Michigan State Postgame Presser: Jim Harbaugh
[Upchurch]
It’s a hard game to put in words. What are your impressions of what happened tonight?
“Too many turnovers. We got momentum going, then we turned it over. You can’t expect to win when you turn it over five times.”
Replacing Nolan [Ulizio] with Juwann [Bushell-Beatty]: what went into that and how long were you guys planning on leaving Nolan in there before switching him out at that right tackle spot?
“It wasn’t a plan. Coaches decided to make the switch.”
How far along was it?
“At what point? I can’t remember exactly what point it was in the game.”
There was a stretch there with the three interceptions and you guys throwing the ball around. Did you consider running the ball more and what went into the playcalling during that stretch?
“Yeah, I mean, you can criticize that. We were trying to run the ball. We were trying to piece drives together. We really were. That was—we needed to score points and we needed to piece drives together and that’s what we were trying to do.”
There was a lot that went wrong on offense tonight but what can you hang your hat on the most in this game? What made you most proud of the offense even through all the faults tonight?
“Just not enough good things. There were good things. Opening drive was good; sixteen plays. We get the ball back, we started to do it again then three plays then we had a fumble. That two-minute drive before the half, that was materializing and looked like we would get points and we stopped ourselves there.
“Then we had the interception. It was hard to tell from where I was standing whether John was throwing the crossing route. Think he was expecting the receiver, Kekoa, to keep coming on the move. It was one of those things, weren’t on the same page there. I think the one ball, to your points, didn’t have a good grip on it. Overthrew the receiver. But yeah, there was good things. Not enough good things. Stopped ourselves. In the course of piecing drives together we turned the ball over. That’s what I saw.”
[Hit THE JUMP for more]
After a game like this with the way the offense struggled, do you take a hard look and reevaluate some things on offense or do you look at it as a bizarre game, a rain game, and you don’t think you need many changes?
“We’ll evaluate, like we always do after every game. Always take a hard look after every single game.”
You’re 1-4 against the two biggest rivals. What should be the reaction midway through year three?
“I don’t know, Dennis. We’re bowing our heads getting ready for the next game. That’s our reaction.”
Can you talk about the defense in the second half especially and what they did to keep you in it?
“Yeah, they were getting stops and even with the five turnovers they did well. The one we fumbled at midfield, they did score a touchdown on that but I think that’s the only points that came off of those turnovers. That was outstanding. Kept us in the ballgame.”
Offensively, has it been a situation where it’s not one thing in particular? Seems like it’s a bunch of little things. Is it just a case of you’re not getting 11-man football out there or is there something underlying as to why it’s not consistent?
“Best I can tell you right now is what I’ve already said. Turned the ball over too many times offensively.”
Despite the turnovers, do you feel like there’s maybe one or two plays or anything that you left out there that could change the outcome of the game despite the rain?
“Yeah, yeah. We had our opportunities.”
October 8th, 2017 at 3:01 PM ^
Might be a good idea to revisit whether it's a good idea to have "Amazon Prime" cameras in the way. I'm not sure having an ' "unscripted" documentary series about Michigan's 2017 football season' is something we need right now.
October 8th, 2017 at 3:05 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 3:10 PM ^
..and Herbstreit is a liar. The crowd went insane every time MSU got the ball, and that continued to the bitter end of the game. The reason being...the Defense was PLAYING like they were insane! I for one love Harbaugh, but damn buddy, you need to light a fire under that offense and tell them to play as insane as the Defense does. They looked lethargic, dis-organized, oppressed by three MSU linemen the whole game...which is just ridiculous.
October 8th, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:18 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 3:56 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:36 PM ^
Meanwhile Sparty, OSU, and Penn State have been winning Big Ten titles. Stop using that fucking word. It sounds like we are making excuses.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:14 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:28 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 4:50 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:00 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:12 PM ^
Who was it that said embrace the suck ?
October 9th, 2017 at 7:14 AM ^
However, based on the hot takes over the last 30 hours I’m not sure any of them have endured something nearly as difficult as Michigan losing a game.
October 8th, 2017 at 5:12 PM ^
I don't understand why we can't do this. Yes, Rich Rod screwed us. So did Hoke. Penn State, a program saddled with countless sanctions, has somehow very quickly overcome that obstacle and is a top 5 team this year and went to the Big 10 championship last year. At some point, OSU finally overcame what was hindering them in the late '90s and has never looked back. Why can't we get passed this? What will it finally take to build the recruiting momentum?
October 8th, 2017 at 7:38 PM ^
It seems to me the Drevno situation is the Peter Principle at work. He is basically just like Hoke. A line coach who has been elevated to a status that is beyond his capability. Failure has resulted.
Given their history, it's doubtful Harbaugh fires him, but he needs to be demoted back to OL and only OL. As others have said here, we need a Don Brown level OC who has full reign over the machinations of the offense. No more of this Co-Coordinator nonsense. You don't see Co-CEOs in business.
And Jay is clearly failing as a RB coach as well. Not quite the Peter principle here, but he seems out of his depth given the way the players have performed thus far.
And Pep Hamilton may be Harbaugh's GERG. Moderate NFL success that leads to inflated expectations, but ultimately falls flat in the college game. Time will tell.
October 8th, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 10:27 PM ^
Don't really know how JH and his staff is approaching this? Are they bringing the NFL "business" mentality to college football? For better or worse NFL rivalries are more fan based and are of little consequence. The NFL perspective is less about winning and more about revenue. Perhaps to Drevno and Pep, sParty was just another game. I just hope, we're not going there.
October 8th, 2017 at 10:47 PM ^
I don't want to go there either but if it means 10 wins over 8 wins, I'll take the 10.
it's easier and more meaningful to convert 10 wins to 11, than to convert 8 to 9.
