Monday Presser 10-9-17: Jim Harbaugh
[Fuller]
They said on the broadcast that Wilton had a couple broken vertebrae. Is he out for the year and can you comment on that?
“Multiple weeks. I don’t know that he’ll be out for the year.”
The vertebrae part is accurate though?
“Yeah, there’s some cracks in there. Yeah. And not a doctor, but think it’s similar to…yeah, I don’t want to say. Yes.”
After watching the film, would you have liked to have gotten the ball to Karan Higdon more? He was averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Should he have gotten the ball more, especially in the rain and the wind?
“Uh, yeah, he had—Karan played well.”
But no answer to my question?
“What do you—you want to question the play-calling? That usually is the case when something doesn’t work, so…”
But you don’t question that, how much he got the ball there or don’t want to with us?
“No. What I want to do is yeah, I want to look at the film, I want to learn from it. I’m not gonna get into questioning the play-calling.”
[SID calls on next person]
“It’s a very convenient thing, right? Play worked and hey, it was a great play because it worked. Play doesn’t work: would you wish you had done something else, had a different play call? Sure, that’s very easy to do. That’s a very—hindsight is 20/20.”
Just thought maybe there was something I was missing.
“That’s a standard question that when a play works, hey, great play call. You run a third-down draw against Florida and it works: hey, great call. You call a play that doesn’t work: would you wish you would have called a different play? That’s a very easy thing to do.”
[After THE JUMP: finding the offense’s identity, Indiana’s defensive standouts, and the final say on play-calling]
Simplistic in 20/20 and hindsight but is it entirely wrong to question play-calling?
“No, it’s your right to do.”
Do you disagree with it?
“I think that’s what people do. It’s just a fact of what anybody does. We should have throw it or should have run it; if you threw it and it didn’t work, you wish you would have run it. If you ran it and it didn’t work then hey, would have been better to throw it, and you’d be right.”
Do you do the same thing as a coach? Do you say, well, we did make the wrong play call here?
“No. You go through it and you look at where you can make corrections and where you can make improvements.”
After being able to watch the film, what’s your assessment of John at quarterback and is he still going to be your quarterback going forward?
“Yes. Again, we’ll go through it, make corrections, make improvements, and move on.”
I don’t want to compare season to season but in the past we kind of knew what this offense’s foundation and backbone was, whether it was the Power play or whatever it might be. Do you think you have one right now through five games or maybe not all the way to where you want it?
“Yeah, in the process of doing that.”
Has it been more difficult because they’re young and coming along or just not as fast as you would like? You say it’s a process but is it not where it should be or where you want it to be?
“Yeah, we had a ballgame that, you know, stuff happens. Things happen. We had fumbles, we had turnovers, we had things that just occur. We had a shotgun snap to their quarterback, he fumbles and then picks up a critical first down. Things happen during the course of a game and you don’t necessarily know why they’re happening but they keep happening and that’s where you go back and you learn from it, you look at it, you make corrections, and you move on with the mindset of not letting it happen again.”
I’m wondering if you’ve made a decision on the right tackle or whether that will be something that will happen during the week?
“Listen, I can understand there being a quarterback question, there being a quarterback controversy. We never really discuss a right tackle or a guard or a center controversy. To answer your question exactly the way you asked the question, yes, we’ll look at that during the week.”
Given the defense’s performance through the first five games, is there a sense with them yet as the offense has struggled of frustration or waiting for the offense to come? What is your feeling from them right now as far as having to carry the load?
“I don’t sense—no, we’re not frustrated. We look forward to getting back today and doing everything on both sides of the ball and special teams to contribute to a victory. We’re fortunate to have an opponent to play this week and opportunities ahead of us.”
As a coach, I don’t want to use the word ‘frustrating’ but when you look at the way the defense has been able to perform but still the offense not catching up, what is your thought about that?
“I answered your question. Not frustrated. Attacking this week’s opportunity.”
People in the fanbase but a lot of weight on beating Michigan State and Ohio State. Do you put any weight on winning those rivalry games as compared to normal games?
“Yes, we do.”
Are you concerned with your record in them to date?
“The record is what the record is. I mean, well aware of what the record is. Against Michigan State and Ohio State we’re 1-4. The record against all other opponents is 23-3. We know what the records are. We want to win those games. We want to win every game we play. We want to win ‘em all, and most importantly, we want to win this one, our next game.”
Ty Isaac and Chris Evans have had some costly fumbles over the last few weeks. How concerning is that for you and who would you say has a leg up at that position moving forward?
“Again, just like the previous question, we’ll evaluate that during the week.”
I wonder what you see as the primary challenges vis-a-vis Indiana this week and what they present to you.
