Steve Deace: The Reckoning
I love the Wolverines. For 35 years I’ve devoted as much time and treasure to that love as I have anything else on this earth, short of God and family. Come to think of it, since my relationship with the Wolverines predates both my relationship with my Savior and my wife and kids, Michigan actually ranks number one all-time in my affection.
However, there’s a difference between being a customer and a cultist. Even though I’m a fan, I just can’t abide false premises, tribalism, and self-delusion, I don’t believe it’s my job to serve the interests of my favorite team. I believe it’s their job to serve our interests. These games are for the fans. We’re not always right, but we’re always the priority. For without us those stadiums aren’t full. There aren’t as many available scholarships. Those coaching salaries aren’t as extravagant. Those television rights fees aren’t even there. Try making all this money with just players’ families, coaches’ spouses, administrative family members, and those in close relationship to the university and you couldn’t. You’d be the Ivy League.
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Likewise, Michigan and every other program is here for us, we’re not here for them.
If you’re going to ask us to pay $100 bucks for a damned hoodie with your logo on it, then you’ve forfeited the right to be offended at honest opinions. This isn’t really amateurism, but big business. Therefore, the rest of this column will evaluate the multi-million-dollar enterprise known as Michigan football, and it’s seven-figure employees, accordingly. You don’t have to agree with that approach, but then you should probably stop reading now.
For the rest of you spending the GDP of a third world country on your fandom and expecting a commiserate ROI, this will be broken down into several areas I believe need to be addressed. I’ll warn you right now, this is going to be long.
Jim is Les, More or Less
In 2007, Les Miles was the hottest coach in the country. The former Michigan assistant had brought Oklahoma State back to respectability, and was on the cusp of leading LSU to the national title. He was the fan’s and most of the former players’ choice to replace Lloyd Carr. The stories of why that desire was never consummated are now the stuff of message board legend. But there’s no need to wonder now what would’ve happened had Miles come home, for we now know.
It would’ve pretty much become what Michigan football is now.
A quirky and highly-successful yet painfully stubborn head coach who wants to win, yes, but wants to win a certain way even more. So when he can physically bully opponents he does with, as Harbaugh likes to say, “character and cruelty.” However, when faced with an opponent that can punch back, there’s no counter. Only repeated heads caving into immovable walls repeatedly.
When you can recruit like LSU and Michigan can, you can win a lot of games this way. But in this era of multi-faceted college football, when you have to be able to win 14-10 one week and 38-34 the next, you’re not going to win a lot of championships. And that’s pretty much Jim Harbaugh. Everywhere he goes he wins a lot of games. He also doesn’t win a lot of championships.
The dumb memes comparing his record to Brady Hoke and the like are vapid trolling. No one could rationally argue this program isn’t light years ahead of where it was when Harbaugh took over. There’s nothing wrong with being Marty Schottenheimer, Andy Reid, or Lloyd Carr for that matter. Those coaches provided their fan-bases a lot of fun on gamedays. They just weren’t elite coaches.
Oh, I know Carr won 5 Big Ten titles, but he really only won two if you assess his tenure by today’s standard of no shared titles. I certainly think it’s possible Harbaugh could still win two Big Ten titles here, and even a national title, if he hangs around here for 13 years like Carr did.
Most of Carr’s time here consisted of 9-10 win seasons. Only twice in 13 years did Carr go into the finale against Ohio State in the national title race. Ten of his 13 seasons finished with three losses or more, and he’s in the College Football Hall of Fame.
We’re fortunate to have Jim, and if the worst problem I have as a fan is averaging 9.5 wins a season, then that’s a first world problem I can live with. However, as long as Urban Meyer is around the dream Harbaugh is going to usher in some era of dominance, let alone competitive balance, is clearly not happening. Best to adult here and just accept that. Meyer is simply superior to Harbaugh, who is superior to 80% of the coaches in college football. Similar to how Andy Reid is similar to 80% of the coaches in the NFL, but he’s not Bill Belicheck.
That’s why Harbaugh is now the only coach in Michigan history to be 0-4 against Ohio State. The Buckeyes have the superior coach. That wasn’t as painful of a realization in the Carr era, before brutal social media and the playoff essentially meant you’re among the chosen four or a failure. So 10 wins in year four of the Harbaugh era isn’t as satisfying as it was when Carr did that in his fourth season back in 1998.
