Perspective on last night’s game
Finding perspective after a loss is always difficult, and even more so after this game. At face value the result is the same and tiresome. Michigan lost yet another road game against a top 10 opponent and ranked opponent in general. While I think it’s completely fair to be frustrated by that fact given our continual no shows in these game, I think we can all agree this one was different. For me the biggest disappointment of the Harbaugh era is not as much the continual losses in these situations, as much as the fact the team consistently has shown an inability to fight back against adversity in big games and compete. Last night the result might have been the same, but the game was different. Down 21-0, I know I gave us no chance, and I’d bet almost all of you didn’t either. This team fought back and played nearly perfect football the last 35 minutes, and was a dropped pass away from a tie and potentially a win. In those 35 minutes, Gattis offense came together with rhythm, the defense played disciplined, and it looked like Michigan was wearing Penn State out. Yes, Michigan has some mistakes, but I think it’s alright to admit to ourselves KJ Hamler is just that good. In the end, the result is the same, the media will treat is as such, and many of you are too tired of these results to embrace the positives I’ve mentioned. That’s fair. Our goals for a championship this season have realistically been shot. Yes, it’s year 5 and we expected more at this point, but for me, this game bought Harbaugh some time. If Michigan truly turned a corner last night, and with all three rivals on the horizon, it’ll be interesting to see how things play out. All in all, we’re in this wagon together and we’re all we got. Go Blue!!!
October 20th, 2019 at 10:09 AM ^
Are we really doing this?
October 20th, 2019 at 10:09 AM ^
Here's some perspective - use paragraphs.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:11 AM ^
My perspective ,Sheas inability to throw deep hinders how explosive this offense could be ..
October 20th, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
Maybe Shea's inability leads the small number of times Gattis dials up a deep ball, but they completed one last night. Not Shea's fault the ref's were rioting in the first half.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
It was under thrown bad ... If he could get it out farther that’s a easy completion and possible TD.. I think Gattis dials up the plays and has guys running deep Shea just realizes his limitations throwing deep and doesn’t do it ..
October 20th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
He threw a catchable ball 40 yards downfield. That's fine.
If you're criticizing that throw, it sounds like confirmation bias. All any WR wants is a chance at the ball.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
He can't throw the deep ball. That's why. That call was because the receiver had to completely readjust. Throw a good ball and there's no PI.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
Throw a good ball and that was a TD. But it sure as hell wasn't OPI, either! Barely touched the guy, should've been a no-call if you even had to think about it.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
Oh for sure, I agree with that. It was a bad call all around.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^
This is long overdue. All night I was wondering what your reflections would be.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
MikeyUM98 is a buckeye troll.
October 20th, 2019 at 4:34 PM ^
Fuck off you piece of shit loser. Just because I don't shit rainbows or incessantly talk about primates like you, doesn't mean I'm a troll, let alone a buckeye troll.
October 20th, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^
Fuck off you piece of shit loser. Just because I don't shit rainbows or incessantly talk about primates like you, doesn't mean I'm a troll, let alone a buckeye troll.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^
Perspective. We were the Big Ten favorite before the season. Now we are all but out of the race for the Big Ten Title. That’s the definition of disappointing.
And thank goodness Army’s coach lost his mind and called pass plays at the goal line or we’d have lost to now 3-4 Army.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^
Correct, and unless JH does something completely different, book "L's" against ND and OSU.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
That’s what sucks the most. All offseason we were told how good this team would be. OSU was an after thought in the media. When you play the games they’re still OSU and we are still an also-ran.,it’s frustrating to watch them beat everyone by 40 with a new coach and a transfer QB who’s never played. Jim was supposed to save UM football. He’s been the biggest disappointment in modern college history based on the hype.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
Why do people let the media set their expectations for them, then are disappointed when those expectations aren’t met? Maybe you should be disappointed in the media.
October 20th, 2019 at 12:21 PM ^
Yeah this. Wisconsin was a disaster but this was a game that anyone who knows anything should have understood was going to be hard before the season even started. There was no reason to believe this team was going to be 12-0 Big Ten champs if you actually looked at the roster. Michigan has 3 games against our most hated rivals coming up, starting next week with ND. They're a flawed football team that's hopefully building toward being good.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:13 AM ^
Perhaps we need to add to our snowflake threads.
