fun of the broader public for this kind of stuff and give the rest of you some occasional well deserved ribbing.

This is my narrative, which I have lovingly crafted from a sample where I am 1-0 against the chicken littles of the world, and I'm sticking to it.

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Qmatic

December 19th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^

Hey there, I said we would go 10-2 in 2021 in July and UMBig11 called me "exactly what's wrong with this fanbase" for saying that. He then responded as "Chernobyl" and was the last we would see of him. (Earlier in that thread was also where he told me the only chance of us going 6-6 was if Bowman won the starting QB job).

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GoWings2008

December 19th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^

Gotta have the pieces in place, most of all these days where the playing field (figuratively) is a lot level than it was just 5 yrs ago. His new coaching staff, his approach to The Game, his trust in his coordinators...all the planets finally aligned. 

Lets finish the job.

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mGrowOld

December 19th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^

Granted Pete was more than a bit hyperbolic but in fairness to penis-face, when he made that statement Jimmy was 0-5 against OSU so it wasnt that crazy of a prediction.

And we have been awful in bowl games since 2015 so again, people thinking we'll continue to be awful isnt that crazy either IMO.

Beat Alabama and you shut up that crowd as well as the "OMG meatchicken cheaterz" real quick.  Lose once again and we validate their apprehension and reignite the Conner Stallions talk.

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Hensons Mobile…

December 19th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^

I agree that most of these "narratives" were actually just facts/statistics. As the OP noted, once we actually won the thing we couldn't win, the narrative changed.

I disagree with your thought about Connor Stalions. That narrative has already been settled, once we beat Ohio State. If anyone (apparently all the Big Ten coaches) still won't let it go, beating Alabama and then winning the national championship won't change anything. For the most part, I think people have let it go and decided Michigan was actually good. I never figured MSU and OSU would come around to that side of thinking, though.

Also, to me, bowls and playoffs are not the same thing. The bowls in the Bo/Mo/Carr days mattered, sure. But once opt outs became a thing, bowls really became completely meaningless. Losing the semis three years in a row would be its own separate narrative, I think.

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