Looking at Harbaugh’s coaching record, seasons like this being the norm is far more likely if we’re not going to modernize. Since Jim’s idea of modernization is essentially adding even more tight ends who either can’t catch or block, you can pretty much go get all the message board posts from 2001, substitute the name Carr for Harbaugh, and just cut and paste.
Who Are We?
We have one national title in 71 years. In the last 25 years, we (2) have fewer undisputed Big Ten titles than Wisconsin (3). We haven’t finished in the top 5 in the 21st century. Illinois has been to the Rose Bowl more recently than us.
Remove the name “Michigan” and tell me if you believe those are the trappings of an elite program? That’s what I thought.
I love Bo Schembechler, but when he retired I was a junior in high school. I’m now 45 years old. With three kids, the oldest a high school senior. Bo passed away five months before my son was born. He’s going to be 12 in February.
There’s a difference between nostalgia and tradition. The latter inspires you to hold the line even when times are tough, because you’ve been successful before. Bo talks about that in his book. You build on tradition.
Nostalgia, though, is paralyzing, creating hangers-on and fantasies about yesteryears that probably weren’t quite as good as you thought they were. You rest on nostalgia.
Bo was also famously stubborn, but he also evolved. The coach who was “Little Woody” in 1969 left behind a multiple offense that either Michael Taylor or Elvis Grbac could quarterback 20 years later. His first three-time All-American was a wide receiver. He developed Michigan’s first #1 pick at quarterback (Harbaugh), and then recruited the guy who rewrote the passing record book (Grbac) as well as future Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard.
Bo built on the tradition of Yost and Crisler, but he wasn’t paralyzed by it. We need to give ourselves permission to move on. Better yet, maybe Harbaugh does.
Urban Meyer’s program looks nothing like Woody’s. Nick Saban’s program looks nothing like Bear Bryant’s. Pete Carroll’s USC looked nothing like John McKay’s. Make of that what you will.
Gimmicky and Overrated
We live in a time when certain moments/personas can go viral and become a meme, thus elevating them to a status their substance doesn’t justify. This perfectly defines defensive coordinator Don Brown.
Instead of asking “why hasn’t he won the Broyles Award yet” we should be asking “is he the most overrated defensive coordinator in college football?” Well, let’s look at all the games Michigan has lost in his three seasons here:
11/24/18: Michigan surrenders most points ever in a regulation game (62).
9/1/18: Notre Dame quarterback Brandon Winbush, who was benched later in the season, has career-high 86 QBR.
1/1/18: Defense blows 19-3 lead with 5:42 left in third quarter.
11/25/17: Defense blows fourth quarter lead and surrenders 17 unanswered points to Ohio State’s redshirt freshman backup quarterback.
11/18/17: Defense surrenders 17 unanswered points in a 24-10 loss to Wisconsin.
10/21/17: Penn State gets 506 yards of offense, its most ever against Michigan.
10/7/17: Michigan State gets two long scoring drives in first half before torrential downpour makes game basically unplayable.
1/1/17: Defense can’t hold late lead versus Florida State, and Seminoles get longest passing TD in school history while jumping out to 17-3 first half lead.
11/26/16: Defense gives up 13-play drive to Ohio State that sends game to overtime, and then fails to stop Ohio State from reaching the end zone on both of its overtime possessions.
11/19/16: Defense fails to stop Iowa from driving for the winning field goal on the final possession.
Take away that 2016 loss to Iowa, when the Hawkeyes had great field position on that final drive, and in every game Brown’s defense was either shredded and/or failed to make clutch plays when called upon.
His scheme does a great job dominating undermanned teams without the skill talent to make Michigan pay in space. However, against teams that do, the results speak for themselves. He’s the defensive Rich Rodriguez. Whereas RichRod’s offense crushed anemic defenses in the Big East, Brown’s defense lockjaws the plodding second tier of the Big Ten. Yes, we dominated Nebraska and Penn State’s explosive offenses, when their quarterbacks weren’t healthy. Sparty’s offense is a train-wreck. Wisconsin panicked and stopped giving the ball to Jonathan Taylor.
Brown’s scheme is a gimmick. While his old school persona is charming, he plays a video game style of defense that doesn’t work in the real world. Everything Gerry DiNardo at the Big Ten Network said was right. Again, the results speak for themselves. I mean, what gumshoe fan in the stands didn’t know Ohio State would attack us with crossing routes right away? Well, apparently it was a shock to Brown.
