Where Did Jim Harbaugh Go??

We've already gotten into the "reading into the minutiae of sideline activities" phase of criticism. The "detached" stuff that has no meaning, that kind of thing. I think this post at least suggests a plausible reason that Harbaugh hasn't gone nuclear, and that is that he hasn't gotten calls going nuclear. Watching Tom Coughlin educated me about what you can learn from watching a coach's expressions on the sideline: nothing. Not a game went by that I watched where Coughlin wasn't on the sideline looking clueless and exasperated. But, you know, two Super Bowl victories.

I have noticed the same thing.  I thought it to myself last night . . . what happened to the Harbaugh fire?

HOWEVER . . . the observation is not the same thing as determining the cause.

The public face of Jim Harbaugh in-season is primarily the sidelines and the press conferences.

He's not going to be Mr. Enthusiasm after a loss in a press conference.  He never has been.

He always been terse and short and detached in a press conference after a loss.  You can't judge anything by that.

As far as the sidelines, he has dialed it back significantly.  But that may be by design, not because he is disinterested.  Fair or not, his sideline show was costing his team penalty yards.  Nothing to be gained by keeping that up.

So we don't really know. 

I would not automatically assume that he's checked out based on such limited public appearances.

   

Last year's defense is almost all playing on Sundays now.  This year's defense has some studs but they are young.  They are being coached up by Sir Don Brown (he should be knighted).  Idiots that say we can't win with these players this year are defeatists.  With this defense and the skill players we have (yes that includes average QBs), we should be able to compete with anyone ASSUMING we get competent playcalling.  It's all on Drevno, Harbaugh and Pep.

but people are just throwing sh#t at a wall and hoping something sticks. I don't think any of us know Jim Harbaugh personally enough to judge his demeanor, thoughts etc.

Let's not overanalyse this. The offense stinks and there's a couple reasons for that, let them figure it out. If we go 7-13 the next 20 games like Hoke did, we can still fire up the flight trackers again.

I thought this was an 8-9 win team going into season...however, people are forgetting the last 2 years the sentiment on offense was that even when it struggled there was not a constant head scratching on play calls, and the hope was with better talent it would be flying. That's what baffles me about this year, every other play we are wondering what the hell was called. Constant fades on sideline? The crossing route gentry scored against Purdue felt like a staple of old offense, where has that been? I felt like even being young harbaugh could at least get a MAC level offense and get us 9 win season with this D. But we are legit muschamp Florida right now

It’s called maturation. (Bobby night NEVER had it). But after while, those antics don’t win games. Did you see douchetonio jumping up and down and throwing shit on the sidelines. How about Urban? Do u think Jack Harbaugh would do that?
We need to find our identity on offense. It may take a Bit Of shaking up. But I wouldn’t question Harbaugh’s love of the game or his love of winning. (Ok, maybe his play calling:-/)

I'm curious about this because in December of 2014 when he agreed to come here I expected year three to look like a dominate offensive line and a fired up coach who wasn't going to back down from things (the whole "what's your deal" thing like at Stanford). Did he just get too use to the NFL where you treat every game equally, keep things more bland and rather play field position, and create too difficult of routes/schemes rather then the college game which you can push a dynamic offense "easier" because the other team probably doesn't have enough athletes to match up.

He did an amazing job in year one stopping the train as you've said before, but year two underwhelming in the big games, and this year just scratching my head over what this team is on offense. 

tl;dr  -- Turnovers, lot of outliers from many angles, our expectations pre-season vs what they develop into is getting kind of silly .. we have been outperforming expectations every year harbaugh has been here, this is always dantonio's super bowl, our defense is still a brick shithouse that could win a championship if the offense was at 50% of where the defense is, still hope in the offensive development, this season isn't over yet -- but we have a lot to hedge up. Also, don't discount the external variables in games like this, just like you shouldn't discount how we played last week in 90+ weather with high humidity.  We played that game almost perfectly to keep players fresh and not have a tired defense at the end. 

