Wisconsin 35, Michigan 14
That felt like a game of a bygone era, and not the one Jim Harbaugh constantly evokes. Michigan lost to Wisconsin in a start-to-finish debacle that'll shake even the most steadfast optimist's confidence in the program, at the very least until they can play on a big stage without getting stunted on.
Nothing went right. For the third straight game, Michigan lost a fumble on their opening drive, this time Ben Mason deep in Badger territory. There was no running game. Dylan McCaffrey replaced an ineffective Shea Patterson at quarterback until getting knocked out of the game by a dirty hit to the head. Wisconsin back Jonathan Taylor hit the century mark before the first quarter ended. Their quarterback, Jack Coan, completed 13 of his 16 pass attempts.
I’m gonna cry after the halftime show #BigNoonKickoff
— Charles Woodson (@CharlesWoodson) September 21, 2019
The rumored walking wounded, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Zach Charbonnet, suited up but made little impact until well into garbage time. Even on the shutout-breaking touchdown, Sean McKeon appeared to hurt his knee after landing in the end zone. A desperation Wolverine touchdown was overturned just before yet another lost fumble.
This was coming off a bye week.
— Ace Anbender (@AceAnbender) September 21, 2019
Okay, I slightly overstated things. The onside kick was lovely, even if it failed to provide the final score with an unearned veneer of respectability. Patterson's pitch to Jon Runyan Jr. provided a much-needed moment of levity. The late eff-it bombs to Nico Collins and Tarik Black provided a blueprint for what this offense should have been doing all along, for the love of all things sacred and holy.
Sorry.
203 yards on 23 carries. [Bryan Fuller]
A disaster of this magnitude brings with it major questions, the most pressing of which is: where is the offense we were promised in the offseason? And there are so many others. How do we distribute the blame for the offense's performance? When (if?) both quarterbacks are healthy, who starts? What the hell happened to the offensive line? What defensive alignment can be effective with this set of personnel? What the hell happened to those guys, too?
When does this stop? If it doesn't, when do we ask The Big Question that it's still too soon to ask no matter what's said on sports talk radio this week?
I certainly don't have the answers. Jim Harbaugh, Josh Gattis, and Don Brown are going to need to come up with some.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
September 21st, 2019 at 7:51 PM ^
Dollars to donuts he hasn’t practiced on O the last two weeks and the expectation is he would remember from last year.
September 22nd, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
Short yardage is one or two yards. Ben Mason was in the game when we needed 7 to 10 yards. Nobody was calling for Ben Mason on first and second downs with 8 yds to go.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
Harbaugh needs to go. He's clearly not up to it. Thanks for taking Michigan from dog shit to ten wins, but that doesn't mean you get to turn Michigan back into dog shit.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
I guess the most concerning part to me is this is basically the same lineup on offense as last year. Either Patterson isn't seeing them open or the receivers aren't getting any separation .
September 21st, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
#CheeseInSpace
September 21st, 2019 at 4:10 PM ^
It was mentioned several times that the receivers are simply running a single route and stopping. Good coaching will have the WR running the initial route and if the play is still happening they are taught to move towards the QB, especially if he is moving out of the pocket.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:42 PM ^
How about "ANY coaching will have the WR a route and then moving towards to QB." How is this something that every WR doesn't already know? It doesn't take a good coach to teach this, just a competent coach. Gattis is in way, way over his head and his starting QB isn't very good.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
Uh yeah, that sucked.
The one positive is that our WRs are legit. Wisconsin's DBs were insanely grabby and got away with a ton and still our WRs made plays.
Provided we have vaguely healthy QBs - let's just do the USC thing and lob it up early and often.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
The one positive is that our WRs are legit.
Who cares about that when they don't throw to them?
September 21st, 2019 at 5:12 PM ^
Who cares about that when they don't throw to them?
Or can't throw to them.
September 21st, 2019 at 9:33 PM ^
If Denard could effectively lob jump balls to Jr. Hemingway, Patterson sure as shit should be able to do it.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:23 PM ^
A good WR will be able to beat a DB that is grabby as you put it. It looks like our WR's have not been taught about how to counter it. Between Black, Collins, and DPJ we should be winning on size and strength on the outside. I could see Ronnie Bell getting grabbed and having problems, but it seems that his hoops skill has helped him understand handfighting and how to keep people from getting a hold of you.
