Mood of the team
Really interesting conversation going on over at the Michigan Insider around the team's mentality and just how it feels different. You get the feeling this team genuinely likes playing together. You look at what they did when 'Jump Around' was happening, something is just different.
It got me thinking about certain off-season transfers and how they handled their exits. Seeming some of those certain players stick it up with their new teams, I can't help but wonder how much of the last few season's struggles were a combination of needing new coaches AND having players that were, putting it bluntly, caustic to the overall team culture.
Anywho, Go Blue! Loving seeing this team fight, improve, and have some fun!
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:48 PM ^
Mood is good when winning.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:50 PM ^
lol I mean, that part too!
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:06 PM ^
What is that line "Victory has many fathers, defeat is an orphan" - everyone is happy when the team is winning, everyone is moody when the team is losing.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
Agreed, but worth noting the moment OP is talking about happened before the kickoff
October 2nd, 2021 at 9:20 PM ^
I feel like it's a situation of simultaneous causality. The mood is good when you're winning, but you're more likely to win when the mood is good.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:50 PM ^
Moody is good when kicking.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:50 PM ^
They lit a candle and put on some Barry White to set the mood
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:00 PM ^
Ha! Good one! Dude was solid today! Made some difficult kicks.
October 2nd, 2021 at 9:40 PM ^
We got it together baby.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:51 PM ^
Gotta think it's a combination of the new, younger coaches and the senior leadership from guys like Hutchinson, Ross and Haskins. I hope like hell they can keep this edge into November because the last time this happened (2018) they just wore out and Winovich, Bush and Gary ended up injured.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:51 PM ^
Watching our team do jump around on the field was absolutely awesome. Things like jump around are part of the home field advantage. To the extent you believe it makes a difference, those moments hype up the home team. Instead, our guys fed off of the energy and got in on the action. Good vibe around this team, and around our head coach. He just looks different and more “normal” this year.
October 2nd, 2021 at 6:55 PM ^
Last year was covid...
And losing to OSU blows...
Besides that, Harbaugh has been a good coach for Michigan.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:00 PM ^
Keep it going. Use the mo to overcome!! Have we been behind in a game yet?
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:02 PM ^
It's interesting you ask that because I just saw on Twitter that we're the first team in a century that hasn't trailed through 5 games and has only 0 or 1 turnover.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:23 PM ^
What a weird combo of stats. How about just 5-0 without trailing historically. Other than Alabama the past 17 years
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:09 PM ^
Everyone said that the culture around the program was the issue. We didn't believe it, because...why would we? But it seems to be true.
The captains are REAL leaders. The best players are REAL leaders. The coaches are held accountable just as much as the players.
You can see this team plays for each other. It's going to be interesting as we get later into the season and guys aren't playing...but hopefully they exit quietly like Rumler did. I thought even that showed maturity and culture.
Milton was smirking and giving the finger to everyone on his way out. Giles Jackson apparently didn't leave gracefully either (to his credit, I haven't heard anything about Charbonnet or some of the other defensive guys that left).
In the end, it's clear there has been a culture shift within the program. Doesn't always amount to wins...Wisconsin usually has a great culture and look at them.
October 3rd, 2021 at 3:10 AM ^
Milton has fallen to gimmick Qb and 2nd string in just a few weeks. UT has a new Qb now. Last year, Milton didn;t support CAde when he took over for him at Rutgers. Good riddance!
Shea also lost respect by golfing 2-3 times a day when he should have been throwing the ball to DPJ and Nico and Tarik.
I credit Aidan, Ross, Ojabo, Dax and company for their help on D.
As for Giles, he had a near o-fer-day for a UW team that lost to Oregon St who hadn't beaten UW in years. I "credit" Giles for somehow convincing a decent Wr Xavier Worthy to leave UM where he is doing decently at UT.
In short, I LOVE this teams character. Hasn't been so good since 2015.
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:08 PM ^
The culture thing is huge. Was huge for the Patriots during their dynasty and to many programs detriment, vastly underestimated as a source of advantage or disadvantage. Some of us on the board have been pointing it out for a while. Not that it has not been recognized, but glad that it is being emphasized more.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:10 PM ^
It's easy to grin
When your ship comes in
And you've got the stock market beat.
But the man worthwhile,
Is the man who can smile,
When his shorts are too tight in the seat.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:23 PM ^
I hope I'm not the only guy to read that in the Ted Knight voice.
October 2nd, 2021 at 8:25 PM ^
Thank you Judge Smales.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:11 PM ^
When they were doing the jump around I was all smiles! The team does look like they have great chemistry! Keep it up guys and take it one game at a time. This is a week where I am proud to say I was wrong. Please keep proving me wrong Harbaugh! Go Blue!
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:12 PM ^
Yes I really liked that the team joined in the jump around- shows they weren’t intimidated. Also showed that maybe things are looser on the sideline.
October 2nd, 2021 at 7:59 PM ^
That jump around was fucking awesome. I was pissed they held up the game for that bullshit, but then I saw the team. Way cool and it fired them up!
October 2nd, 2021 at 9:15 PM ^
I think that is just part of the media timeout between quarters, which can be at least 3 minutes long. Those media timeouts seem very long when you just want the game to keep moving.
October 3rd, 2021 at 9:21 AM ^
Yeah, it looked like the game was held up because the cameras and announcers were setup and waiting for it. They wanted to capture it all around the stadium. I think they did a good job with it, but I wish they would have panned out and shown more, rather than just various close-ups. Watching Michigan's bench from a larger view would have been even more awesome!
October 2nd, 2021 at 8:00 PM ^
Team cohesion starts at the top, then the position coaches, then team leaders. Sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn’t. It seems to be clicking now and it’s awesome.
October 2nd, 2021 at 8:43 PM ^
The players in a way flushed away last season in the right ways. Yes, it fired a lot of them up, but they didn’t let it define them. They came in this season different.
I think what happened is that our best leaders came back with a chip. Haskins is a guy who worked his ass off, switched positions, started as 5th string RB two years ago and earned his role. Hutch could be starting on Sundays this year but he came back. Hawkins has been around and knows what the highs and lows are like. Dax didn’t transfer. Ronnie Bell was a basketball player who outperformed 5* receivers.
If you told me 6 weeks ago we’d be 5-0 I’d be shocked. But we have taken our 2 probable L’s and dominated them.
October 2nd, 2021 at 9:24 PM ^
I don't feel the need to crap on the transfers. Different year, different circumstances. The new staff probably has as much to do with character growth in the young men as anything.
We can be quick to forget that these are kids.
October 2nd, 2021 at 10:14 PM ^
Well, they’re 5-0 and just smoked Wisconsin like a brisket.
I’d wager the mood is “happy”
October 2nd, 2021 at 11:29 PM ^
Speaking as a coach, I know for a fact that when your best players are also your your best team guys it can become a magical season. I'm hoping this is what we're seeing here.
October 3rd, 2021 at 10:01 PM ^
Playing relaxed and having fun despite the situation is key to believe off that you can win and then doing so consistently. This is something that we have not seen in awhile here. It’s fine to be serious, but not so fine like the weight of the world is on the team’s shoulders. That kind of pressure leads to pressing which usually yields costly mistakes. At Wisconsin we looked like we were playing fast and relaxed. Hopefully we continue this vibe.