Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I am almost numb to the losing to OSU. It has been that way since I graduated high school and I honestly just don't really care that much anymore. I still love the team and watch, but at 40, I'm not going to let a game ruin my day. A lot of that has to do with the product. It just isn't that much fun to sit through a 4 hour commercial fest. I try to got to a game a year and really enjoy the experience, but it is tough to spend an entire day only to watch a guy in a red hat tell the teams to wait for the commercials to get over. 

As far as the team, I can handle the losing. Michigan has some disadvantages that teams from the south and OSU just don't have. They will almost assuredly never become Alabama. They also have advantages though and there are no excuses for the shit show we have seen on offense the last 2 years. No blaming Hoke, age, experience, QB play, etc. It looks like the coaches are trying to solve world hunger on every play call and then they relay the half solution to the players with 4 seconds to snap the ball. After all of that, the play is a dive into the line or some pass play that takes 10 seconds to develop. The offense is complete shit and there is no excuse for that 4 years after hiring "the best coach available", the "qb guru", etc. I have a signed Harbaugh jersey in my basement so I am by no means a hater, but I am shocked that the offense looks like this 4 years in. I have no idea what the solution is, but he needs to get it figured out.

No disagreement regarding pace and lack of tempo package, but my impression v. Florida was that Harbaugh did this on purpose to get the game over. The writing was on the wall by the end of the 3rd quarter. 

We weren't ready or willing to play. Florida was ready and more than willing. 

Slowing the game down avoided a massacre the likes we hadn't seen for . . .  a month, and I think that's what Harbaugh was doing.

Sad, but that's what it looked like. 

All hail Beilein!

The one thing that Beilein has been able to do very successfully, that sets him apart from Harbaugh (and Dantonio and Izzo for that matter), is step away from some of his long held beliefs and principles and make changes. He adjust to the changes in the game. He fits players to his system and fits his system to his players.

There is a fine line between sticking true to your core beliefs and being stuck in a rut.

I have to wonder if Harbaugh is a poor communicator.  We all know how weird and awkward he can be during interviews and press conferences.  Maybe he’s no better in coaches meeting or during in-game situations.  Maybe other coaches just don’t know exactly what he wants because he can’t express himself well with words.    I’m sure I’m wrong, it’s just a thought 

It would be much easier to handle this if I felt they were desperately trying to get to the top of the mountain and just fell short, but there is very little I see from the staff that convinces me they are trying to compete with the big boys.

I think it's safe to say that most everyone here is IN FOR LIFE in terms of Michigan football. And that's the way it should be. This isn't the NFL, where fan allegiances shift like the winds -- justifiably so, in my opinion.

Will this get better? Who knows. It might. But then again, it might not. But one thing's for sure: when late August arrives, we'll all be back, and fully IN. 

Until then, go basketball. 

The sun has to shine on a dogs ass someday right? Wrong! The dog is stuck in the BPONE.

Same. 

Okay, but has anybody actually asked Harbaugh why there is no hurry up offense?

I just want to hear the answer, since he obviously had it in the NFL.

Yep.  This is it, exactly. 

I am as big a fan of Michigan football as anyone, but I have officially gotten to the point where I am committed to DVRing the games and only watching the wins. 

It's just not worth the heartache anymore. 

I'm still confused on why all the talk about bowl games being meaningless now.  Is it a desire for an expanded playoff?  Bowl games have always been meaningless if you follow the same logic, aside from 1 or 2 a year that had national title implications.  Can someone clarify?

At this point my BPONE isn't related to W/L's, those are pretty predictable based on competition.  Mine is more related to the embarrassing issues that are easily preventable that seem to happen every game.  

Clock issues.  Watching RBs run repeatedly into holes with blitzing LBs.  Watching the SLB cover RBs while the viper doesn't ( I thought that was the point of playing a smaller LB).  Watching safeties cover #1 WRs in the slot. Easily preventable penalties. 

I still am not at the point where I think this is the ceiling for a relatively clean program.  In my observation, this year, the coaches held the team back, not the talent.  On the bright side it does seem there are rumblings changes are on the way.  I don't think JH just became a terrible coach overnight, hopefully, he implements a more streamlined system to call plays.  But, that is where my hope meets my BPONE. 

As with so much following the Florida bowl game, being ignored is the fact that teams that practice and play together for a summer and for a season tend to rely on each other during games. And star players matter.

They didn’t have that in the Florida game.

Apply Occam’s Razor here; the simplest, most obvious explanation for the collapse of Michigan’s defense and lack of running production is the four starters who sat this game out. There’s no need to speculate on other issues to explain this loss.

You can blame the coaches all you like, but if there’s a glaring fault, it’s on the players who (in my opinion) quit on their teammates, or, taking the case of Bush and Gary in the kindest light, were too banged up to play.

To pin this loss on Harbaugh is nuts, especially after the success the team had when everyone was healthy and playing.

And if, as many here think, it was smart and good and wise for the four players not to play, it’s still the most obvious reason for the blowout loss.

There may at some point be a breakout, but it won't be under Harbaugh.  He is a disorganized dinasour headed toward extinction without whatever adaptation gene that John Beilein possesses.  

Michigan football has been hoping for a return to greatness since 1997.

