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 3:10 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 3:34 PM ^
You don't know what is happening behind closed doors man
And you do?
Maybe our team just isn't that good. We lost 17 (now 18, counting Speight) starters from last year and have had to replace them with a lot of underclassmen. That's tough.
October 8th, 2017 at 3:44 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 3:52 PM ^
Young teams tend to commit a lot of errors and miss assignments.
I think the underlying issue is that fans are frustrated with how the 2016 season ended, with three close losses in the last four, and want this year's team to provide redemption - but it just might not have the talent or experience to do that.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:03 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 8:18 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 9:48 AM ^
night game, Saturday Night Football, huge recruiting weekend. Loss (8th in 10 years). = Owned.
October 8th, 2017 at 3:43 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 5:02 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 6:20 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 8:41 PM ^
I fear this may be spot on.....
October 8th, 2017 at 1:09 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 12:19 PM ^
I hope the coaching staff realizes that have one position coach handle TEs and OTs, and a different position coach handle Cs and Gs is perhaps not an optimal division of responsibilities.
October 8th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 2:39 PM ^
That's not unusual.
October 8th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^
At this point we do not have a single player on offense that is a "great" player. Not one. Go ahead and name one. Who would actually be considered for Big Ten honors on this team? Only defense and special teams.
The question is - can we take the young raw athletes that we have on offense and turn them into great skills players that can execute? I know we can on defense, that is proven.
But I am not sure that we have the coaching on the offensive side to deliver what we all want to see.
And by the way Dantonio schooled Hargaugh. It was painful, but I happened. Again.
October 8th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^
lack of an offensive star is not the main problem.
M did not have an offensive star last year and the offense was much better than this year.
MSU has no offensive stars.
ND has not offensive stars.
Neither MSU not ND has a great offense this year, but they are not nealry as discombobulated as Michigan's 2017 offense.
Better players would be great. But the players that M has on offense are plenty good enough to mould into a unit that can generate more than 10 points against a sound but far from elite MSU D.
The biggest problem is the game plans and the offensive play selection.
October 8th, 2017 at 2:04 PM ^
I will claim that he is an offensive star for MSU. Kid delivered with his brain, arm, feet, grit and determination. If we had Lewerke our offense would perform much better than it does.
October 8th, 2017 at 2:32 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 12:46 AM ^
Jake Butt won the Mackey Award for best tight end in college football.
October 8th, 2017 at 12:40 PM ^
Outgamed. Outmanned. Outpersisted. Outplayed. By a bunch of walkons, freshmen and sophomores. In our house. And the other team dealt with the same weather issues. So outcoached too. The silence of the home crowd was deafening and a telltale that things are not well with our football program.
October 8th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 1:01 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
The student section appeared very lively. However the commentators kept mentioning the low crowd volume except when Staee was on the field near the student section. Perhaps this observation originated from Herbie Herbstreit.
I rescind.
October 8th, 2017 at 2:07 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 2:27 PM ^
I was there with my son and daughter until the bitter end. No, the crowd was very involved.
October 8th, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
The crowd was definitely involved. Sure there was a lull here or there but that's to be expected. You're not going to go crazy in the stands in the middle of the second quarter.
Was there 45m before kick to the bitter end and endured the monsoon and even in the thickest part of the rain the crowd was there and in it. Of note, I sit at the other goal line (same sideline) as the students and it was loud there so it wasn't localized to the students.
October 8th, 2017 at 2:08 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 2:41 PM ^
The crowd is the last thing you should be criticizing. Very few people left early despite monsoon conditions and they remained loud to the end.
October 8th, 2017 at 4:43 PM ^
When MSU was on offense in the 2nd half that was the loudest I've ever heard the big house. It was an awesome thing to be apart of. Mute Herbstreit, he is a buckeye fan and always talks trash about Michigan.
October 8th, 2017 at 12:46 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 1:39 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 3:37 PM ^
Does he want to be ours?
/asking for a friend.
