Utah joins select company
With the victory on Thursday night, Utah joins a very small subset of Michigan opponents. Since 1945, only three other non-conference opponents have won three straight (or more) regular season games against Michigan: Army ('45, '46, '49, '50, '54); Washington ('83, '84, '01); and Notre Dame ('87 thru '90).
It's of course true that the '08 and '14 teams Utah beat were two of the weakest Michigan teams since 1969, but that doesn't obscure the fact that Utah has been a pretty strong program since 2003. I'd compare the loss in SLC to the road losses we've had at UCLA, Washington, and ND over the years in terms of strength of opponent. Utah doesn't have the major-program cachet of those teams, but last year they beat USC, UCLA, and Stanford, the latter two on the road.
September 5th, 2015 at 10:37 AM ^
Can we just forget about this game? On to Oregon State.
September 5th, 2015 at 9:44 PM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 10:39 AM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 1:34 PM ^
I'd suggest that you look at this a little differently. I think it's interesting, and I'm glad that it doesn't happen more often.
Aside, we now have a coach that appears to face reality rather than clapping at everything. (Not that Hoke didn't do some things well ....)
September 5th, 2015 at 10:40 AM ^
Utah is a good team. I'd rather have the W, but losing to Utah is less bad than losing to, say, Toledo.
There's a couple of interesting Pac-12 South games today to keep an eye on -- UCLA vs. Virginia, and (more significantly) ASU vs. Texas A&M.
September 6th, 2015 at 10:11 PM ^
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September 5th, 2015 at 10:42 AM ^
I'll just say that whoever had the idea to schedule a Pac-12 team on the road to start the season and also agreed to play on Thursday night is an idiot.
September 5th, 2015 at 10:46 AM ^
I'm of two minds here ... yeah, I'd like to have the tomato can opener as a tune up. But then again, as Harbaugh himself says, it's better to be at the big people table. Other programs do this sort of thing and win. Hell, Boise State has made this sort of thing their trademark.
We'll get there. First game under Harbaugh (!) ... iterative improvement begins now.
September 5th, 2015 at 10:53 AM ^
I think the change to a playoff system where there is input from a committee which considers strength of schedule and the switch to a nine-game conference schedule (beginning next year, I believe) drives some of the need to fill those three slots in the schedule with more Utah-ish games and fewer EMU-ish games. I do agree with Harbaugh though, that it is better to be at the big people table - I like how he put that actually.
September 5th, 2015 at 10:57 AM ^
People respond to incentives ... imagine that! :-)
Agree on the big people table analogy. Right now there's a handful of programs at that table, and Michigan isn't one of them. Do what's necessary to get there.
September 5th, 2015 at 10:59 AM ^
It's really more the timing. I'd find it OK if it was next week after a home game to start.
Additionally, Thursday night is the time for conferences and teams that desperately need national attention because they can't get it on Saturdays. That's not Michigan.
I couldn't watch the game on Thursday night due to work commitments. That kind of sucks given it's the season opener?
September 5th, 2015 at 11:15 AM ^
Thursday night is the time for conferences and teams that desperately need national attention because they can't get it on Saturdays. That's not Michigan.
I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a second ... I'm not trying to be reflexively contrarian.
Let's imagine that Michigan won that game, and did so convincingly. Wouldn't you rather have had that happen on an relatively uncrowded Thursday night of opening weekend than a crowded Saturday slot? There was a lot of focus on the game because it was one of the first significant games of the season.
Going back to the big-people table analogy ... Michigan's not at that table**, and to get there requires we get back to the spotlight and beating good teams. In that respect Michigan's Thursday night game against Utah was a good stage with a good spotlight for that.
Sadly, the outcome wasn't what we wanted.
** It would be an interesting discussion/debate to list the programs that are at that table. And what programs are just outside making noise to get in.
September 5th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
it was the first game of Harbaugh's Michigan reign. It would have gotten a lot of attention on Saturday too. Harbaugh is a national story and so are we.
September 5th, 2015 at 12:32 PM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 10:43 AM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 10:44 AM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 10:48 AM ^
WE KNOW
On another note, Michigan is one of maybe 10 P5 teams that starts the season with a competitive game against an opponent with a pulse. I'm very surprised at how many cupcake games there are this week. I think this will pay dividends long term regarding the forging of this football team.
September 5th, 2015 at 10:46 AM ^
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September 5th, 2015 at 10:47 AM ^
thanks for the update
September 5th, 2015 at 10:51 AM ^
so excited for them. yay.
September 5th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^
Is Michigan played a ok to good team on the road. I think we know what we have to fix and we probably have 2 teams left better than Utah on our schedule.
I would rather be tested early than cake walk through a MAC team or whoever we played under Hoke the past 3 years and think we are good team and get blasted like we did last year to the ND or MSU teams of the world.
I really don't think we are that bad this year. 8 wins and we probably knock off someone ranked.
September 5th, 2015 at 11:10 AM ^
but opening on the road with a non-conference game against anybody other than ND has been rarer still:
'54 at Washington; '57 at USC; '65 at North Carolina; '91 at BC; '12 against Alabama in Dallas; '15 at Utah
September 5th, 2015 at 11:45 AM ^
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September 5th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 11:17 AM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 11:29 AM ^
Yes we made mistakes. Yes a few big plays may have been the difference.
All of these things are part of the game. A game in which they prevented us from making the big plays and by capitalizing on our mistakes.
It was a good test for this team and it shows where we need to improve.
I'm not mad at it at all and think Utah generally outplayed us overall with better sound execution.
September 5th, 2015 at 12:29 PM ^
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September 5th, 2015 at 11:39 AM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 11:52 AM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 11:54 AM ^
But aren't you in a geeky mood this Labor Day weekend or what?
September 5th, 2015 at 12:17 PM ^
guilty as charged.
September 5th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^
Definitely want to play Utah again without a doubt!
September 5th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^
Don't care who or how many times, It sucks to lose. Not going to start rationalizing defeat as if it's normal. Losers do that!!!
September 5th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^
I don't know if your comment was in response to my OP, but describing history is not tantamount to "rationalizing defeat."
In fact, the whole point of the post was to emphasize how unusual Utah's victories are. They're the exact opposite of "normal."
September 5th, 2015 at 10:47 PM ^
No sir, my statement was not directed towards you, I totally got the point of your op!!!
September 5th, 2015 at 1:04 PM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
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September 5th, 2015 at 5:26 PM ^
September 5th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ^
September 6th, 2015 at 7:52 AM ^
Trivia question:
What opponent has the best winning percentage against Michigan (for a team that has played Michigan more than 1 time)?
Its not Notre Dame, Ohio State, Army, USC or even Ivy League teams like Harvard or Cornell. It is Utah.