3 Rivals a year is too many
A lot of us have been speculating why we came out so flat on Saturday. Some say it was talent gap, others say scheme, etc.
My theory is they were mentally and physically exhausted from having to "get up" for yet another rivalry game.
From the lows of the loss of the opening game with Notre Dame to the highs of the MSU win and then going to Columbus to play for a chance to win the conference is just too much for any athlete.
Putting Notre Dame back on the schedule was dumb. They gain more than we do. We have a conference that will give us quality wins. They don't. Fuck them if they are too arrogant, cowardly, or greedy to join a conference. Schedule a home and home with a solid beatable program like Boise, Arkansas, VaTech, Duke, or somebody like that.
Michigan State is and should be our true rival. We share hate, location, and similar quality of talent/coaching with them. This is the only game Michigan should have to "get up" for on the schedule.
Sad to say but it's clear to me now that Ohio State, like Bama, Oklahoma, and Clemson in their conferences just is on a higher level. We shouldn't EXPECT to beat them. It will be nice to beat them every once in awhile but it's like Indiana or Northwestern expecting to beat us...It's silly.
I think going into seasons with this mentality will help both fans and the football program.
November 27th, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
throw in Western Michigan. It makes a defense seem #1
November 27th, 2018 at 8:18 AM ^
WTF!
i just vomited a little
are you really just a msu/osu fan, trying to get another laugh on the michigan fan site?
November 27th, 2018 at 8:53 AM ^
After taking a beat down 14 out of the last 15 with the only win was when tOSU was in turmoil, I don't really see that game as a rivalry anymore. The ten year war is history and before the current players were born. The adage in sports is what have you done lately. I think the latest edition of the game speaks for itself.
November 27th, 2018 at 9:09 AM ^
That horse left the barn when MSU joined the Big Ten while Cincy doesn't even get to play OSU.
November 27th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
This is a terrible take. So if we played the Citadel instead of ND week 1 our players would of been more mentally and physically prepared for osu?
If you can't "get up" for THE GAME then then you have no business playing in it or coaching it.
November 27th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
We've been a play or two away from beating OSU in two of the last four years. Whining that we can't possibly be competitive with them is dumb.
November 27th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
A loss is a loss. It doesn't matter the score. No moral victories. Has UM been reduced to participation trophies. Excuses for losses is for losers. UM needs to learn how to win and keep their guarantees to themselves.
November 27th, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^
The score does matter if one is insisting we haven't been competitive with OSU for years. In 2016 we lost in 2OT and last year we had the ball down 24-20 with a shot at a go ahead TD. That certainly is competitive.
November 27th, 2018 at 2:47 PM ^
They only keep score to show who wins and who loses. Geesh. Urban wants NC trophies and not participation, but lost ones. I hope you will see the difference.
November 27th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
If we had played Arkansas (as originally scheduled) and everything else remained constant, we'd be sitting at 11-1 right now. Not sure if that makes anyone feel any better but... yeah.
November 27th, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^
No because the beatdown last Saturday was a yearly game.
November 27th, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^
Having Notre Dame on the schedule is not why we lost to OSU. That is a terrible premise. During his time at Michigan Harbaugh does not win big games. Period. He doesn't. How many wins does he have against teams that finished in the top-25? His best wins were Wisconsin in '16 and Penn State in '18. He's 2-7 against his rivals and those 2 wins were against a 3-9 Sparty and a 7-5 Sparty that barely survived against Rutgers. His biggest win on the biggest stage was the Bowl blowout against a very flawed Florida team that had an anemic offense. On top of that his road record is really bad, especially against good teams. Michigan has road games against Penn State and Wisconsin next year. I am going with 80% probability that both of those games are losses.
Coming into this year the meme that Harbaugh can't beat his rivals and can't win the big games was just a dumb narrative. 4 years into his tenure it is now a reality. I am terrified that Michigan is going to get obliterated in their Bowl game.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^
I agree. Every game he wins doesn't count because the opposition sucked -- I mean, they couldn't even beat Michigan! Yet, every time he loses, those teams are awesome. Those are the teams he can't beat because he obviously lost! Great post. Profound shit.
November 27th, 2018 at 1:40 PM ^
Was I wrong? In 4 years how many wins were against legitimately good teams?
November 27th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
Well zero wins against his rival.
November 27th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
What about all the grief thrown at ND? Didn't Harbaugh call them 'chicken'?