“Yeah, very good football team. In fact, very competitive games with them. I think they’ve played very well. They’re playing very good this year, especially at home. Very good football team. That’s what we’re doing today, we’re making those preparations.”
What players and what numbers jump out so far on the Hoosiers when you take a look at them offensively and defensively?
“No. 16, excellent cover corner. No. 8, very athletic, fast linebacker. Again, another—tough safeties. Movement up front in the defensive line, stout. No. 4, another very good linebacker. Very good defense. Very athletic. Tough.”
I know you say week to week every game is the same, but given the loss Saturday, the Indiana game, is there an extra premium put on it or a little bit of extra motivation going into this week?
“Yeah, we’ve already felt the next game is the most important game and that’s our next game.”
Is there nothing--
“110% as opposed to 100%? I guess we could have that debate but 100% focused on them.”
About the play-calling, you talked about on the radio a couple weeks ago with Pep, but what is the hierarchy? Is it Pep [Hamilton] and Tim [Drevno] call the plays and you’re third, I think you said? How does that work?
“Yeah, we call the plays together as a staff. The final say, I have the final say, the final say of the play-calling.”
October 9th, 2017 at 6:40 PM ^
That's been frustrating all year is the lack of creative running. Higdon was consistently successful this game running to the outside averaging 5 yards a pop yet the staff chose to run it up the middle against the strength of their defense for demoralizing loss of yards.
If our team is more talented athletically then why run towards to them, if anything with the rainy conditions the chances of their defenses slipping up is probably increased when running outside in space.
Another frustrating thing compared to year one is that Rudock had either the proper instincts or coaching to run for critical first downs when nothing is there, yet O'korn or even Wilton this year dont take the easy yards and slide. Everytime I see, Okorn shoveling an imcomplete pass instead of gaining 3-5 yards, I die a bit inside.
October 9th, 2017 at 8:23 PM ^
Yes
&
Yes.
Youve sumed it up well.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 6:43 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 6:53 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 7:12 PM ^
He managed to teach them the full playbook at Stanford; he can teach them the full playbook here.
October 9th, 2017 at 8:21 PM ^
He had a much better QB and a cohesive OL, though. Figure those two things out and we are Stanfordized.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:16 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:27 PM ^
Which we did on a successful RPS against MSU when we ran power off tackle to the right while the defense all slanted the opposite way.
I think they were trying to use the pass game to open up the run, but ended up in a psuedo-desperation mode the entire second half, which in hindsight was absolutetly rushed. Harbaugh obviously wanted to be in the lead or tied when the weather came, and abandoned the run too early to try to score fast - which obviously backfired. Everyone knew MSU's offense was downloaded after halftime after the second three and out, no way they were going to come back in the rain if we could get the lead before the 4th quarter started.
October 9th, 2017 at 8:34 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:40 PM ^
Maybe that's not where the play was meant to go and our QB, who is prone to making bad decisions, made a bad decision.
October 9th, 2017 at 8:40 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 7:00 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 7:39 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:29 PM ^
There was definitely improvement from year 1 to year 2, then half our team went to the NFL and we are now stuck with inexperience, youth, and a lack of talent at key positions. Keep pounding sand, guy.
October 9th, 2017 at 9:17 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 9:25 PM ^
Walker spent almost a season catching up on studies and almost transferred out, this is pretty much his first year.
DPJ was incredibly raw coming out of HS as he pretty much only ran 9 routes. He has had to develop his route tree and polish his game up to this point.
Crawford can't catch the ball and has limited ball skills. He was probably overrated coming out of HS.
Gentry converted from QB and was also a project. He has had to pack on some weight to be a legitimate threat to block. It's understandable that it has taken him some time to become productive.
We are lacking talent at QB and OL, which is paramount to offensive success. Every player you listed is either a freshman or sophomore, so youth and inexperience is obviously an issue as well. Anything else?
October 10th, 2017 at 12:38 AM ^
If DPJ ran 9 routes in HS, maybe he could run one of those when he is head-up on a smaller CB.
I'm not arguing with your point, but rather questioning the offensive (appropriate word here) staff's judgment.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 7:00 PM ^
Throwing the ball 35 times in the pouring rain is simply intolerable and defiant of football logic.Most of those were not actually in the rain. It rained for about 25 of the 60 minutes of game time. But I agree that by the time of the second INT we should have just accepted that as long as the rain was pouring down, we should have kept it on the ground.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:37 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 10:12 PM ^
Plenty of scrutiny needs to be focused on the coaching staff on the O side of the ball. As gruff as Harbaugh was with the press, he needs to be even more pointed with his coaches, coordinator and position coaches combined. And I expect he is. He's not the kind of coach to throw a staffer or player under the bus in public, but it's clear he has high standards for all involved that aren't being met on the O side. And I expect he's doing some self-reflection as well, for he knows he's ultimately responsible for the preparation, the scheme, the talent development and the attitude.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:37 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 6:38 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^
There is every indication that next year will be better. We are relying on a lot of 2nd year players at positions in which players usually don't start until their 3rd year (OL & WR).
