LA Times rips Jimmy
By J. BRADY MCCOLLOUGHSTAFF WRITER
SEP. 7, 2019
Two times during the fourth quarter Saturday, Jim Harbaugh made a decision that indicated he did not understand the difference between the type of team he wants Michigan to be and where the Wolverines actually are in Year 5 of his coaching tenure at his alma mater.
Army had pushed seventh-ranked Michigan to the limit with the same brutal efficiency it employed a year ago at Oklahoma before falling to the Sooners in overtime. The Wolverines should have felt fortunate to be tied at 14 with the Black Knights, given the three fumbles and the inability of quarterback Shea Patterson to show real command of the new Michigan offense that was created with his skills in mind.
Yet, facing fourth and two from the Army 19, Harbaugh did not realize his good fortune and take the 36-yard field goal for Michigan’s first lead of the game. He asked a running game that averaged less than three yards per rush on the day to make him feel like these were the good old days at the Big House, when the tough yards were inevitably Michigan’s to be had. Army mobbed Michigan freshman Zach Charbonnet in the backfield, a result Harbaugh easily should have predicted and avoided.
Later, with less than three minutes left, Harbaugh had another fourth-and-two call to make, this time from the Army 43. Instead of pinning Army’s triple-option attack deep and setting up his defense with good field position to get the ball back and at the very least get to overtime, Harbaugh again decided to go for it. Michigan dialed Charbonnet’s number, and again, the former Oaks Christian standout was stuffed.
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Harbaugh’s stubbornness, even confronted with what should have been mounting evidence that this was not a day for bold statements about his team’s backbone, nearly cost Michigan the game and all the good vibes his fan base has been able to muster entering this season with an 0-4 record against Ohio State.
Army missed a 50-yard field goal as the clock ran out in regulation, giving Michigan a second life it didn’t deserve.
College football: Michigan beats Army in two OTs; LSU prevails at Texas
Sep. 7, 2019
The Wolverines won 24-21 in the second overtime thanks to a gritty effort from an exhausted defense. They won despite their $7.5-million coach.
Another fall is here, and it’s Same Old Michigan, no matter how much the Wolverines try to change.
Harbaugh finally relinquished play-calling to new offensive coordinator Josh Gattis, whom he brought in from Alabama, where Gattis coached the wide receivers during the Crimson Tide’s tactical revolution last year.
Michigan had 340 yards of offense against Army.
There are reasons why the Wolverines haven’t taken off yet in Gattis’ spread attack, which is supposed to take what the defense gives instead of blindly pounding away into a wall, which is what a good portion of Harbaugh‘s offense has looked like in Ann Arbor.
First, Army should be given credit for how tough this was for Michigan. The Black Knights, their ball-control offense sucking up so much game clock, make every possession extra weighty for the opposing offense. When a team fumbles the ball to Army as Michigan did three times, it is asking to find itself in a fourth-quarter brawl.
Plus, Patterson, the hyped Mississippi transfer who led Michigan to a 10-3 season last year, was hurt in the opener and playing with an injured oblique. He was often inaccurate and indecisive, and Gattis tightened up the playbook as the game went on.
Saturday, Michigan ran plenty of read-option with Patterson and Charbonnet — who saved the Wolverines with 33 carries for 100 yards and three touchdowns — but was unwilling to have Patterson keep the ball. That made it easy for Army to key on Charbonnet.
In what has become a trend, Harbaugh made it even harder for Michigan. In Year 5, the Wolverines are supposed to be competing with Ohio State for a spot in the College Football Playoff. As it stands, Michigan runs the risk of being blown out of its next game Sept. 21 at Wisconsin.
This is the definition of a well-placed bye week, for the injured players and the program. A win Saturday kept fan desperation from settling in, but Harbaugh gets paid to know better than to feel relieved. The pain is coming.
Ohio State, with its new coach Ryan Day and new quarterback Justin Fields, demolished a solid Cincinnati team 42-0 down the road in Columbus.
Michigan, with its returning coach and returning senior quarterback, is the team that should be glad it’s only September.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:51 AM ^
McCollough is a former Michigan Daily writer, which would explain the extra dose of angst here.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:21 PM ^
He kinda nailed it though. Coaches who never should have left the place they enjoyed the most but success. Still love the guy, but hope he doesn’t make the list below anytime soon. Hope the evolution and epiphany happens today.
