Cool exchange between Jake Thaw and Harbaugh re:4th quarter punt in Rose Bowl
Harbaugh: “This guy made a game-saving fumble recovery”
— Tony Garcia | Detroit Free Press (@RealTonyGarcia) January 12, 2024
Thaw: “I’m never gonna be able to look at it like that.”
Harbaugh: “Jake, if you don’t pick that ball up and have the presence of mind to stay out of the end zone…you don’t secure the ball, we lose that game.” pic.twitter.com/hYE1uxPTv0
Harbaugh really has his players' backs and it's clear they love him back.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:13 PM ^
If anyone ever gives Jake Thaw shit on here I swear to god...
January 12th, 2024 at 3:17 PM ^
Agreed, that play allowed overtime to even happen. 07-20 that would of been a fumble for Bama touchdown for the loss.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:17 PM ^
A known friend and trusted agent if I've ever seen one.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:35 PM ^
And the narrative would have been Nick Saban goes out a champion...how fitting.
But nope...
January 12th, 2024 at 4:10 PM ^
Totally.
"The bright lights just too much for Michigan."
"The Big Ten just can't hold up to the might SEC."
"Harbaugh just can't get over the playoff hump."
"Alabama is a championship program because they always find a way to win."
NOPE NOPE NOPE
January 12th, 2024 at 4:22 PM ^
Saban probably beats UW.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:20 PM ^
Herbstreit made the same point during the broadcast trying to override Fowler's "what a HUGE mistkake!!!!!!!!!!!" yelling.
granted his initial fumble created the crisis, but his recovery saved the chance to win. And that was a pretty tough play because he had about 600+ pounds of muscle rocketing towards him.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:29 PM ^
I was ready for the Blake O'Neill sympathy phone call for a second there
January 12th, 2024 at 3:30 PM ^
Let me know and I will join you in the "swear to god" part
January 12th, 2024 at 3:36 PM ^
He may not realize it for awhile, but Thaw will always be a Michigan Legend.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:44 PM ^
Especially in light of his tweet about the “two biggest mistakes of his life” being in that game. (I can’t even recall the other one.). It was nice to see the replies were all supportive and correctly thanked the guy for saving the season.
But, seriously. There is something wrong with anyone who is giving that guy crap.
January 12th, 2024 at 7:04 PM ^
I took that to mean: 1) fielding the kick and then 2) fumbling it.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:46 PM ^
God
and can you possibly imagine what Izzo would’ve said in an analogous hoops situation? Bus going back and forth over the player…,
January 12th, 2024 at 5:32 PM ^
People make mistakes. What matters is how they deal with them.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:14 PM ^
great stuff...love it
January 12th, 2024 at 3:15 PM ^
Harbaugh, for all of the presser quirks, does an absolutely great job of never speaking poorly about any team members and always focusing on a positive in any interview I have ever seen.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:28 PM ^
He's the polar opposite of Brian Kelly, who has made an entire career out of everything being everyone else's fault.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:07 PM ^
He's the polar opposite of Tom Izzo, who has made an entire career out of everything being everyone else's fault.
FIFY
January 12th, 2024 at 3:36 PM ^
That is the definition of great coaching. Players play their best when they feel good and confident. Chewing out players never works.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:19 PM ^
I wouldn't say "never works". Bo said something like you have to know when to build a player up (e.g. the Thaw situation), and when to get after a player (not putting in full effort or starting to coast after success).
January 12th, 2024 at 8:27 PM ^
Well, I am a BoFan, but it has become more old school for good reasons. If a player already knows what they did wrong, you don’t need to remind them and you certainly don’t chew them out. If a player does something wrong and need coaching, then you need to let them know so they can improve themselves, but you’re also not going to chew them out.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:38 PM ^
Chew out in private. Praise in public. Ideally praise in private, too, but never chew out in public.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:37 PM ^
Comes from, imho: "We're gonna believe in each other, we're not gonna criticize each other, we're not gonna talk about each other, we're gonna encourage each other."
January 12th, 2024 at 4:08 PM ^
He is genuine about it as well, not some puff. Can see it in his body language and hear it in his tone.
January 12th, 2024 at 7:24 PM ^
Fully agree. The only one he’s ever thrown under the bus, ahem, I mean base, is Ryan Day.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:15 PM ^
Someone help me out with the video embed, it's worth a watch...