October 9th, 2017 at 7:42 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:33 PM ^
7-6
5-7
10-3
10-3
It's getting better. We were never going to go from 5-7 to 13-0 in under three years. Habaugh probably over-shot his ceiling in year one and created unattainable expectations for one of the most rabid fanbases in CFB.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:41 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 10:49 PM ^
and such vague statements are just that. Vague. He's "off"? Maybe he's working hard, new baby at home and one thing I have not seen discussed is the injury to Speight which I will bet is demoralizing to Harbaugh, his entire staff and team. They will persevere and get by, the coaches have been around football for a long time.
People get fixated on their own internal narratives and project their emotions onto someone they've never met.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:42 PM ^
The media Qs were terrible and offensive, and all the negativity of the fanbase is abhorent. Look, we have a very young Oline and WR core (both of which has a small number, and often lowish ranked undercalssmen). It's very disappointing that they have not been up to the task, but it's common that 2nd year players at these positions are not ready yet. All this whining and second-guessing is an embarrassment to the Michigan fanbase. Why should recruits want to come a play in front of such a fickle fanbase?
Neg away.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:47 PM ^
Yeah dude OSU and Bama fans are so calm when their team loses. It comes with the territory of playing for an elite program. You lose a game you shouldn't, people are going to be upset. By the way, numerous other teams have younger, less talented lines that work better than this O-Line....such as MSU.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:03 PM ^
First, I expect a lot more from U-M folks than the institutions you mentioned.
Second, I don't mind that ppl are upset, it's being jerks about it that is the problem
Third, MSU's line has been probably even worse than ours. Lewerke's scrambles has been their only run game and the reason for the low sank rate.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:16 PM ^
This is the type of arrogance people hate Michigan fans for. When it comes to D1 sports, we are no different than the rest of our peers.
People we're lighting up their torches ready to march on Urban Meyer's house after they lost to OU, and losing twice for him is a rebuild year.
It's the same everywhere.
October 10th, 2017 at 12:55 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 7:37 PM ^
Why would you expect U-M folks to act better?
Earth to everyone on this blog. U-M is not the only school with good academics and "honor". We are no better than any other fanbase.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:53 PM ^
Because, as James Earl Jones says, "We are the best university in the world!"
October 9th, 2017 at 8:37 PM ^
Because our football team doesn't have the peices to be Bama or OSU yet. We've only lost one game. Going undefeated is hard, Saban has only done it once in 10 years at Bama and is considered to be arguably the best CFB coach of all time.
October 9th, 2017 at 10:53 PM ^
this is why Michael tells you he thinks you're not fun.
You shut down the straw man very effectively.
October 10th, 2017 at 8:08 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 6:56 PM ^
*lowish ranked upperclassmen*
October 9th, 2017 at 6:57 PM ^
I think it's because if the offense was below average it can be explained with just youth, but the offense is horrible. There are teams who are young or inexperienced or less talented that have played better than the offense this season. Plus, it's year 3, so it's not crazy to expect more or better from the offense to at least be average.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:34 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 8:42 PM ^
October 10th, 2017 at 12:58 AM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 6:46 PM ^
EDIT: Double Post
October 9th, 2017 at 6:45 PM ^
He seemed very defensive about everything. I'm glad they seemed to ask questions that mirror the problems a lot of fans have brought up since the game.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:41 PM ^
He's well paid to put up with it. He can handle it.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:46 PM ^
I'm truly pleased they were asked. I'm unsurprised Jim deflected at times. Among other reasons, Jim is not going to hang his subordinate coaches out to dry. Which is not to say he shouldn't evaluate their results end of season and replace some of them. Results count, Drev and Jay.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:53 PM ^
OMG, what do people expect?
Do you really think Harbaugh is going to criticize one of his players or assistant coaches during a press conference after a tough loss or any other game, even a victory? Just publicly throw them under the bus, Brian Kelly style? Is THAT what people want?
Maybe everyone would feel better if he publicly apologized to each and every fan for his team not living up to our personal expectations and then offered to give a hug to anyone who needs one.
This program is no better and no worse than it was last Friday. People need to get a grip.
We lost a tough game to a rival that played a good, tough game. Time for the team to man up, do better, get better, and move on to the next one. Some in the fan base could do the same.
October 9th, 2017 at 6:55 PM ^
You have 3 different coaches having input on the plays calls. No expert but dont see how that would ever work.
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