It's ironic - and feels really gut-wrenching - that it wasn't RichRod, Dave Brandon, or Brady Hoke that finally put the nail in the coffin of this ever-loving hope of Michigan fans.

Nope, it wasn't those guys. It was the savior, the bleeding blue Michigan Man himself. It was Jim Harbaugh - the anointed one, who sent Brian and thousands of others into the football abyss and the waiting arms of John Beilein. 

How could that be? How could Harbaugh have killed the hope of Michigan Football more than all these other yahoos? I guess it's because of his previous success, the unbridled enthusiasm and expectation, the outsized presence - that hasn't gotten us over the hump. 

But it's not only that. It's also that Harbaugh is 100% the template that Michigan wants to succeed. Michigan has deflated us because we realize we got exactly what we wanted in Harbaugh and it hasn't been good enough to get there. Bo-ball, or at least JH's manifestation of it, doesn't seem to do the job anymore.

Another realization that hurts is seeing that Harbaugh is flawed. He's very good, but not perfect. He makes some strange play calls, seems to have a hard time adapting, recruits well but loses most of the biggest battles, and struggles with clock management at times. Every coach and every system has flaws, the thing about Harbaugh's is that it has so little room for error, and just a couple of misses can cost you the season. It's like we want the Harbaugh system, but we want somebody else to execute it better.  

We are forced to confront the idea that Michigan must change. Offensive style, recruiting style, local weather patterns, institutional integrity, coaching staff, or whatever else, if we really want to be the best. It's the final realization that the Michigan Way doesn't lead to very many championships. We wanted Harbaugh, and Harball, we got them, and now it's not good enough. We are the little league parents who yelled from the stands for the coach to put our kid in to save the game, and when he did, the kid struck out. 

All that said, I'm still pro-Harbaugh. Appears to run a clean program. Cares a lot about Michigan, and may eventually break through. I hope he stays a long time. If he brings home a Natty, it will feel very good. But I also hope he can adapt some way, somehow, to give us a fighting chance. 

I don't remember the exact write-up, or when it was written, but at some point in the last 1-2 years, Brian wrote an article talking about the adjustments Beilein made to elevate the basketball program. Beilein was at a point where the program was good, but seemed to hit a ceiling. He recognized the adjustments he needed to make, starting with his staff, made the adjustments, and now the program is elite.

I feel like Harbaugh is at a similar juncture. Four full years in, while there are still after-affects of the previous regime, the impact is minimal. This is Harbaugh's program, and it appears to have hit a ceiling of just being pretty good. I hope he is willing to take similar steps to make the tough decisions necessary to elevate the program to elite status. 

“Jim Harbaugh, what can we do, what can we do.”

”You can can act like a man (or woman if you are a female fan).” 

Slap in the collective fans’ faces.

Many of you should be forced to relive the Hoke area, if you are too dense to tell the difference. 

Embrace the struggle and enjoy the ride. What Jim Harbaugh is attempting to do is unprecedented in present day college football. He will be successful. 

Further, many of the comments on this post are reprehensible. Question the man’s tactics and strategies if you wish and you must. However, Jim Harbaugh is a great success as a player and a coach in all levels of football. He has conducted himself with great integrity and is an exemplary husband, father and son. 

He will make the required changes as he has always shown the willingness to do.  Thank goodness John Beilein was retained despite the foolhardy ramblings on this site. Coach Harbaugh is on the same path. We are very lucky to have both of these men representing our great university. Let’s all act like it. 

I've stayed away from the "Harbaugh is bad" threads for the week or so, so this may be redundant. When he was first hired I read everything available to read about Harbuah, and I found this one line in this one article concerning then, and foreshadowing now. It's basically about Stanford's improbable win against USC, and how involved Jim was when it mattered most. It's all second hand, so who knows about the accuracy, but worth sharing.

"What I do remember is, I don't think [quarterback] Tavita [Pritchard] got the playcall in. It was really loud, and for some reason Jim decided not to signal the play in," said Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, a wide receiver on that 2007 Stanford team. "So, we kind of were flying by the seat of our pants. Tavita just called the play that he thought Jim would have wanted to call, which was a simple double go route.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/20590188/when-jim-harbaugh-richard-sherman-stanford-pulled-biggest-upset-cfb-history

Recruiting aside, which actually seems to be going well, at least in terms of talent appraisal and star gazing, this whole thing has seemed surreal to me.

Harbaugh came too late. When he went to the 49ers, and Brady Hoax came here, it was where Harbaugh to Michigan should have died.

Hoax failed, yes, and someone else should have been brought in; Harbaugh should have gone to the Lions. The college game is not for him anymore. I see a man who is showing signs of being bored by it. The flaws in Michigan's performances over the last four years are that the team is seemingly uninspired much of the time. Even blowouts don't cause much excitement and aren't fun.

People keep saying, "Well who then? I think he's the best guy out there!" NO, he's not. You find someone like Tom Herman, Ryan Day, or Jeff Brohm. Young guys who really DO have the enthusiasm Harbaugh pretends to have. 

Brian has nailed it, but even he seems to think there's a chance here. I don't. This is the end product. Stanford was an anomaly, and Stanford has kept it going long after Harbaugh left. Congratulations, he was the "fit" there. Now, here, it happened too late, and it's at the ceiling, and it's not going to result in anything that wows us.