January 12th, 2024 at 3:34 PM ^
Body language/tone is everything. He went dad mode on Jake lol
January 12th, 2024 at 3:38 PM ^
He really did, genuinely offended that Jake is still beating himself up about it.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:01 PM ^
Hmmm. Thaw sporting a jacket with the split M logo. Thought Brandon had banished that forever.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:16 PM ^
The logo that was banished has been reintroduced.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:17 PM ^
That might be the one and only good thing Brandon did. I always hated the split block M.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:21 PM ^
but WD brought it back
January 12th, 2024 at 4:49 PM ^
That is amazing, on so many levels. No words for how much I love that.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:16 PM ^
Pay the man all of the money. Every single cent.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:17 PM ^
From what he's posted on twitter when he announced his transfer, Jake Thaw seems extremely down about the whole play. I've seen nothing but praise from fans, teammates, former players, etc telling him that even if he made a mistake, it's the fact that he instantly did what he needed to do to recover that's important... but as far has his own self-evaluation, he seems like he's hurting.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:19 PM ^
If he entered the portal because of this play, even if in part, I hope we can show him some love and get him to withdraw. The guy was a big part of this season, not only saving that play, but being a key piece on special teams all year.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:20 PM ^
Even if he *hadn't* fixed it immediately, he was doing his absolute best to win the game. A late hit out of bounds (*cough* Crable *cough*) I could maybe see getting some justifiable flak, but Jake was giving his all every time he stepped on the field. AND he saved it.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:29 PM ^
He tweeted something about making the two biggest mistakes of his life on the biggest stage. I said it before, but it bears repeating: it would be glorious if those really were to be the biggest mistakes of his life. Holding yourself to a standard of perfection is a sure path to a lifetime of unhappiness. Deciding to field the punt was a mistake, so was muffing it. Recovering it saved the national championship. Would that the biggest mistakes of my life turn out so well.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:34 PM ^
What's the second mistake?
January 12th, 2024 at 3:37 PM ^
I’ve been wondering this too. The only thing I can think of is he let a punt go by him against Washington that was questionably playable and it rolled inside the 10. I’d have to double check to be sure, but I think it was the punt before the series where JJ ran us out of deep territory. Given how that punter was kicking, I would not call this a mistake on Thaw. But it’s only thing I can think of.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:40 PM ^
Pretty sure that was the play where they tried to have two returners and erroneously pulled Morgan off the field late thinking they had 12 men, so not on him.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:41 PM ^
I’m thinking of a punt where it was in front of him and he waived it off.
Edit: I went and double checked and I was thinking of the place correctly. Right around 520 left in the third quarter. He let a punt go by him and that’s what pinned us deep. Again, not on him but it’s all I can think of
January 12th, 2024 at 3:46 PM ^
Oh right, the one that rolled back to the 8 prior to the JJ scramble. That was 50/50 at best, it would have been risky to run up and try to field that at a full sprint. The Washington punter was shanking them all night and getting super lucky with the rolls.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:40 PM ^
I thought maybe he meant mistake #1 was choosing to field the punt given where it was coming down and mistake #2 was failing to catch it cleanly once he decided to.
Overall our punt coverages haven't been necessarily great this year but come on guys... you're the National Champions. Everything you did was enough, we could not have asked for a single bit more.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:14 PM ^
Maybe a fat chick in Pasadena?
January 12th, 2024 at 3:34 PM ^
I don't disagree. It also says something positive that even though Thaw is in the portal with the intent to transfer he's still at Mott. And he's still welcome with the team. And Harbaugh is being this positive. Culture matters!
January 12th, 2024 at 4:18 PM ^
Which is why I absolutely hate it when people get on here after a game to call out players who made mistakes. The last thing these guy's need is to see some guy going through a mid life crisis who thinks he's some kind of football coach dogging on them online.
January 12th, 2024 at 4:38 PM ^
I saw that, and replied that there's never been any athlete in any sport who never made a mistake. He had the presence of mind to make a play that kept from magnifying the mistake. Sometimes that's all you can do. He did it, and because of that, the offense scored, we went into OT, won it, got to the final game, and won it all.
So give yourself a break, Jake. Wherever you go, you'll always be a National Champion.
January 12th, 2024 at 3:19 PM ^
When the people we care about go through something tough, one of the best things we can do for them, is to let them know we believe in them.