What (if anything) has Harbaugh done wrong in Year 1?

Submitted by FormAFarkingWall on

So many good things have happened in 1 Anno Harbaugh, the Year of Our Harbaugh, that the list of positives would fill up a series of diaries, and even then would still be incomplete. 

We've discussed, and celebrated, the many good things and will continue to do more of that I'm sure.  This morning, to change it up, I'm interested to hear perspectives on things you think he DIDN'T do right.  Perhaps a more critical analysis from time to time will help ensure we don't turn into a PSU-like fanbase, turning the football coach into a deity that can do no wrong (even when faced with obvious evidence to the contrary)? 

My list is small:

1) Waiting to unleash Jabrill on offense until mid-season.  Could his dynamic playmaking abilities have won the Utah game?  That game was so tight that I believe he could have been the difference maker.  

2)  Posing for this picture.  THIS IS NOT A POWER POSE, JIM.  (Credit:  Melanie Maxwell - Mlive.com)

122915_SPT_WestOrangeHarbaugh_MRM_038.JPG

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MGoBrewMom

December 30th, 2015 at 10:55 AM ^

that Harbaugh figures his assistants all have the level of comittment that he does. Harbaugh would finish a job before loosing focus in favor of the next one. In this case, it appears that may not have been the case with Durkin.

Joined: 08/13/2009

MGoPoints: 22969

DairyQueen

December 30th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^

I feel like it's a little of all three.

1. We lost our Glasgow who was playing out of this world and absolutely blowing up the middle.

2. OSU was a sleeping giant (they annihilated the playoffs last year), and they woke up.

3. Durkin seems like he must have been in talks before the OSU game, but could have been weeks before.

4. We got exposed by Indiana and just how large Glasgow's contribution was. Also our LBs were shown to not be gamebreakers, and the blueprint was there for the taking.

oops, that's 4.

Joined: 04/20/2014

MGoPoints: 6642

joeyb

December 30th, 2015 at 11:10 AM ^

I see this said often, but no one suggests what they should have done instead. They were down 3 of their best linemen, which hurt their ability to keep those guys fresh even more than talent level. They came up with a game plan to try to keep those guys fresh and they had one shot at it. it was exactly what I figured they would do. It didn't work out and was compounded with our QB getting injured, but the way people talk about it, it's like they did a ritualistic sacrifice on the field. People need to calm down about it and, unless they have a proposed solution that they can show will worked for this team or against OSU, they need to stop being so hypercritical on this point.

Joined: 10/12/2008

MGoPoints: 16845

Zone Left

December 30th, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^

With the injuries to basically the whole defensive line and OSU's excellent defense keeping our defense on the field, we were dead before the game started. I actually thought Durkin did well given the circumstances. We basically have Mattison that pass for the last couple years. Durkin did great and the team is less without him -- although Brown may actually be better.

Joined: 07/03/2008

MGoPoints: 16428

snarling wolverine

December 30th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^

I can't agree with this.  Our offense gained 20 first downs.  We outgained OSU in the first half.  We regularly moved the ball until Rudock was injured at the beginning of the fourth quarter.  The offense did struggle in the red zone, and we elected to punt once from their 36, but to suggest that the offense left the defense out to dry just doesn't fly with the evidence.  

What kept our defense on the field was its own inability to get stops.  OSU scored TDs on six straight possessions, if we discount their one-minute drive at the end of the first half.

 

 

 

Joined: 12/14/2011

MGoPoints: 98328

Blue and Joe

December 30th, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^

Having those gunners on the punt against MSU was not smart, considering MSU had no one to recieve the punt. Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but that hurt.

However, to even be in that position was an incredible job by Harbaugh and staff.

Joined: 12/03/2011

MGoPoints: 7231

ST3

December 30th, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^

I believe Hoke would have been blamed in the same situation. Give credit to Harbaugh for putting a renewed focus on special teams, but he's got to call timeout there and get his players ready for that play.

Joined: 09/11/2010

MGoPoints: 52470

Bronco Joe

December 30th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^

I'd agree with this. I cannot remember if there was a timeout left or not. Also, isn't there a rule that you cannot call two timeouts in a row? Harbaugh called a TO to stop the clock before punting. Again, hindsight, but ideally we would've taken the Delay of Game (if only one TO left or can't take two in a row), and then called TO as soon as MSU came out with something different than was being expected.

Then again, at that point in the season the special teams looked fantastic and there probably wasn't much fear of any issues, much less the freak play that happened.



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Joined: 12/06/2009

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JNQ_GOBLUE_79

December 30th, 2015 at 11:54 AM ^

discussion with one of my good friends who is an MSU fan on a weekly basis.  There is NO WAY that punt is blocked if he catches the ball.  As it is, he drops it, takes two steps forward, picks it up and attempts to kick it again when he is finally hit.  If he catches it, he takes a step to his right and its gone.  Also, despite the formation, the play was blocked correctly.  The three Spartans coming from his left are intentionally unblocked and every guy coming from his right is picked up.  The play was designed for O'neill to step to the right and kick, and if you look there is plenty of time/room for that to happen with a clean catch.  Sparty's are delusional if they think anything they did caused that play to unfold the way it did.

Joined: 07/09/2009

MGoPoints: 812

westwardwolverine

December 30th, 2015 at 11:03 AM ^

Yeah, this is false. 

The reason Michigan lost that game boils down to a low snap and a mishandling of that snap. Nothing more, nothing less. All the talk about formations and running different plays and having Peppers behind the punter is nonsense. 

Joined: 11/26/2013

MGoPoints: 9007

BigBlue02

December 30th, 2015 at 1:01 PM ^

It is nonsense in that it would have been the same snap and the same fumble had we brought in more people to block. The number of people in front of the punter made no difference in his mishandling of the snap, therefore two extra blockers would have had zero effect on the end of that game

Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: -1003

SharkyRVA

December 30th, 2015 at 1:13 PM ^

An extra two blockers may have resulted in a tackle on the fumble return vs a MSU TD. Suck ass play and suck ass result but the 1 in a million play happened and we have to live with it.

Joined: 10/01/2015

MGoPoints: 1228

BigBlue02

December 30th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^

But the idea is that we are naming things that Jim Harbaugh did wrong this year. If we are going to say that a formation and a couple extra blockers was the reason our punter dropped a snap and threw the ball to the other team, then we should also be blaming Harbaugh for the formations and play calls that led to interceptions and fumbles. I mean, maybe if we have another blocker in on that pick six in the Utah game, Rudock doesn't have to throw so early and he completes the pass. Do you see why saying a formation leading to a player error is ridiculous to pin on Harbaugh?

Joined: 06/29/2009

MGoPoints: -1003

snarling wolverine

December 30th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^

I agree that it was more simple human error than anything else.  

But in hindsight, knowing that MSU's only shot was a punt block, maybe it wasn't worth punting out of a normal formation at all, with a 15-yard snap.  In that stuation you don't need to get off a great punt, you just want to get it off, period.  I would have liked to have left our offense out there and then had Rudock pooch it out of the shotgun, like Carr used to do with Griese, and RichRod did with Tate.  Of course, I don't know if we practice that or not.

 

Joined: 12/14/2011

MGoPoints: 98328

saveferris

December 30th, 2015 at 4:34 PM ^

Agree to an extent, but the fact that we had two gunners racing downfield to cover nobody just demonstrates a fundamental lack of awareness of what our opponent as doing on that play. Still, we handle the snap cleanly and it's a moot point and a minor curiousity as opposed to a maddening miracle for Sparty.

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