Michigan/Harbaugh Narrative Watch
Prior to the Game in 2021, the Big Noon and Sportcenters talking heads and game announcers loved to highlight a variety of Narratives about Jim Harbaugh's Michigan teams:
1) Harbaugh can't beat Ohio State-
Pete Finebaum's quote from 11/24/2021 " "No, no, no," he said. "Greeny you can ask me this question until I'm 150 and the answer is still no. I don't think this Michigan team - although they are better than they have been, significantly better - can beat Ohio State. This is a really good, if not great Ohio State team and I think there is something in Jim Harbaugh's brain. I don't know what it is, I don't really want to know. He is incapable, incapable Greeny of beating his biggest rival."
Sorry Pete your quote did not age well- Michigan under Harbaugh has won 3 straight while OSU had their best QB ever, Stroud and generational talent at WR- Marvin Harrison
2) Harbaugh loses to B10 rivals .500 or worse against Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, & Wisconsin
Since 2020 has a 100% win record against every B10 team except Staate where he is 2-1
3) Harbaugh can't win tough road games:
15-3 in road games since 2021 with 1 regular season loss to Staate, & playoff losses to Georgia & TCU
4) Michigan performs poorly in Bowl games- 0-2 in playoff games
F those guys- Time to put this one behind us- Go Blue!
December 19th, 2023 at 10:28 AM ^
Harbaugh can win the national title this year and the narrative will shift to "Harbaugh is still 0-1 in the Super Bowl - HE JUST CAN'T GET THE JOB DONE!"
December 19th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
Technically Harbaugh is 1-0 in the Super Bowl
December 19th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
Super technically, he's 1-1 (if I'm following your drift)...
December 19th, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^
Technically it’s a they/them thing.
December 19th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
Technically, I am not sure that any of the people in question have specified a preference.
December 19th, 2023 at 4:27 PM ^
Wildly underrated response
December 19th, 2023 at 10:43 AM ^
So A Harbaugh is 1-0, A Harbaugh is 0-1 and THE Harbaughs are 1-1?
December 19th, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^
Does anyone else find it strange that the two best teams in the NFL right now are Baltimore and the 49ers? They could very well both play in the Super Bowl again... Just weird to me that when they both make it back to prominence it's the other that stands in their way.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
I know there are lots of Lions fans here, but it would be sweet to see both Harbaugh's win a NC in the same year.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
5 yards for improper apostrophe use.
Go Lions!
December 19th, 2023 at 11:45 AM ^
tunneler, lighten up. he's a hillbilly. a favorite hillbilly at that. next thing you know you'll be picking on him about his orthodontia....
December 19th, 2023 at 12:36 PM ^
Don't use big words, he probably can't follow along and it'll sound big city uppity...
December 19th, 2023 at 1:10 PM ^
irony of ironies, mgohillbilly is the smart one and i'm the actual hillbilly who's not so bright. but in my defense, my teeth are fine. so i got that going for me.
December 20th, 2023 at 5:27 AM ^
Did you forget to change from your pretend lawyer account to one of the other ones?
December 20th, 2023 at 6:47 AM ^
good morning jon. hillbilly is a former marine and is a U of M law grad. he's been here to the farm a few times with various family members. great guy, very nice family, you would likely enjoy meeting him.
have a nice day.
December 21st, 2023 at 3:48 AM ^
I appreciate your commitment to the bit.
December 21st, 2023 at 7:05 AM ^
jon, you give me a smile every time you get stuck on this. thank you. hope you and your family are well and have a fine holiday. IIRC you are over in europe somewhere. different traditions, assumedly.
December 19th, 2023 at 12:15 PM ^
The Michigan Difference.
December 19th, 2023 at 1:48 PM ^
Sorry, it autocorrect's to s'ingular pos'sessive when I type in harbaugh with an S.
December 19th, 2023 at 6:06 PM ^
Penalty declined. Good sentiment.
I'll root for John as long as it's not against the Lions in the Super Bowl. :)
December 19th, 2023 at 9:50 PM ^
So youll be rooting for him?
December 19th, 2023 at 12:13 PM ^
I'm a Lions fan, and I'd sign up for this.
December 19th, 2023 at 5:19 PM ^
Or the stadium lights could stand in their way?
December 19th, 2023 at 10:44 AM ^
While simultaneously insisting he's a leading candidate for every NFL vacancy
December 19th, 2023 at 10:54 AM ^
No. If we win, they'll just pivot back to sign "stealing" shit... is this why Michigan won the NC???