Rich Rodriquez - West Virginia
Chip Kelly - oregon
Brady Hoke - SDSU
September 9th, 2019 at 8:50 AM ^
Are you insinuating that Harbaugh should have stayed at SDU?
September 8th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
I'd have to guess that Patterson is still injured, and that's why they kept handing off to Charbonnet even when the DE was zeroing in on the RB. So they effectively sacrificed the guesswork of the zone read in order to protect Patterson, and once that became clear to Army, the offense was stuck
September 8th, 2019 at 2:38 PM ^
Than don't play him! It's not that hard to figure out.
September 8th, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
Prior to the second OT he had completed about 70% of his passes for 8 YPA. He wasn't a total liability out there.
September 8th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
He was a liability in the running game.
September 8th, 2019 at 5:23 PM ^
Probably. But if he’s a significantly better than McCaffrey then I think you go with him anyway, especially with the talent we have at WR.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:52 AM ^
Sounds about right.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:52 AM ^
Jimmy? Come on man.
The decision not to kick the field goal was a truly bizarre decision though.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
It was likely a game management decision. If Michigan kicks the field goal and makes it then Michigan kicks off to Army with a lot of time left. Army would then play up tempo option, which Michigan struggled to defend all day, playing for the touchdown. Instead Coach Harbaugh rolled the dice and the gamble was easing Army into a “let’s play for field goal” spot where they ate more time on the clock and had to rely on a freshman kicker. In hindsight it was the right call. But he makes 7.5 million to make that call, not me. Game management. Cahones. He did it, Michigan won, onward and upward.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:55 AM ^
So you're saying he didn't have confidence in the defense.
Really, what are you saying?
September 8th, 2019 at 12:04 PM ^
So a run up the gut with 11 defenders assigned to “smash the middle” was better than 3pts and a kickoff to the 25. Truly enlightening.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:10 PM ^
I didn't get what he was saying in that comment either.
September 8th, 2019 at 3:23 PM ^
To me, the bigger issue is not that he went for it, but the insistence to run it up the middle with 9 defenders waiting for Charbonet. The play selection was just crazy!
September 8th, 2019 at 12:11 PM ^
Uhh...how many times did Army drive 80 yards for a TD? I'll take those odds over sticking it up the god damn gut for the 50th time which was proven not to work. What a load of shit. Pathetic decision to go for it - followed by a pathetic play call the whole stadium knew was coming.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
That could not possibly make less sense. You need more points than the other team to win. Moody is seriously money from that range. There is no “game management” decision there.
September 8th, 2019 at 3:06 PM ^
Army scored 14 points in regulation, they were defended just fine.
September 8th, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
You're at home, playing a team severely out-manned. You kick the fucking field goal. And dare Army to beat your defense. Plus add in our proven inability to pick up 2 yards when we need them.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:32 PM ^
I had no problem with the decision to go for it. I had a big problem with the play call. On replay, it looked like all 11 defenders ran straight for the middle when the ball was hiked. If Patterson won't keep it, that would have been a perfect time to use McCaffery. I hope Harbaugh and Gattis had a very heartfelt conversation after the game.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
I am significantly less outraged at the decision to go for it. The defense was extremely bendy yesterday and it felt like the front 7 was getting worse as the game went. I think the defensive UFR will show that things didn't go great. I liked the idea of trying to ice it with a TD.
The play call drove me nuts though. Short yardage running had been poor all game and that play got absolutely blown up
September 8th, 2019 at 1:01 PM ^
Big data. Crunching numbers. Tells him to go for it.
Common sense...after watching our team make everything look hard yesterday...should’ve told him to take the field goal.
September 8th, 2019 at 1:46 PM ^
Not kicking the field goal was incredibly stupid, the play call they went with instead of kicking was completely insane. They faked the read all game long, that was the perfect time to have Shea pull it. They eventually ran him in the game anyways, I can't imagine for the life of me why they abandoned desperately needed gimmie points to throw rock again. Unconscionable stupidity. James Franklin probably thought that was dumb.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^
Can't argue with facts.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
You're not supposed to rip entire articles and post them.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
I can't recall the last time I gave a shit what the LA Times said about anything. Still applies.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
I guess I'm the only one who felt like going for it was a fine call. Similar deal with Texas last night, odds say you should go for it, sometimes it doesn't work out.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:16 AM ^
I had no problem going for it as well. But running twice instead of throwing to your NFL wideouts is the problem
September 8th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
Or even line up under center like they did on the first touchdown. The defense knew Patterson wouldn’t keep, so don’t try and sell it. Line up and pound it for two yards with a head full of steam from Zach
September 8th, 2019 at 12:28 PM ^
We had slant passes to slots open all day. Why not try that? Baffling decisions by Harbaugh (or Gattis).