 

Long form chaotic rambling: 

 

We had no expectations of doing shit this season. We didn't last season, but harbaugh has spoiled us every year by making rebuilding years 1-game away from being "possibly playing for a national championship year" 

 

5 turnovers, lose by 4 points... other team doesn't move the ball  from 8:XX in the 2nd quarter through 00:00 in the 4th quarter. 

 

We have a weird team, one that is OBVIOUSLY having growing pains. Harbaugh's O-lines have always been ones that need to be developed in a certain way. This is well documented, and why he has had the lowest rates of o-line injuries throughout his coaching career. 

Those guys are still being developed, but it's a glaring hole in having a winnning team right now. Hopefully they'll be better by the end of the season. 

 

 

We've had some real outlier games this year. Last week we were playing in subtropical conditions, this week we ended up with what was equivalent to getting hit by a tropical storm, and it turns out their guys just wanted it more on defense when o'korn can manage 3 INT in a row but mcdoom can get planted perfectly between the numbers and just drop it with both hands on the ball.   He wasn't turning around before getting his hands on the ball, he wasn't trying to make a play before he made the catch, he just straight up didn't hold onto a perfectly thrown ball. 

Our defense gave us two shots to get down the field in the final two minutes. They came out  in the 2nd half and pinned sparty back to the goal line/almost safety on the opening kickoff with a very quick 3 and out.   

 

There's a lot to look at here.  I'm still waiting for Peoples-Jones to stop acting like he's Jabrill II when he's really underperforming but still grandstanding. I like his enthusiasm, but the production isn't there yet to justify acting like he's even close to being  ready for the NFL. 

 

IDK what to say about three picks in a row, or how i knew as soon as the broken play happened where sparty fumbled, that they'd surely turn the chaos into a conversion. Our defense was still pretty fucking amazing without even gettting a single turnover.   I fully expected something like that slipstream from dantonio. This is his super bowl.  His team sucks this year, they put it all on the line vs michigan and should have still lost, but our offense is a mess of growing pains. 

 

There was the second fumble... can't recall who dropped the ball, but that was also kind of an outlier. reaching for a 1st down and having someone come in from sideline side and knock the ball out.  bad awareness... but obviously wasn't expecting  to take a big hit on his right side. (ball in right hand, going down already) 

 

The other outlier play that really hurt us was the "roll over 2-3 guys who are laying on ground to get the 1st down"  That gave me a sad. 

 

/

Addendum:  I think the harbaugh "enthusiasm" has been explained in this thread in regards to how we got fucked at ohio state last year. 

Ravens are beating the Raiders in Oakland, cue the "John is the better Harbaugh" comments.

Just a guess: he's without a trusted quarterback this year. Maybe he's at his best when he truly believes in the guy who's helming his team. Maybe he thought Brandon Peters would be the guy, and that didn't happen. 

against rivals...so whats really changed? I Know I Know hes our savior BUT whats the difference if we continue to get beat by our 2 big rivals? we are in year 3 and hes probably going to be 1-5 against rivals at seasons end and thats not even counting road games against top 10 PSU and WISC...we are staring at 8-4 easily and Indiana isnt going to be easy either..This offense is HORRENDOUS so I wonder ....just how much further along we really are?

1. Does he wear a headset?
2. Does he clap a lot?
3. Does he wear long sleeves?

I may have missed it, but has anyone in the press asked about Drevno's move to the box?  I'm not saying it has anything to do with the OP's question, but I am curious.  Maybe he prefers the box and now that Frey is there he feels that he can leave the sideline coaching of the OL to him?  I'm interested in the thought process behind it.

 

Fire Drevno and hire Greg Roman.

At this point the only thing that matters is beating OSU. That’s the only thing that will save the season really

We clown him, make fun of his name, and even laugh at his sideline demeanor...but the hard pill to swallow for most is that Mark Dantonio is a DAMN good football coach! He’s been kicking our ass for more than a decade no matter the circumstances. Less talent, he beats us; more talent, he stomps us and shows no mercy. I don’t know Harbaugh’s approach to this game, but it may need to change to match Dantonio’s approach.