December 19th, 2023 at 11:51 AM ^
But maybe we'll be able to respond with an updated version of this:
December 19th, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
This. Essentially, these are mostly different ways to state, “I don’t like Harbaugh” at this point.
December 19th, 2023 at 12:40 PM ^
OP,
What exactly is the point of this?
December 19th, 2023 at 12:44 PM ^
No, the narrative will shift to "MIchigan can win without cheating" and "Their wins and NC will be vacated"
December 19th, 2023 at 10:30 AM ^
The Refs and Media & Bama cronies will see to it - their narrative becomes reality....
"The Truth is Out There" -- X-Files
Go Blue!
December 19th, 2023 at 10:32 AM ^
Haters gonna hate
December 19th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
And lovers gonna love... (NTTAWWT)
December 19th, 2023 at 3:05 PM ^
WAY too flattering to Finebaum. He's probably shriveled up like a raisin.
December 19th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
Media loves a villain. Talking heads have a hard on for vilifying Harbaugh.
December 19th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
America's favorite villain.
December 19th, 2023 at 10:45 AM ^
I mean this entire board was saying the same thing before 2021… it’s wasn’t a wild narrative or thing to say. It was pretty accurate.
December 19th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
It's almost as if we're not such a unique / educated fanbase as we all like to believe, and instead are as selective in our reasoning as the fans of all those other teams we like to point at and mock.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
I said all along that the "Fire Harbaugh!" brigade was overreacting and creating dumb narratives out of small sample sizes. Never wavered.
Therefore, I reserve the right to make fun of the broader public for this kind of stuff and give the rest of you some occasional well deserved ribbing.
This is my narrative, which I have lovingly crafted from a sample where I am 1-0 against the chicken littles of the world, and I'm sticking to it.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
The "Fire Howard!" brigade will look silly in a year or two as well.
December 19th, 2023 at 1:17 PM ^
He’ll probably have to start recruiting guards and perimeter wings that can pass admissions first.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
Hey there, I said we would go 10-2 in 2021 in July and UMBig11 called me "exactly what's wrong with this fanbase" for saying that. He then responded as "Chernobyl" and was the last we would see of him. (Earlier in that thread was also where he told me the only chance of us going 6-6 was if Bowman won the starting QB job).
December 19th, 2023 at 10:52 AM ^
Gotta have the pieces in place, most of all these days where the playing field (figuratively) is a lot level than it was just 5 yrs ago. His new coaching staff, his approach to The Game, his trust in his coordinators...all the planets finally aligned.
Lets finish the job.
December 19th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
Granted Pete was more than a bit hyperbolic but in fairness to penis-face, when he made that statement Jimmy was 0-5 against OSU so it wasnt that crazy of a prediction.
And we have been awful in bowl games since 2015 so again, people thinking we'll continue to be awful isnt that crazy either IMO.
Beat Alabama and you shut up that crowd as well as the "OMG meatchicken cheaterz" real quick. Lose once again and we validate their apprehension and reignite the Conner Stallions talk.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
With all due respect, I think it’s Pete’s head that is penis like and not his face. I realize I’m splitting hairs here.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:19 AM ^
None of the hairs on Finebaum's head.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:46 AM ^
the middleschooler in me just laughed. i am a bad person.
December 19th, 2023 at 12:50 PM ^
Finebaum was in a 70s porno. You want to know how I can tell? His dickface has sideburns.
December 19th, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
Pete already split his hairs for you.
December 19th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
I agree that most of these "narratives" were actually just facts/statistics. As the OP noted, once we actually won the thing we couldn't win, the narrative changed.
I disagree with your thought about Connor Stalions. That narrative has already been settled, once we beat Ohio State. If anyone (apparently all the Big Ten coaches) still won't let it go, beating Alabama and then winning the national championship won't change anything. For the most part, I think people have let it go and decided Michigan was actually good. I never figured MSU and OSU would come around to that side of thinking, though.
Also, to me, bowls and playoffs are not the same thing. The bowls in the Bo/Mo/Carr days mattered, sure. But once opt outs became a thing, bowls really became completely meaningless. Losing the semis three years in a row would be its own separate narrative, I think.
December 19th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
Saban has responded to this. He isn't worried about signs. Said they change their shit up on bye weeks and for bowl prep.