Aren't We Where We Should Be?
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:51 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:56 AM ^
Meh.
When people can't respond to logic and reason they try to discredit it as an "excuse."
I've read your stuff; I tend to think I forgot more football while taking a shit a few minutes ago than you know. Frankly, I think you'd be better off reading with an open mind and maybe learning something, but maybe when you're done with your temper tantrum tonight you'll be in a better frame of mind to give it a whirl.
Cheers.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:58 AM ^
Quite the ego.
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:02 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:02 AM ^
October 24th, 2017 at 2:23 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:41 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:59 AM ^
I rationalize it pretty simply.
Michigan lost to a better team tonight. The only chance they had was the defense, and they went in with a flawed game plan and couldn't recover.
Offensively, UM's playing with a backup QB whose skills don't translate real well to the offensive philosophy the coaching staff wishes to develop. There's no threat of a downfield passing attack and that's severely limiting what the offense can do, and the play-caller (Drevno) hasn't yet proven that he's good enough to compensate for the personnel shortcomings with timely play-calls that set up and then exploit the defense.
Agreed on Drevno. 100%. I've been kicking him all year and he's without his starting QB because of an injury on a play that happened in large part due to his stubbornness with zone blocking schemes and predictable and unimaginative play-calling, especially on 1st down. Get him back coaching the OL and leave the play-calling to someone who knows what the hell he's doing.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:53 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:56 AM ^
You can talk about logical fallacies all you want but it's not indicative that JH can't beat his rivals. It is factual that Michigan is 1-4 against the two major rivals. So maybe take the pompous down a notch and stop being a blowhard. Your argument is not a good one and you're not so smart that your logical argument would go over anyone's head.
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:18 AM ^
Stating a simplistic fact that's true doesn't make all corresponding claims true.
Yes, it is a fact that under Harbaugh, UM is 1-4 against MSU and OSU.
But I'm not sold on your claim that it's Harbaugh's fault.
Personally, I don't think Blake O'Neil's dropped punt gifting the 2015 game against State was Harbaugh's fault. Heck, MSU was coming off an 11-2 season, UM a 7 loss season, MSU was an undefeated top 10 team that eventually won the B1G Championship, and Harbaugh's team had them beat until a punter did something we'll probably never see again. And ingrates like you pin the loss on the head coach and then use MSU's 3-9 record last season to further your claim while ignoring this at the same time. But yeah, I'm delusional and this is proof that Harbaugh just can't beat his rival.
At OSU, Michigan's QB fumbled the ball at the 1 yard line, threw a pick 6, and then another INT deep in his own territory, and still took the game to 2 OT's. But yeah, head coach's fault and proof he can't beat his rival.
Ty Isaac's fumble, Sean McKeon's fumble, and Karan Higdon's hold in the monsoon also show that Harbaugh can't beat his rival.
I'm as pissed as everyone else about this, and if tonight's game were a fight, they'd have called it early. But forgive me for not jumping on board with your whiny, emotional tantrums.
I guess I'll just stick with my "delusional excuses."
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:35 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:47 AM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:34 PM ^
Michigan has won 10 games in back-to-back years for the first time since the early 00s. I mean, I'm sure the coaches wished they hadn't lost, what was it, 3 games last year by 5 total points. But it happens. I doubt they care any more or less about winning than OSU does.
They are trying to compete for a title. It won't happen this year. That's a reality, and no amount of complaining about it or demanding someone gets skewered for that changes it.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^
you don't get to choose. You're just some guy watching the game, pissed off that a team you're backing lost. Half of the teams in the United States lose every Saturday. Ours is the youngest team in the country and just got beaten by the number two team.
It's always ironic when the whiners show up afterward to weep bitter tears about how their team should be tougher.
But yeah--that play-action call sucked.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:22 PM ^
Ohio State was the youngest team in college football last year. Bama was 116. Clemson was 101.
Blame anyone. Blame anything, just not the great Jim Harbaugh.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:23 PM ^
Exceptions to the rule. It's just not realistic to expect that.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:40 PM ^
I fucking hate facile comparisons like this.
OSU runs spread and shred. Bama has been paying players since 2006. I don't pay attention to Clemson tbh.
Jim Harbaugh is trying to do something much finer than all that. I mean, fuck him for not succeeding 100% of the time, I guess, but at least it's not a gimmick that is not precisely replicable at the professional level.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:18 AM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:44 PM ^
Stop trying to talk sense to them. They want to keep making excuses for this coaching staff and the shit product they field, let them.
Excuses are for people who accept mediocrity.
Period.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:09 AM ^
Oversimplifications are for people who can't process the complexities of the big picture.
Period.
