OSU & Day wasted generational talent at QB & WR

Imagine how many national championships Harbaugh could win with the same amount of talent

I don't love these posts, because they could very easily swing the other way. If Day had won these last two games with all this talent, people would be lambasting Harbaugh for not winning despite having McCarthy, Hutchinson, Corum, Ojabo, etc. 

If Harbaugh wins, he's a great coach and Ryan Day sucks!

If Day wins, he's a great coach and Jim Harbaugh sucks!

Maybe both of them are very good coaches. Harbaugh was a very good coach when he was going 0-5 against Ohio State, and he's still a very good coach now that he's 3-0 since 2021. Somebody has to win, and somebody has to lose.

This is a Michigan blog not the cheaters down south. 

You love to see it!

Day did show the ability to adjust by improving a defense that wasn’t good at all two years ago. He’s still 56-7, and few coaches can match that. Attacking him for losing three straight to Michigan minimizes how good these Michigan teams have been. Harbaugh lost five straight the other way, including two blowouts.Did that mean he can’t coach?

This year’s game was pretty even, and they were playing against probably Michigan’s best team ever. For once, Michigan had an advantage at QB and it tipped the game in their favor. Concluding Day should be tossed out at this point makes about as much sense as firing Harbaugh would have. Who would they get that could do better than 56-7?

This is a MICHIGAN blog fergodsakes

I was just saying this to my wife last night as Smith-Njigba went off. How did we beat these teams?? Simple.

Teams built in the trenches still generally best those built on skill guys. And soft coaches lose to those that drink whole milk and ride bikes without a helmet. 

Stop drinking and go to bed.

I mean, I wouldn't say the talent was wasted, because all those guys had serious production and are going in the first or second round of the draft. They just couldn't win the game that mattered and, by extension, move on to accomplishing the goals they were expected to accomplish. The fact that guys like Marvin Harrison Jr. are leaving OSU without a single Big Ten title or a single pair of gold pants? Three years ago I would've laughed at that concept, and said there was no way that guy wasn't going three for three in this rivalry. 

But they were all household names who, by and large, lived up to their recruiting billing. So the talent wasn't necessarily wasted. 

You want to talk about wasted talent? Let's talk about Jimbo Fisher at A&M. Let's talk about Brady Hoke squandering arguably the greatest OL haul Michigan will ever have in one class. 

I was just talking about this with someone today.  When I think back to the Michigan/OSU game there are so many examples of where the marquis players on both sides of the ball just shined on the biggest stage.  Our our side, Desmond and Woodson are fantastic examples. OSU has had multiple examples as well.   In the last two years, if I were an OSU fan, this would be my biggest criticism of Day.  I know Michigan threw some incredible defensive looks at Harrison, but Day has to be smart enough to figure out other ways to get the ball in the hands of his best player

It's telling that there's only 1 defensive player on the list...

WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK 

Day is an excellent coach - you don't 56-7 without being well above average. He is beating the Purdues and Iowas that Urban started losing to but, other than Clemson 2020, isn't beating the elite teams.

Elite coaches: Saban, Urban, Smart, and Dabo (his 10-year body of work outweighs his last two seasons)

Near Elite: Harbaugh (2021-23), Lanning, DeBoer (I know the last two guys are less experienced but they've been excellent in their 1st two years), Bo

Excellent but not Elite: Day, Sark, Riley, Whittingham, Frames, Kelly, Harbaugh (2015-19), etc.

TCU has some good NFL talent, but I don't see Saban, Urban, etc. losing to TCU with our 2022 UM team.

The good news is that JH is trending to Elite but has to get that Bowl record off Bo's early level (JH = 1 and 6, Bo started 0 and 7). 

I can't remember who said it this past week, but it hit the nail directly on the head. They said that Day has been preparing for Michigan of the previous year. Not the Michigan of this year. Last year it was all about stopping the run, This year it was all about stopping big plays. Day is probably hard at work right now trying to come up with a game plan for how to beat the 2023 Michigan Wolverines next year.

Going 12-1 is not "wasting talent."  He lost a close game against a great team.  It happens.

I'll say it's been wasted once they are out of the CFP once and for all. They came too dang close to (very likely) winning it last year. 

For the record OSU played well. Bottom line, Michigan is better and played better.  

Hence the 3rd base moniker.

One thing several of the Ohio State blogs and media are right about: Michigan has been built to beat Ohio State, whereas Ohio State has not, and is possibly better suited to winning playoff games. (Until Michigan starts doing better in the postseason, that take might not wrong.

Going forward, with the expanded conference and abolition of divisions and the expanded playoffs, Ohio State will benefit, probably more than Michigan. The Game simply will not matter as much as it has until now, as both teams will probably regularly be in the playoffs, and could face each other two or three times in a year.

Generational talent at QB and WR was real. That kept them from losing by more than seven touchdowns over three years. I don’t know how many ridiculous plays Stroud and the wideouts made in 2021. Otherwise, it would have been worse.

He gets credit for recruiting and developing those players in the first place, though. Michigan hasn't had a receiver go in the first or second round since...Braylon Edwards, I think? Mario Manningham: third round. Donovan Peoples-Jones: sixth round. Nico Collins: third round. Jehu Chesson: fourth round. Junior Hemingway: seventh round. Amara Darboh: third round. Roy Roundtree: undrafted. Jeremy Gallon: undrafted. Adrian Arrington: sixth round.

Why is Ohio State so much better at recruiting and developing receivers than we are?

I asked Buckeye Chuck about this at the time.  All Day had to do was get 10 more yards dor his kicker to win the game, and he turtled.  It was all on Day.  OSU was better than GA last year, and that includes coaching until the last minute.

The 2021 WR room is the best in CFB history.  It's better than any NFL room not named the Bengals.  Not being sarcastic, truly 3 first round picks and a young MHJ behind them.

However they don't like snow.

It’s because we cheated in 21 and 22. Stroud should sue. In all seriousness, I wouldn’t call “wasted”. At least no more than we wasted Tom Brady back in the day. Stroud and MHJ will have nice to great careers. Egbuka would be the one I would say was wasted, that dude scared the shit out of me when they signed him, but never really developed into the hype.