September 8th, 2019 at 11:54 AM ^
I liked the call to go for it but for fucks sake Shea, just keep it once and walk in.
September 8th, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
If I were Shea, I wouldn't even care if the coaches told me not to keep it all day. Just do it and worry about hearing it from the coaches later.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
I liked the second call. Going for it from the 43 was an obvious call. Not taking the lead, though. That was questionable, I think.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
That was more than questionable. It was coaching malpractice. Game was tied and we had been struggling all game long to score. Take the lead, kick off, and make them drive the length of the field. The odds were FAR in our favor with that option. Harbaugh is often his own worst enemy.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
We're not in the habit of copying and pasting entire articles (two, in this case) around here. Links, a summary, and some pithy commentary is usually the way to go.
FWIW, his thinking on the first 4th and 2 was probably that the D was wearing down and a FG would just see them march down the field and eat up the last 9 minutes on the way to a 21-17 win. The second was that there was a good chance they'd run out of time before getting into FG range, which made the risk worth it. My problem wasn't so much the decision to go as the Borges-27-for-27 mentality that thought running Charbonnet inside with zero threat of a pull was going to get it done.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:15 AM ^
Yeah, I thought both were defensible decisions either way. I definitely wanted to go for it on the second one, as I wanted us to keep possession and finish the game off. But the playcalls themselves were problematic.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
I honestly don’t know how the first decision is defensible. You probably don’t need to make the second decision later if you take the lead when it is on a platter right there for you to take.
September 8th, 2019 at 1:10 PM ^
The logic:
This is a game where possessions are at a premium. You might not return to their red zone again, and Army might only have one more real possession. But that one Army possession might beat you, if you're only up 3 points. If you are confident that your offense can convert that 4th down (we were 1-1 at that point), why not go for it and get a more comfortable 7-point lead?
Imagine if we had lost this game 21-17 on a late Army touchdown. The MGoBoard refrain would be about how "Jim left his balls in California" and passed up an "easy" fourth down to kick a field goal, because of course it would have succeeded. "I thought Lloyd retired."
Now, I understand the counterargument too: take the 3 points and trust that your D will keep them off the scoreboard. I think either is defensible.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:57 AM ^
Thanks for posting the whole thing haha
September 8th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
I disagree, i liked reading it. Perhaps he should have posted the link instead so readers like me could read the whole thing.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
I'm personally wondering why the flipping L.A. Times would write nearly 800 words about a Midwestern football team they're not covering winning a non-conference game in less than convincing fashion...why not an article about FSU needing a ULM kicker missing an extra point, or Tennessee starting 0-2 or Nebraska throwing away a big lead vs an at-best OK Colorado team or more coverage about Chip Kelly's disastrous start to his 2nd season at UCLA or how USC somehow managed to look like an offensive juggernaut vs Stanford while playing a freshman QB.
Is the writer of the article by any chance a poster on this site?
September 8th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
Don't know if he posts here, but J. Brady is a Michigan grad. We're about the same year and were both on the Daily, although he was covering football while I was covering . . . less glamorous sports.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:41 AM ^
Hence the snarling, I get it.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:18 PM ^
Ha, but that was my doing. I wasn't dedicated enough to put in the time necessary to rise through the ranks. For the guys who are covering the big sports, it's basically a real job (without real pay) in addition to being a student. The football writers are seniors who have been doing that for three years already.
For the people who just want to pad their résumé and get their name in the paper a few times (me), there are lots of nonrevenue and IM sports teams to write about.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
Jim Harbaugh gets clicks, tv ratings, etc.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:16 PM ^
Harbaugh is a big name in California because he was the high-profile coach of two college programs and a pro team in the state. His career will always be followed with interest by those out here in CA. It's not that mystifying.
September 8th, 2019 at 5:35 PM ^
In the article the author clearly uses Charbonnet as the local tie.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
Agree with the criticism but it's funny how people act as if Armys missed 50 yarder was a gimme and Michigan lucked out when they missed it. That kick is hard for an Nfl kicker let alone some Army freshman kicker
September 8th, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
Whatever works to rip on Harbaugh and Michigan.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
There's plenty to choose from at the moment....this was just one example.