They also have to realize that they will not get PI or Holding calls on a regular basis until 2 things happen. 1) a QB that gets them the ball in the right place, and 2) they show that they are able to maintain control and route integrity when the DB is being overly physical with them. Right now those 3 have done none of that.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:07 PM ^
I've been a Harbaugh defender consistently. But with this game he lost me. I'd rather go take a flyer on some young creative guy. Take the program down to the studs, and re-build it.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
I don't care one bit about creativity at this point. We showed no effort, no will, no composure. We got stomped by a team that tried harder than we did. That's on the coaches not the scheme.
September 22nd, 2019 at 4:28 AM ^
Yea, but the team may have quit on the coach.
And that's an even bigger story about what exactly is going on at Schembechler Hall.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:55 PM ^
^^^ YES ^^^
I recall with great fondness the Rich Rod and Brady Hoke rebuild and then rebuild again years. /s
In all seriousness though, I’m with a lot of others in struggling to understand what I watched today.
September 22nd, 2019 at 2:06 PM ^
"a flyer on some young creative guy"
Wishful thinking isn't a plan
September 21st, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
This is 2014 Notre Dame.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:10 PM ^
Trajectory is ....the SAME! Pre-season: Offense = unknown commodity. Defense = losing many starters to the NFL. Receivers= what have they ever done in a game? Even the O-Line has never shown the domination their praise portrays. Additionally, the last 3 games of Jim Harbaugh Era have been a disaster.
With all of that, who thought this team should be in the top 10? Based on what? I surely did not. This team has no identity and has lots to prove before being allowed in the elite category.
Lastly, all I wanted to see today was clean football and good coaching. I saw neither. I thought even with a likely loss, Harbaugh could prove himself as the elite coach he used to be (may still be). I am massively disappointed about this.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
Hard to stomach the line problems on both sides. There's no offensive intent and while watching the Auburn game after to compare, it's obvious this is not anything like an RPO style. I don't know what we are seeing on the field. Linebackers will grade out horribly and the d line is soft, too.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:14 PM ^
The D Line has no DT's worth anything. Even Dwumfour's hype is not founded in anything except flashes.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
It's almost like recruiting mediocre players and then letting your better recruits walk results in a shitty team.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:42 PM ^
Nonsense!
September 21st, 2019 at 7:44 PM ^
Wisconsin's DL recruits ratings are the same or worse than ours. This was coaching.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
Never have I ever turned a game off so fast (mid 2nd quarter). Sad to say it but it’s time for Harbaugh to go. I along with most Michigan fans have been very patient with him, but that patience has run out. Time for another change. Ugh.
September 22nd, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
I left after the Taylor long run. Took my 8 year old son out to shoot his air rifle. This season feels like Hoke 2014. You know what needs to happen, hopefully, it will. Jim Harbaugh is just going through the motions. He obviously knows more about football than anyone on this board, so he knows when they have no chance to win, but he could at least pretend to he cares.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
The whole two weeks before this game I was telling people it was going to be a program-defining game for the Harbaugh regime. Some people agreed with me and some people did not. After today’s debacle I believe Harbaugh’s program has been defined and the definition is “garbage”.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
Harbaugh is clearly not the same person or coach he was when he arrived here. Maybe he's gotten burned out or just simply Peter Principled out. I would guess though that Warde Manuel's phone is going to be ringing off the hook this week. And he's going to need to get off his a** and at least address the problem with his employee, JH. The head coaching job here shouldn't be and can't be a lifetime position with no accountability for bad performance.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:19 PM ^
$9M a fuckin year. For this uninspired no heart bullshit.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
Why is it too early to ask the big question? The last three games against power 5 opponents have been embarrassing. The program is going backwards.
Year 5 and there has been half a season of good QB play (Rudock). Give JH any other name and his seat would have gotten very warm after the historic beat-down in Columbus and this defeat would certainly make it hot.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:18 PM ^
I don’t know when the right time is, but it’s about 8 weeks earlier than it used to be because of the December signing period. Which makes this suck even more.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:14 PM ^
Listen, Michigan fucked up by not going hard after Jedd Fisch. His play calling in 2015 was BY FAR the best of the Harbaugh era at Michigan and his philosophy was more in line with Jim’s offensive identity. I don’t know what the fuck Gattis is doing or why Jim would suddenly chuck his entire offensive philosophy and hand the keys over to someone he’s never worked with before.