October 8th, 2017 at 7:52 PM ^
The worse game plan Harbaugh has delivered since he came back to M and the worse execution of a bad plan I have seen from M in a long time.
No sense of urgency, HEY A Monsoon is coming. Everyone knew but M coaches. It looked like.
Poor execution, but even worse Not Puttting players in a position, plan to succeed.
Having said that, credit Dantonio. He put his team in position to succeed. And They were terrible.
October 8th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^
"The worse game plan Harbaugh has delivered since he came back to M and the worse execution of a bad plan I have seen from M in a long time.
No sense of urgency, HEY A Monsoon is coming. Everyone knew but M coaches. It looked like.
Poor execution, but even worse Not Puttting players in a position, plan to succeed.
Having said that, credit Dantonio. He put his team in position to succeed. And They were terrible."
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It's hard to believe they were coming off of a bye week. The first series seemed right and then we got down to the RZ and threw a couple of garbage passes. If M had a game plan, I would call it schizophrenic, uninformed or simply crazy. During the monsoon we're moving the ball well on the ground and just when the mo started building, we'd throw stupid downfield pic passes. Not TE slants or quick outs but bone headed across the middle in coverage routes.
The lack of urgency was astounding and I was in the stands saying that from 7 1/2 minutes on. Did the M coaches know? In some way it seemed like they were hoping for lightning and a game suspension. Contrary to the garbage I later heard Herbstupid said, the crowd was in the game and LOUD to the last second. The rain made everyone more engaged.
Poor execution? Speaks for itself.
Dantonio's kids were well coached, on a mission, and executed better than we did.
Watch the Branstetter M replay - Something doesn't seem right about JH - his affect is flat and he seems really melancholy. The kids need a coach and not a manager.
October 8th, 2017 at 11:03 PM ^
Cool. What section?
October 8th, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 11:28 PM ^
good ol' Section 43. My second home.
October 9th, 2017 at 8:31 AM ^
Was in 42-43 for years though in rows 50's-70's. Then I made a request ot be closer to the field and was shuttled over to section 5. Nowhere near as cool of a section though the Mrs. likes the BR at Chrysler.
October 8th, 2017 at 11:45 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:47 AM ^
toss sweep .. did it once gained 12 yards. didn't do it again.
bubble screen.. didn't see one.
could have tossed a bunch of misdirection / quick hit stuff that would have taken advantage of their agressive tendancies early, then play action works much better later when you've gassed them.
Bye week must have been used to teach O'Korn the first couple pages of the play book.
SMH.
October 8th, 2017 at 8:53 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^
"...a more experienced team"? Sophmore in his first year as starting QB, scrub and walk on players and you call that more experienced?
Wow, the apology tour goes on. 1-3 against sParty and 0-2 against ohio. FWIW, Franklin is in his third year of a moribund program, took his kids to the B10 champs and now they are contenders. Georgia is doing the same thing with a first year coach and a team loaded with underclassmen.
October 9th, 2017 at 3:57 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:57 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 10:04 AM ^
NO SACKS
October 9th, 2017 at 9:19 AM ^
"They were also facing (as much as some Michigan fans hate to admit it) a very well coached, determined and more experienced team."
MSU returned 60.6% of their letterman
Michigan returned 64%
MSU returned 46.9% of their yards from last year
Michigan returned 62.1%
MSU returned 55.5% of their tackles from last year
Michigan returned 36.5%
MSU returned 40 Offensive Line starts
Michigan returned 54
So the only place we were less experienced... was on defense.
October 8th, 2017 at 9:03 PM ^
This coaching staff has been the best since Moeller.
It’s a tough patch that will have to be solved, but I have confidence it will be solved. This fan base vacillates between love/hate with Harbaugh so quickly.
October 8th, 2017 at 9:41 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 9:28 PM ^
Brian has pretty much been wrong about everything. That Rich Rod was god. That Hoke would never get hired to be our HC. That Franklin couldn't coach.
That Harbaugh would stay forever.
Nope.
Harbaugh's a wanderer. Always has been always will be.
That's our hope right now. When he leaves 2 years from now, we get a young guy who won't quit till he's winning championships, not just mugging for the camera or building his twitter following.
October 8th, 2017 at 10:31 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 12:47 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 3:56 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 10:53 AM ^
He's always left.
I know, I know, you're gonna insist he only leaves for better jobs.
You're projecting.
He always leaves.
There was a time I thought I'd be sad and angry when he left. Now I'm gonna be glad.
Trolling on twitter and mugging for the camera is only fun when you can actually win games that matter and he never has.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:22 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 2:12 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 10:10 PM ^
MGoQuestion: Hey Jim, do you have it in you to fire your buddy Tim Drevno and turn the OL over to Frey?
October 8th, 2017 at 10:35 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:38 AM ^
F--- I'm taking an earful from all of the dirtball ohio fans at work. Man I hate these chumps and worse yet, today is Columbus day. These d-bags are stupid they don't even know who Columbus was. Patience, patience.
October 9th, 2017 at 3:38 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 4:58 PM ^
as an alum and letterwinner, I expect more out of Jim Harbaugh when it comes to answering questions about the rivalry games. Decades of interviews from UofM coaches and players shed light on a culture that is driven by beating our rivals into submission. We just don't get that from Harbaugh. What happened to the guy who made a guarantee about the last game of the year. What happened to breeding a culture of guys who say they reserve a little extra practice time to prepare for our in-state neighbor and that team from down south. Sorry, Jim, but this fan base deserves more than "bowing our heads and getting ready for the next game."
October 15th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
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