If we had all these same results, and they came from a personality that wasn’t as flamboyant as Brown’s, what would we be saying?
It’s a Brand, not a Rivalry
Michigan-Ohio State is not a rivalry to anyone under the age of 35. It’s simply not a competitive series, and the Wolverines haven’t beaten an Ohio State team with something to play for in 15 years. Prospects signing LOIs next month have seen Purdue beat Michigan more than Michigan defeat Ohio State in their lifetimes. Who in the world calls that a rivalry on the merits?
To everyone else, it’s a brand and an overblown one at that. It’s like the DCU compared to the MCU. While Superman and Batman are superior brands, few believe they’re better movies than Ant-Man.
Conclusion
It’s probably impossible not to overrate or over-criticize Michigan. We have one of the largest living alumni bodies in the world, as well as one of the largest fanbases in the sport. By nature everything we’d do would therefore cause an overreaction. Not to mention the temptation to provoke that overreaction in this click-bait = cash media climate.
Thus, whether its folks saying Harbaugh sucks for clicks, or Michigan fans blowing his capabilities out of proportion out of nostalgia, the result is the same. Michigan is both overrated and underrated at the same time. Harbaugh has been better than his trolls claim, not as great as Michigan fans had hoped.
For Michigan to win championships again, one of two things will have to happen:
Urban Meyer retires.
Michigan must modernize its offense while playing a realistic defense.
Until one of those two things occur, this is a 9-10 win program under Harbaugh. Very good, yes, but not elite.
That’s why tiny Northwestern will play in the Big Ten Championship Game before we do.
They don’t have to go through Urban Meyer every year. We do.
https://collegesportsmaven.io/michigan/football/the-reckoning-Q3XRlf4Ag0arIS7VMm7qVQ/
November 25th, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
Deep. Too deep.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:49 PM ^
I'm the same age as Deace and I almost entirely agree with his assessment -- though his romanticism of Bo I disagree with. Bo was even more predictable offensively as Harbaugh. Remember how Florida State torched Desmond Howard-led Michigan?
One thing to keep in mind: Haskins set B1G records yesterday for single-season passing yardage and TDs. This is no ordinary QB we were playing. If we'd had 2016's DL, the game could have looked quite different. But the 2018 DL was weak/banged up in the interior.
So to me, instead of drawing historic narratives out of one game, we should realize that their biggest strength -- Haskins plus their WRs -- was going against our biggest weakness -- our injured DTs and our weakness against crossing routes. That to me is what explains this game more than anything.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:32 PM ^
News flash, that Florida State team that torched Desmond Howard's team was not coached by Bo. But rather, it was year 2 of Gary Moeller.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
November 25th, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
So nice of you to just copy and paste an entire article into your OP.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
I assumed the OP was Steve Deace
November 25th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
Maizen is Steve Deace?
November 25th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
I liked the paste. That way I didn’t have to click on a link that takes me to another link that gets blown up by an Amazon pop-up.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
Yes, well, the problem with doing it is - and I will give the OP a chance to correct it because it is the ethical thing to do - that you deny the writer clicks by doing this, and by extension, revenue on some occasions. Doing that is, in my opinion, not the right thing to do. In other words, I am not at all sorry that you have to wrestle with ads, but straight copying someone else's work like this is not the way to go.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
What do you expect from Maizen?
November 25th, 2018 at 2:17 PM ^
Maizens pretty much a whiny asshole.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:17 PM ^
You can't edit original posts otherwise I would have corrected this. I apologize as I didn't know this was an issue.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
Holy shit, man. DIARY
November 25th, 2018 at 12:24 PM ^
In before someone tries to discredit him because of his politics
November 25th, 2018 at 4:56 PM ^
Politics? He lost me at "... expecting a commiserate ROI ..."
November 25th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
Needs to be longer, you should flesh out your thoughts more. Especially for a board post!
November 25th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
Don’t bring that type of criticism to MGOBLOG or you will get banned .. Everything here needs to be unicorns and roses...Praise Harbaugh or be banned
November 25th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
Exactly. The best are the board elites criticizing Maizen who criticizes Harbaugh’s recruiting and Maizen is 100% correct.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^
And yet... Purdue was able to lay the wood on OSU. And last year it was Iowa.
So even with inferior talent it's possible to beat OSU if you have a good gameplan, it does happen in CFB.
