During Harbaugh's time here, his teams have played their rivals better on the road and have a better record...
Still haven't beaten a ranked team on the road...since something like 06 if I remember correctly.
Since the start of the 2007 season, they have been 15 opportunities. Yes, we probably should've won at least one. But every one of those I'm pretty sure would've been an upset if we had except maybe 2011 MSU...
Harbaugh has only had 3 chances, was an inch away on one, and a TD not called a TD from making one very interesting on another.
I just hate when people use stats like this to imply that Michigan seems to have a specific problem, like playing good teams on the road. In case you didn't know, Michigan football sucked from 2007-2014. That's why they didn't beat any ranked teams on the road. But from my eye test, they've never had a problem playing on the road. Two of the Hoke era teams' best performances were @ OSU, even if they didn't win.
Do bowls count? Cuz they're against ranked teams on the road
What about last year vs Florida? They were ranked no 17. It was a road game in Dallas.
they are neutral site games with no home/road designations.
Yeah that 47 to 21 dismantling of #2 ND
That was one of my favorite games ever! Go Blue!!
MSU has stepped up too in some recent OOC games like Oregon. And of course they play ND a lot too.
Wisconsin played LSU.
Let's stop whining.
That perception of Alabama is just that. Of twelve games, 4 are OOC. Of those four, they play one legitimate game and the rest are ridiculously easy. That is a significant advantage vs a Michigan schedule which tends to schedule 1 good game and 2 (used to be 3) games against teams which are at least competent. If you took the teams Michigan plays OOC (minus the marquee game) against the teams Alabama plays OOC (minus the marque game) Michigan's OOC opponents would win a significant majority of games against Alabama's OOC opponents.
I've posted this a few times on the blog and I'm not going to look it up again.
Also upon further analysis, and completely out of Alabama's control, they have been very lucky with their marquee match ups.
2017: FSU (#3) - starting QB gets hurt and the team was in turmoil regardless.
2016: USC (#20) - That was the year USC started awful and turned it around (can't remember if this was the Helton partial season or not)
2015: Wisconsin (#20) - The very first game of Paul Chryst's head coaching tenure at Wisconsin
2014: West Virginia (NR) - WVU finished the season 7-6 (5-4 in conference)
2013: Virginia Tech (NR) - Beamer was on the down turn of his career. Va Tech finished 8-5 (5-3 in conference)
2012: Michigan (#8) - let us never speak of this again
2011: Penn State (#23) - This was Bama's second game of the season and PSU was a paper tiger that year
In the past seven years, Bama has played a ranked team OOC 5 times. Of those 5, only two have been in the top 19 at the time. These games are early, so ranking is solely based on what "experts" expect the quality of a team to be.
Here's Michigan's marquee games in that same period:
2017: Florida (#17)
2016: Colorado (NR) Finished the year 10-4 ranked #17
2015: Utah (NR) Finished the year 10-3 ranked #17.
2014: ND (#16)
2013: ND (#14)
2012: Alabama (#2)
2011: ND (NR)
Not that big of a difference. The point is, it's not like Bama is playing a top 5 team in their OOC schedule every year.
Big Ten is responsible for all conference games, Michigan is responsible for all out of conference.
This keeps being asked. Harbaugh wanted to switch ND for Arkansas and Warde Manuel wanted to have 7 home games in 2019. Honestly, I would have taken a home game against Arkansas this year.
From a high schooler perspective, what is cooler, Spring game or a week in France? A spring game or the opportunity to go to New Zealand, Japan, etc. once you commit to Michigan?
How about football coach AND tour guide?
What happened with that?
I ran track and cross country at a small college. Had a small scholarship but the real reason was being able to go to somewhere for meals, movies and whatnot after the meet. Yes. I ran for big macs... When you're in a small Iowa town and the nearest McD's is 50 miles away and you have no car after growing up in Utica Michgan, you'd be surprised at how much sense running track for big macs makes lol
Wanted to win every race. No doubt but wanted the trip even more
how come they had to play at state 2 years in a row the? thats complete bs if the Big 10 is responsible
Thank Dave Brandon for that one.
what did dave brandon do?
So we're supposed to give them 40 games in a row in that E Lansing cess pool? If that's not what you're espousing, then your comment makes no sense... They weren't even part of the Big Ten during most (if not all) of those years, anyway!
Haha....no. Of course the next 40 shouldn't be in East Lansing. It just seems easier to forgive one back-to-back if you look at context. Going forward it should obviously rotate.
I told that fucking kraut a thousand times
Nobody can explain why we play Wisconsin so many times in a row when they are good. The Big 10 did that. Other teams in our division do not play them so many times.
https://www.landof10.com/big-ten/big-ten-not-ready-to-announce-football…
...in four-year blocks. IU/Purdue never changes. The rest do.