The 2016 OSU game broke Harbaugh. He’s not been the same since.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:25 PM ^
The Fisch thing. Again. Why doesn't anyone in the game of football but a small, vocal segment of weird Michigan fans put a lot of value in the guy if he is so good?
September 21st, 2019 at 4:44 PM ^
You’re right. He only coaches for the Rams. No one wants him.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
He's not even a position coach there, you moron.
September 22nd, 2019 at 4:44 AM ^
To be fair to Harbaugh, Jedd Fisch is absolutely aspiring to be a HC--and his reputation pre-Harbaugh, and immediately post-Harbaugh was building quickly. The quote was "he's got Head Coach written all over him."
When Harbaugh was hired, he immediately reached out to Fisch and apparently asked for 2 years of his service minimum--before potentially considering other offers.
Jedd's ran into bad luck at UCLA where his HC (Jim Mora) was fired during his first season as OC. Jedd got to be the interim HC, but after hiring Chip Kelly, Jedd was obviously not going to be retained.
I'm sure Jim would have retained him, but I'm also sure Jedd was aspiring to a Head Coach position, and moving on and improving other struggling teams offense is the best way to get to HC. In 2015-2016, sticking around UM would have made ZERO sense, given both Harbaugh, his scheme, and the likelihood of Fisch getting promoted to HC were near point zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, one.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:49 PM ^
Because fans with their maize and blue glasses glued to their face can’t possibly stomach the possibility that the problem is actually the HC...so they grasp at straws like Jedd
September 21st, 2019 at 4:14 PM ^
Weird, the thing that has happened against every good team we’ve played on the road happened again.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:15 PM ^
I have asked myself the Big Question for the first time today.
September 21st, 2019 at 6:22 PM ^
it’s time to start taking about it....first time I’ve thought it as well.
Wow weee look where we are
September 21st, 2019 at 4:16 PM ^
Harbaugh is not the answer, he's not good enough. If there are people (media members, users on this site, authors on this blog, etc.) who don't recognize this you are ignoring every red flag in the world, and common sense.
I've never said this before but Fire Harbaugh. He had 2 weeks and this is his response. He is not the coach he was at Stanford or in San Fran, the game has passed him bye. He clearly does not know how to field a functioning offense.
Clean house, hire an up and coming coach who can field a modern offense, and give him time to rebuild. If it doesn't work try again. This us useless to watch.
September 21st, 2019 at 5:33 PM ^
To me, this is correct. I’m not sure if you fire harbaugh now or wait until the end of the season, but I do believe he needs to go.
Here’s why: College football is all about the head coach. You hire the right coach and your program changes. It happens all over the country.
In the NFL it’s about the quarterback and having a good defense. If I were in the NFL I’d try and draft a quarterback every year until I found one that worked.
In college ... it’s about the coach. I’d keep going after new coaches until we found one that worked. And, no, not every season is going to be perfect, but coaches usually have trajectories that improve in years two, three and four and, yes, there could be a down year here and there, but successful coaches certainly don’t have games that look like Ohio State and Florida last year and then follow it up with Wisconsin this year.
September 22nd, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
How'd that RichRod thing go? He almost got West Virginia into the NC game.
Real names. Not prayers.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:17 PM ^
I just hate this. All of this. I feel like harbaugh has a lot of bad choices to make and all them won’t fix anything quickly.
I feel like any positive play on offense is just representation of Parrando’s paradox.
He might need to take a leave of absence.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:19 PM ^
Harbaugh's only good choice would be to find a successor, bring them on staff ASAP, and then quit at the end of this season.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:25 PM ^
Exactly
September 21st, 2019 at 4:27 PM ^
Uh, who does that? That's not how coaching transitions work.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:29 PM ^
Urban Meyer did it at OSU... seems to be working out pretty fucking good for them. Warde is going to take too long to fire Harbaugh, so either Harbaugh tanks the team before he's fired or he does the right thing and chooses to leave.
September 21st, 2019 at 4:54 PM ^
Meyer did not bring in Ryan Day with the intention of him replacing him. Day was hired a year before the Zach Smith mess became public. Urban would still be at OSU if not for that.
Also, why the fuck would Harbaugh - in over his head - get to hire the next coach? And bring him in mid-season? Great plan, you're really thinkin!
September 21st, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
Uhh... calling Bob Stoops, yeah, he didn’t do just that
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