Like it or not, M is going to have trouble getting better classes than OSU, even in good years. At some point M needs to focus on creative gameplanning to expose them. Harbaugh did it last year, but this year his braintrust couldn't be bothered. X's and O's do matter, and so does motivation.
November 25th, 2018 at 5:36 PM ^
They don't hand out gold pants when they beat Purdue and Iowa. Their alma mater wasn't written after a crushing loss to Purdue or Iowa. They may or may not give a damn about the whole state of Indiana or Iowa, but they don't sing about it. Playing us gets their attention just a bit more...
November 25th, 2018 at 4:21 PM ^
People are more mad at Maizen because he tells the truth than they are at UM football for getting its ass kicked kicked by OSU for almost two decades now. Don't worry, next year is our year.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:29 PM ^
You can be critical. As an example, we are all rightful to be critical of Don Brown's game plan. But don't be an asshole while you do it. That's what gets you banned or negged or called an asshole.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^
Who cares what "Steve Deace" thinks? Honestly, this is just the long form of every single snowflake comment posted yesterday. Think about how different this commentary would be if JT was actually ruled short, or O'Korn didn't throw a pick late last year. This is just dumb, everyone thinks they know the answers, but they don't know shit.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
Including the staff, it would appear.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:50 PM ^
I know we have lost 16 of the last 18 to OSU.
"If" and "next year" a UM fan motto since 2004.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
I thought you took your "truth bombs" and multiple accounts to 11 warriors Maizen?
We know you worship Saban and Meyer.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
I know this:
M's D got bombed yesterday.
M needs to make some changes or I will stop watching/attending.
Coach H still wins a lot of games so I will have some patience, but it won't last forever.
BTW I like listening to Deace's podcast in addition to Brian's. Both provide some worthwhile commentary.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
Deace posted a lot of facts - that’s not his opinion, that’s reality.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
Cut Harbaughs salary and give it to Beilein.
That's all I got.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
We only have that opportunity because he wasn't fired when the mantra around here was 'fire Beilein'.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
Umm, Beilein got Michigan back to the tournament (the playoff of basketball) by year two. And getting the basketball program back was infinitely more difficult than the football program.
Swing and a miss.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:10 PM ^
Swing and a miss sayeth the straw man. Show me where any mention was made of tournaments. Search the blog for 'fire Beilein'. If the blogerati had it's way he'd have been sent packing long ago.
ROFL, looking at your posts over the last 24 hours you're acting like a spoiled child who didn't get what they wanted on Christmas morning. The loss sucked. The team met or exceeded the expectations of the vast majority of us at the beginning of the season. The team isn't responsible for the fan base or the first to retweet media being unable to manage their expectations.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:30 PM ^
Hardly.
The fact that yesterday’s result equates to exceeding expectations shows just how pathetic the fan base has become. Yesterday was a disgrace in every facet and that falls squarely on the shoulders of the coaches utterly failing to do their job.
As an alumni and lifelong fan, I have a right to have expectations of our coaches, let alone ones so highly touted. Calling them out when they perform as poorly as humanly possible after four years doesn’t even scratch the surface of childish.
The only children here are the ones having a panic attack because they don’t know how to handle being told they’re not the best, everything they do is wonderful, and that they don’t deserve participation trophies.
Grow up and face the cold hard reality. This program is no closer to beating Urban Meyer in year four than it was in year one and yesterday was exhibit A,B, and C.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
Considering that you think making the NCAA tournament is equivalent to making the CFP I think you are the one that is struggling to face reality.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
That’s apples and oranges. Getting to the NCAA Tournament is closer to just being bowl eligible than it is to the CFP. You’d have to look at JB’s 5th year for anything close to resembling a CFP challenging team. And that squad lost 10 games and went out in the first round of the tourney.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^
I strongly dislike all of you "new" posters here. You all fucking suck, even if most of you are one dude.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:48 PM ^
Give us 4 years at $7mm per year and we will gradually get better at posting.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
We are all fans of a fallen empire.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
Rome circa 410, Visigoths (Ohio) have just left after having their way with us and the emperor "Harbaugh" is no where to be found.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:53 PM ^
Playing his fiddle while Ann Arbor burns
November 25th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^
They took all of our gold, placed our women and children into slavery and burned our buildings before killing us.
November 25th, 2018 at 7:32 PM ^
Michigan football was Michigan football until it was no longer Michigan football
November 25th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
While I disagree on conclusion, the tones are noted and appreciated.