Perspective snowflakes
Appreciation snowflakes
October 20th, 2019 at 10:44 AM ^
I don't look at the snowflake threads because everyone puts their flakes in standalone posts, anyway...
October 20th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
Harbaugh is 1-10 vs Top Ten teams.
Lloyd Carr was 20-8.
Ask yourself if you wouldve accepted that from any coach not named Harbaugh?
October 20th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
Some context could help here.
Lloyd went 1-6 against Tressel and 2-5 in his last seven bowls. He was 0-2 against USC, 0-2 against Oregon and 0-1 against Texas. People regularly complained that he didn't win big games, especially on the road.
Lloyd's big wins were mainly in the early part of his career, and a big chunk came against John Cooper and an old Joe Paterno.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:31 AM ^
Now THAT ladies and gentlemen is what I call "perspective."
Not the emo bullshit the OP posted which actually could be titled "My feelings and why they should matter to you."
Bravo JMBlue, bravo.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:33 AM ^
The 1999 Michigan team won @#16 Notre Dame, @ Syracuse, @ #20 Wisconsin (Ron Dayne) , #11 Purdue (Brees), @#6 Penn State, Ohio State and Alabama.
That was considered a disappointing season back then. Think about that for a moment. We didnt win the Big Ten. Lost to a reallt really good MSU team by a couple points away. But we didnt take moral victories back then.
Losing by 1 to Vince Young in the Rose Bowl was disappointing. Won the Big Tem but didnt close the deal. No moral victories back then.
Harbaugh is getting moral victory banners in year 5.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:53 AM ^
More context:
In the seven years before Lloyd, we went 63-17-4 (.773).
In the seven years before Jim, we went 46-42 (.523) .
Lloyd inherited a program on very strong footing. He kept things going awhile and his biggest success occurred in the first half of his tenure. But in the second half he allowed Tressel's OSU to surpass his program.
From 2001 (when Tressel arrived at OSU) to the end of the Carr era, we were 64-24 (.727)
Jim - who inherited a much worse Michigan program than Lloyd did, is 43-16 (.729).
So you're mad at Harbaugh for not performing like Lloyd Carr when in fact he's replicated our level of performance in the second half of the Carr era, under tougher circumstances.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
That post-2001 era is the root of the problem. Tressel raised the bar and Lloyd couldn't match it. Except for one hiccup in 2011 with an interim coach, the OSU program has never looked back.
Now Harbaugh has to coach in an era in which OSU is a fully-operational Death Star that wins 90% of the time.
October 20th, 2019 at 2:59 PM ^
Lets some better context
Lloyd Carr was 29-6 vs PSU, Wisconsin and Michigan State.
Harbaugh is 7-6
Carr was 44-27 vs top 25 ranked teams
Harbaugh is 9-11
Lloyd didnt the benefit of padding his stats against Rutgers and Maryland.
Carr was 15-16 against ranked teams on the road. Not spectacular but a sight better than Harbaugh who is like 1-8. His lone win was against a shit MSU team last year
Lloyd inherited a team that went 8-4 and managed 6 points against Ohio State in the game. He wins his first game vs Ohio and doesnt get blown out by 30 like Harbaugh.
Oh and Harbaugh inherited a team so devoid of talent that 10 players were drafted by the NFL in 2016.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:25 AM ^
Last night's game reminded me of Carr era games: one of the Oregon games and the Washington game in Seattle, both where Navarre tried to bring us back after early quarters of predictable play calling and giving up a few big defensive plays leading to deficits.
After we aggravate the entire fan base, we show life, but come up short.
October 20th, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
Bring back Lloyd!
October 20th, 2019 at 10:26 AM ^
Solid but people dont want the facts Ma'am....
October 20th, 2019 at 10:39 AM ^
Facts are usually frowned upon on here..
October 20th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
It's okay to lose and not need perspective. You guys are clowns that post this shit continually.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
but I think it’s alright to admit to ourselves KJ Hamler is just that good.