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:04 AM ^
We get it. You keep telling us how smart you are.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:44 PM ^
Are you basing that off returning production? Because I have a hard time believing Alabama was that profoundly young since they consistently have about the same-size draft classes.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:21 PM ^
Right. It sucks that M lost. Sucks that it wasn't really close. But the rational people knew this would be that kind of year. Freshmen and Sophomores are rarely ready to dominate, no matter how much we want them to.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:46 AM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:30 PM ^
next week either OSU or PedoState will have a loss. I don't care which one. Also good luck Dantonio when you play them - although, I wouldn't be shocked if any B1G opponent lays an egg when playing MSU.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:41 PM ^
We are complacent with mediocrity. We are not even is the same universe as OSU, Bama, or even MSU...coaching and mostly talent wise. If you don't think this season is going to take a toll on recruiting, get your head scanned.
I didn't see it take Urban 3 years to install and offense at OSU, no they were winning a NC. Our programs are apples and oranges, not even comparable from a coaching standpoint. It is extremely depressing. But just keep making excuses, and be another second tier power 5 team for the next decade too.
I love this University, and I love this football program, but I am not renewing my seat license. It isn't worth my time, my money, or my emothional investment at this time, and frankly hasn't been for more than a decade.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:51 PM ^
Urban took over a program that was two years from a 12-1 record and a Sugar Bowl win with one shitty intervening season when they had an overmatched rube at coach and a bunch of off field distractions. Harbaugh was taking over a program that had basically sucked for 7 years (with an incredibly flukey run of luck in 2011) and had just had back to back dud recruiting classes.
We are starting what, four guys (Cole, Hill, Hurst, McCray) who are fourth or fifth year players and were originally recruited to be here.
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:07 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 9:29 AM ^
Because the two years before the duds Hoke killed it in recruiting. Those classes were really good so we had a stacked senior class last year.
Young teams are inconsistent, almost universally. They need more luck. And we have been snakebit on that front for years.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:52 PM ^
So last year Michigan ran over MSU and nearly beat OSU on the road in one of the more crazy finishes to the year. But yes, because Michigan is very young and lost to what I will 100% admit is a really good PSU team on the road, they are now no longer in the same universe.
Give up your seats if you want (I mean, I doubt anyone here ever actually does, but it makes for righteous indignation), but stop looking for some high ground to justify it.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:11 AM ^
Keep making excuses, and keep accepting the mediocrity that is this program.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:11 AM ^
You're a fucking child. Close the laptop and go cry in the corner.
And you're what people envision when they rag on the stereotype of the Michigan fan base.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:40 AM ^
YOU are the stereotype. I am realistic this program is/has been mediocre for more than a decade. I choose not to make excuses for it, and point out the reality of the situation.
You on the other hand, and people like you live in fantasy world where people still care that we lead the all time series with OSU, or have the best winning percentage in history.
Who the fuck cares.
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:56 AM ^
I'd upvote the shit out of you but I can't because of points. But this is exactly how I feel.
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:23 AM ^
Strawman alert!
I never made any of those claims.
I'm pissed that UM got its ass handed to it tonight. I'm pissed that UM still hasn't played in Indianapolis for the championship. I'm pissed that UM lost again to MSU. I'm pissed that again, OSU seems to have the superior team.
But most of us can look at the team rationally and understand where the team is, how it got here, and why things are the way they are. It's not about excuses, it's about seeking a better understanding of the entirety of the situation.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:52 PM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:59 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:25 AM ^
October 22nd, 2017 at 2:52 AM ^
What UM grad is not rich , successful, and married to a model ?
October 22nd, 2017 at 12:58 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:01 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:03 PM ^
Should we be better than a 29 point loss to James Franklin and a second consecutive home loss to an MSU team that has barely beaten Minnesota and Indiana and had 45 players kicked off the team in the offseason?
Yeah, I think so.
October 21st, 2017 at 11:14 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:30 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:43 PM ^
October 21st, 2017 at 11:55 PM ^
And this same PSU team lost by 39 last year and got nipped by a bitter rival. It happens to everyone. I guess I shouldn't expect rational patience in threads like these.
October 22nd, 2017 at 1:44 AM ^
I think your knee jerk "anyone who has a critique is irrational right now" mentality is disappointing and unfair.
My take was very rational. I'm happy with Harbaugh. The future is still pretty bright. That said, we are not where we should be. After an overachieving 2015 season, 2016 was a severe underachievement and 2017 is looking like at least a moderate underachievement.
I don't have patience for people like you who think that any criticism, no matter how rational it is, is a #OUTRAGE. Our coaching staff is literally paid millions of dollars, we don't have to be happy with them no matter what.
I'm upset about tonight, but 2016 especially, and 2017 MSU, are the real problems for me.
That was Urban's worst Ohio State team, by a pretty decent margin, out of his first 5 years. They lost 31-0 to Clemson; they were exceedingly young. That Iowa team lost to Jim McElwain's Florida by 27 points, PSU by 27 points and at home to both Northwestern and North Dakota State. We had hoardes of NFL talent, more than any team in football, with a supposed "top 3 coach in football", a pretty manageable schedule and we squandered it.
Losing to Penn State is fine. They're likely a playoff team. The margin is a bit embarassing and shouldn't be that way. But the real kicker is losing to MSU at home in a game where we were THOROUGLY outcoached. MSU is YOUNGER than we are.