November 27th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
So next years schedule is even harder than this year? We could lose to any of these teams:
wisconsin
iowa
penn state
notre dame
msu
ohio state
November 28th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^
Figure we can lose to any team at any time. But agreed with the sentiment.
November 27th, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
I disagree strongly. I want to play a hard schedule EVERY year. I understand every week can't be a difficult game and that those wins make the big games have higher stakes. But, the most memorable games are those against worthy opponents.
November 27th, 2018 at 2:34 PM ^
I liked our uni's against Sparty btw in the natural grass field where they show the dirt.
Didn't like at all in the Shoe though. We needed something new to break the curse ....
November 27th, 2018 at 4:04 PM ^
Stop it.
Just stop it.
The reason Michigan lost is because beating Michigan is an obsession for that school to the south. Even after owning us for two decades they still look hungrier, more prepared, and more intense. Yes, there were some talent issues, but the bottom line is Ohio State makes it public how much they prep year round for Michigan. For Michigan, it's just the most important game in a season where all the games are important. It needs to be an obsession starting yesterday, even if other game prep is sacrificed. Just my non-impactful two cents.
November 27th, 2018 at 5:59 PM ^
Hello, all. As you can infer from my username, I'm a Buckeye fan, but I don't come to gloat because (1) I think it's tacky and (2) karma also thinks it's tacky. I recognize that UM is an excellent university. I routinely follow other conference teams' boards and register if I want to be part of a discussion. I find the rivalry question an intriguing one, in part b/c of my demographics: I grew up on a family farm in Ohio and went to OSU for my undergrad, and then came to Penn State for grad school. A good job opened up as I graduated and so even though I wasn't crazy about the area, I stayed. Over time I developed close friendships and I do like the scenic beauty. I came here before PSU joined the BIG, and hadn't followed Penn State sports. Our rivalry was with you guys. So you can imagine my surprise when people practically shat themselves with rage upon learning where I came from. Somehow, despite not being in the same conference, Penn State loathed Ohio State, beyond the usual "We hate you b/c you think you're such hot shit" that successful schools get. (I came to learn that they also hated you guys with some weirdly unique animus. Other BIG teams, not so much.) It only got worse after PSU joined the conference. I'm a psychologist and I've had people say that they wouldn't have chosen to work with me if they'd known I was a Buckeye. My OSU friends and I all have the same perspective: Penn State has a competitive football program and we never take them lightly, but the emotion is the same as it would be for any other competitive team. Meanwhile, this place loses its shit every year.
I don't know how it might change our focus if we had more than 1 rival. Can you generate a unique emotional narrative for each team? MSU makes sense for you guys, but Notre Dame, as others have pointed out, may cost more than it yields. It's clear the selection committee will take 1-loss teams, and losing earlier vs. later seems preferable in their eyes. But it's true that insofar as emotional investment is concerned, we only have one team to think of as Our Rival, and perhaps that helps. God knows John Cooper paid the price for winning everything but The Game. (The 1 year that he DID win? We had been upset by MSU a few weeks ago, taking us out of BCS title consideration.)
November 28th, 2018 at 3:30 PM ^
Plenty of other teams with many rivals each year (see Notre Dame). But I do agree with the sentiment.
November 28th, 2018 at 5:36 PM ^
The easiest thing in the world would be for the Big 10 to go to the "Inner/Outer" division set up with Penn State/Rutgers/Maryland swapping with Illinois/Northwestern/Purdue. That way at least Michigan doesn't have to play Ohio State/Penn State every single year and the other division gets a historically strong school. If Chryst is the bad hire he seems like he might be, Wisconsin and Nebraska might be about to just swap places in the division and you end up with the same pissweak side. Inner/Outer also lets them dump the mandatory yearly rival and rotate the all 3 cross division games. /stillplaysNCAAFootball14
I don't cotton to dropping Notre Dame from the schedule. It's a classic rivalry and it's good for the sport. The issue is not "the road's too hard" because if you can't beat Notre Dame and Ohio State in the same season you're not beating Bama or Clemson either. You can't game things into winning titles, you've got to just get better.
November 29th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
Ps: that lowly MSU went to the playoff and beat M and a better Ohio state on the road , lost in a rigged game in south bend and beat a very good Iowa team to win yet another big ten title on the way Man the eff up
Its hilarious that’s just “ too hard”.