October 8th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 1:52 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 2:39 PM ^
We all expected, coming into the game, that there would be marginal calls and non-calls that would give the sparties some momentum. We expected we'd have to play past the BS to win. We knew they would play dirty after the whistle and get away with most of it.
What strikes me most about Mork's style is that he does everything - including cheat - to give his players an advantage. MSU coaching staff doesn't care about character or fairness, Their approach - the edge they put in the game - is like Purdue, it's enough to give them wins over better teams. It doesn't work consistently but it does make a difference. It's almost like a calculus they do. Michigan dials back more after a penalty, so as not to get penalized again. MSU did get called a few times but it did not deter them from continuing -it's almost like a calculus. "we will only get called X% of the time so why not"?
Even with that - they didn't bring anything special to this game. We shot ourselves in the foot offensively, repeatedly. I'm not strong enough to go back and count the drops.
October 8th, 2017 at 3:06 PM ^
Yep, the refs were trash, but this is just something we're going to have to deal with in this stupid conference. Michigan should be so much better than MSU that they should be able to smash them regardless of what Delaney's stooges in stripes do.
October 8th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 6:06 PM ^
10 win seasons fine?
Look I know it sucks for the Sparty has won x out of y games, and osu the same, but that happened and it's over. A part of history, just real with it. Harbaugh isn't responsible for the Hoke and Richrod eras. He should be 2-1 against Sparty and was within a whisper of 1-1 vs osu.
October 8th, 2017 at 3:01 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
The 1-4 thing is bothering me how many people bring it up, because it's literally two plays away from 3-2. One once-in-a-lifetime play and one bad spot on a extremely unfairly officiated game.
So I mean...1-4 looks bad (and is bad, obviously...it fucking sucks, man), but the games have all been competetive to the end of the game except for one. This idea that Harbaugh can't get it done against our rivals is just false.
Also, I'm bothered how many are already writing off OSU as a loss. Dude, OSU lost to Oklahoma at home. Their offense couldn't move the ball against a defense that gave up 38 to a 3rd string QB-converted-linebacker yesterday. A team that gave up 41 points to winless Baylor. College football is weird, sometimes shit happens. No need to freak out like everything is crashing and burning.
October 8th, 2017 at 1:05 PM ^
Yes, they were a significant factor, but certainly not the reason we lost this game IMO. We kept them scoreless for the entire 2nd half, and were only behind by 4 for a quarter and a half. We squandered many drives where we had to punt. Lack of offensive consistency and ability to get first downs is why we lost. How many times did Michigan even get in the red zone in this game? Once or twice? Our problem is a weak offense that can't sustain drives. It's been like that the entire reason in reality. That's squarely on the coaches at this point 5 games into the seaon. Harbaugh only partially fessed up to it by mentioning the play calling. I'm beginning to wonder whether the coaches have a cohesive, unified strategy internally for running the offense - or whether it's some disjointed committee approach.
October 8th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
What you're selling here. However I do believe turnovers spelled the game because after continually stalling by turnover the players who were delivering the goods almost certainly were frustrated with their underperforming colleagues and/or coaches. But I would highlight your last sentence in yellow bold.
October 8th, 2017 at 1:59 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 2:45 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 9:17 PM ^
October 8th, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^
Play the Freshman and Sophmores. Take the lumps. Use this as a way to weed out the under-performers and let them transfer.
Play Peters, Play Walker, Play Steuber or Filiaga, Play Ruiz. Play Thomas and St Juste more.
Sit Isaac. Sit JBB. Sit Ulizio. Sit Brandon Watson. Sit Kugler.
More Perry, more Hiigdon, more Evans third down and play action running ROUTES.
Rotate the T position as to prepare someone to take over LT in 2018. Steuber or Filiaga need to get game action to prepare. Can not assume Newsome is back. or even any good
Play for 2018 and get JR and Senior Classes out end of year. No 5th years, ok every transfer for 2018 Seniors if they want to skip a year.
But move forward. We still are living in the Past.
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