Washington Post: UM Football Improved Under Harbaugh

Submitted by Clancy's Hands on

SIAP - haven't seen this posted yet. A more reasoned and dispassionate look at the state of the Michigan football program than the constant drumbeat of negativity heard from much of the national media and, unfortunately, from some of our own so-called "fan" base.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2018/09/04/michigan-football-has-improved-under-jim-harbaugh-seriously/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.220e0c88626e

Clancy's Hands

September 5th, 2018 at 9:10 PM ^

Why don't you find another team to follow core42? A team that will bring you joy to follow, as Michigan obviously doesn't bring you joy, but only unhappiness and misery?  Obviously, the Michigan football program is better under Harbaugh than it was previously, but heaven forbid someone in the national media should actually write an article that posits same since it goes against your, and the majority of the media's, narrative that Michigan football is a train wreck and all is lost. I am continually shocked and disgusted at the sheer volume of negative crap I see on this site from so-called Michigan fans.

1800goaway_0.jpg

 

 

Lakeyale13

September 6th, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^

I think there are two errors you can make in viewing Michigan football currently. One is saying everything is totally fine with the program and the other is saying the program is a complete disaster.

I find it curious that many Michigan fans are unable to deal with objective facts about our program. That somehow someone bringing objective data means that they aren’t a fan anymore.

The fact is, Jim Harbaugh has not done what he was hired to do.   He was hired to beat Michigan State, beat Ohio State, content for Big Ten championships and national playoffs. If anyone says differently they are not being objective. You don’t pay someone over $8 million a year to be the third best team in the Big Ten. 

It is always interesting to me that there is A segment of the fan base that believes to acknowledge these facts is to somehow not be a fan anymore.  For me, and many other Michigan fans, I’m not interested in being a glass half full, or a glass half empty. I am interested in exactly how much water is in the cup and saying it as it is.  So far, By objective results, Coach Harbaugh’s tenure has been a disappointment.  I believe he can turn it around, but he has yet to get over the hump.

JFW

September 6th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^

I'm fine with that. What gets me is the 'He's overrated' and 'He needs to do X' etc. etc. 

It is both true that we hired him, in part, to beat the rivals and that we are a better team now than we were. 

We'll get there. The worst thing we could do is to get rid of Harbaugh at this point. It would be incredibly stupid. 

I'm not happy as to where we are as a team. I'm way, way happier than i was under Hoke and Rich Rod when we were fighting for our lives against Akron, Toledo, and getting physically embarrassed by MSU. 

Lakeyale13

September 6th, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^

Well, I would say as of right now, JH is overated. If you look at his results compared to his pay.  This year and next he may very well change that narrative and show us exactly how good of a coach he is  

Also, is Dantonio a significantly better coach than JH?  Is Dantonio working with far superior athletes than us?  Has he out recruited us the last 4 years?  How is it that he still has a better program overall than Michigan?  

Hard-Baughlls

September 6th, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^

So tired of this narrative. He's been a good to great coach every where else. If 2 fucking fluke plays/shitty bs reffing go differently, (MSU punt 6, OSU bs reffing/spot) the entire narrative is different.

He inherited a tire fire, and has built a program that is 1 position (tackle) away from being elite. Let's not mention that Newsome had a career ending injury, and the SEC bought a few tackles that were leaning UM away from us.

We've had some shit luck, and struck out on recruiting the tackle position for depth...but if you think we will do better than Harbaugh, you're a moron. Give the man time and support and he will get the team as far as anyone not running a pay for play football factory.

Lakeyale13

September 6th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^

Hey listen, I hope you're right.  I want JH to succeed.  I want to see Michigan be Big 10 champs.  I simply would have lost my entire 401K betting that at the end of year 3 JH would have developed a competent / winning QB and a competent (not great mind you, but simply competent) OL.  Those sit squarely on JH shoulders.  So far, if we will be successful this year, he will have needed 2 transfer quarterbacks to lead us to success because he ran off the only other 10 win QB we had under him.

BlueInGreenville

September 5th, 2018 at 8:18 PM ^

Thanks for posting this.  A lot of people here wanted Beilein fired a few years ago.  Harbaugh is going to win big at Michigan and he's going to run a clean program we can be proud of.

bluescreen

September 5th, 2018 at 9:23 PM ^

I think the problem is alot of people wanted to see UM win big at ND, wanted to see Patterson throw for 300 yards and 3 TDs, when it didnt happen it made alot of people upset and some pessimistic about the rest of the season.

I wasnt one of those, I knew it would be an uphill battle there. People ignored the point spread and the ND predictions, hey people ND is a good team.

1VaBlue1

September 5th, 2018 at 9:27 PM ^

Yeah, have to agree that this is a big part of the reason behind the shit posting...  I expected a fairly easy win, and was taken aback by the poor OT play.  But, hey, given the OT's and the crappy start, finishing the way they did was okay.  It sucks, but I understand what happened and know that Harbaugh will get it fixed.

myislanduniverse

September 6th, 2018 at 11:51 AM ^

Honest question: where/when did you see hype for the OL this off-season? If anything, it was the biggest glaring question mark surrounding this season, hanging over the team like the Sword of Damocles. Almost every analysis or prediction of the season to come revolved around whether the OL would make big improvement. I just don't understand how you could have come away hyped about the offensive line unit, of all the concern that people here, and elsewhere in the sports media, were making of it.

CHUKA

September 6th, 2018 at 4:28 AM ^

No we just wanted to average over 1.7 yards per carry and not have our QB run for his life the whole game. I don’t think many thought we’d light ND up, but shit, we wanted to see a noticeable improvement from last year at least. It’s still a long season ahead and there’s plenty of time to get better but people were just optimistic man. Every media outlet saying we were a good bet for the playoff probably didn’t help temper expectations. 

Heywood_Jablome

September 5th, 2018 at 8:54 PM ^

Improved? Yes. Currently short of expectations? Yes.

UM didn't hire Harbaugh to be a small step up from Hoke.

Dumb article. No surprise from the Washington comPOST

Clancy's Hands

September 5th, 2018 at 9:17 PM ^

Indeed PapabearBlue - It is amazing that one can get downvoted for posting a link to a positive article on Michigan football on what is supposed to be a Michigan fan site. As I have said previously, I never cease to be amazed at the amount of negative crap I see on this site from those professing to be Michigan football "fans".

UMxWolverines

September 5th, 2018 at 10:36 PM ^

I love Bacon and all his work, but really, that phrase is one of the dumbest things ever said. Michigan fans are rarely happy because the team frequently fails to achieve the goals it sets for itself, dating back decades. 

Harbaugh came here to take Michigan to new heights, he said this himself. That's why we're not happy. 

PapabearBlue

September 5th, 2018 at 11:36 PM ^

Being critical of a team doesn't make you not a fan of the team. The ones who are critical tend to just either care a little more or let it affect them emotionally a little bit more. Quit going around pretending to be some holier than thou "true fan", it's stupid. Especially when the team being discussed is representative of a university that stands for excellence and is continuously failing to meet that mark.