And what happens when Michigan plays a team full of KJ Hamlers and a coach that doesn’t turtle and utilizes him/them for a full 60 minutes?
October 20th, 2019 at 10:34 AM ^
I believe 62-39 happens.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
I will cut my own dick off and plant it in my backyard if Michigan scores 39 against OSU this year.
They are going to run up the guy in 1st and 2nd down and then throw 5 yard outs on 3 and 7 all game long while UM’s former coaches turned OSU defensive coordinators laugh their asses off.
Meanwhile, Ryan Day owns Don Brown and is going to put up at least 70 points to make a statement and plant his flag.
I already have plans with the wife and the boy to get our Christmas tree that day - you know, things that bring me joy and happiness. Not wasting my time watching this overrated, overpaid, and pathetic excuse for a coaching staff screw over these kids by giving them no chance to win.
Over 2 decades of doing the same shit and getting ass blasted by OSU and doing nothing different simply has gotten old and boring.
October 20th, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
"I will cut my own dick off and plant it in my backyard"
If you do the first thing I'm OK with you skipping the second part; honestly, what gardener wants to deal with that??
October 21st, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
This is lemon eating video i want to see!
October 20th, 2019 at 10:31 AM ^
It's NOT going to end well
October 20th, 2019 at 10:36 AM ^
What happens if we lose to MSU Notre Dame and osu. Do we get rid of Harbaugh then? We always have excuses. Need to come out and play 60 minutes of football. Not 30 minutes like last night.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
If they play like they did last night do you really think they’re losing to Mork? This was the first game in the season Shae looked good, we used speed in space and fought their asses off. I was as down as anybody after Wisconsin but they can build off things after today.
Onward to ND. To hell with Notre Dame.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
My perspective is this - As a fan, you can't change anything by constantly bitching. So if you don't like what you see, do yourself a favor and don't watch.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^
No way. I’m pretty sure if you first post in other threads the same opinion and then when no one responds to that opinion you decide that you need to post that same opinion in its own thread everyone has read 124 times, it fixes everything.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:43 AM ^
I'm with you, we expected more, but maybe our expectations were misguided, and/or magnified when Coach Harbaugh came in and had such immediate success (10 win season, then top 5 ranking late in season 2). He's a fine coach. He's just got to break through the dam and get it all put together.
As far as last night's game, I have several thoughts, but in this thread I'll only discuss one. I think the offense really needs to go back to huddling. This is the slowest no-huddle offense that I've ever seen. Returning to huddling allows for the quarterback to communicate subtleties to the offense, to suggest slight route changes, and alert the offense to audibles. In a new offense, huddling can help to organize an offense and establish a rhythm.
Plus, the purpose of a no-huddle offense is to play fast and catch the defense unawares at times. And, that is not happening with Gattis' no-huddle. As slow as it is, Michigan's no-huddle offense loses the benefits of speed, while still missing out on the organizing benefits, and the playcalling flexibility of huddling. It's easy to call 2 plays in a huddle and check to one of them when the offense and defense lines up. In the no huddle, you go with the slowly delivered playcall from the sideline with basically no counter to what the defense is going to do. We get delay of game penalties, and have more than half of our plays run with under 10 seconds on the play clock in a freaking no huddle offense! That's the definition of counterintuitive.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:44 AM ^
This may be the softest take ever. Stewart Smally would kill you in a blood match.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:47 AM ^
No perspective! We all have our own perspective but there’s always that one guy who thinks his is more enlightening than everyone else’s. Just stop.
October 20th, 2019 at 10:52 AM ^
If we're excusing getting out to yet another shit start then playing well in the second half, but falling short yet again, we might as well have just kept Rich Rod.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
No, RichRod did the opposite. And would have lost last night 48-21.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:29 AM ^
Opposite of what? He lost 41-31 his last game in Happy Valley.
October 20th, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^
His teams tended to start fast and then collapse.
And yeah he gave up 41 points to a 7-6 Penn State team.
October 20th, 2019 at 12:16 PM ^
I think you have a different recollection of what happened with those teams. Maybe they started the first drive or two fast but they got down in a hurry, that team was down 31-10. Huh, the same differential as last night.
Also got down 24-0 to Wisconsin that season.