I think when you’re winning the line of scrimmage offensive and defensive schemes look a ton better. That said we have room to grow on flexibility and scheme on both sides of the ball
November 25th, 2018 at 12:38 PM ^
You lost me at "Everything Gerry DiNardo at the Big Ten Network said was right."
There are valid criticisms of yesterday, with Harbaugh and Brown as well as players, but ""Don Borwn the most over-rated coach" and "gimmick defense," are not one of them. Those are just scorching hot takes, and not rational.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
Again, what Deace posted are actual results from football games UM lost against better teams. It is not a hot take giving up 62 points to OSU. Don Brown couldn’t sleep for a year after last seasons PSU beat down. He probably should’ve stayed awake a few more weeks.
November 25th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
If I said or came off as saying it is a gimmick defense I was unclear then. What I'm trying to say is that this man to man press defense will not work against better athletes and when your defensive line cant get home in time. There are alternatives that can eliminate a slower defender chasing down his man for 60 yards and all alone on his half of the field while all the other defenders are on the other half and 30 yards behind the play. Do you get what I'm saying here? These aren't blown coverages. These are outgunned players by strength and speed on islands with no one around to help. They will be outgunned next year by stronger and faster ohio state receivers again. You going to keep banging your head against that wall? Don Brown needs to put his players in better situations to win. How many times in the next two to three years are we going to watch this defense get shredded in the big games by big plays. I will never forget for the rest of my days seeing Mike McCray trying to cover Saquon Barkley last year. How can you ever fucking allow that to be a matchup? If you think these players are good enough to play press man, then they are sure as hell good enough to have the option to jump into and play a stout zone.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:41 PM ^
Oh great I was waiting with bated breath to hear what this podcasting/Twitter dweeb has to say.
Im so glad to know I'm not the only one upset over yesterday's game.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:43 PM ^
Even if Meyer retires, that team looked impressive under Day early in the season too.
OSU is a program bigger than their coach. They recruited 13 players last season ranked higher than Michigan’s highest rated recruit. They have the blueprint and the athletes to make anyone who goes their immediately successful.
Whoever is at the helm of the OSU program next will also win a ton of football games.
This year the team is led by a coach who:
•was suspended for almost the entirety of fall camp in addition to the first 3 games
•has a brain cyst and other reported health issues
•has the baggage of terrible ex-coaches casting shadows over the program with their antics on social media.
Yet they still managed to absolutely dismantle UM and their Big10 championship and playoffs hope, while making Michigan look like a lesser program than Maryland and Purdue.
OSU isn’t going away and I ntil Michigan recruits, develops, AND UTILIZES similar talent to OSU this “rivalry” will continue to get out of hand. McCurry’s of the world aren’t going to play up-to-par with the Campbell’s of the world.
We should be thankful that the media continues to hype up The Game every year. High School seniors have seen 1 Michigan win in this series while being old enough to remember it (they would have been 11?).
It’s not a good feeling right now.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:43 PM ^
There is no doubt in my mind that Harbaugh is the right HC for Michigan. He recruits well and is a good face of the program. But, you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. That is both coordinators and players. Don Brown will adapt, at least I’m really hoping so. Pep Hamilton is not the answer, nor has he been anywhere he has coached. Building a program that we as fans want will take time unfortunately. Urban Meyer was a national brand before he got to OSU. Harbaugh was not even close to that level before he got here. It has and will take time to be at that top level. The only answer is for Harbaugh to swallow his pride and become Saban, focus on recruiting and being the face of the program and hire new age offensive coach’s. I’m sure it will be hard for him, but sometimes doing the right thing is just that, very hard and uncomfortable. He can still throw his ideas in during the week and decide to go for it on 4th down or not, but what his doing now will not get us to where we want to be. It’s on Jim, surround yourself with the best and you will become just that, it is contagious.
November 25th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
Serious question - do we root for Georgia & Oklahoma to lose now so that OSU gets in the playoff and we go to the Rose Bowl?
Obviously, most people don't want to see OSU succeed and go to the playoff again... However, I would enjoy watching Alabama shit-throttle them in the 1 v 4 match up. I'd also enjoy Michigan having the opportunity to win the Rose Bowl and finish 11-2... Not an "elite" year without a B1G championship we so desperately needed this year, but that's still a good season and will be cherished in history.
What are your thoughts?