An Obligation
11/30/2019 – Michigan 27, Ohio State 56 – 9-3, 6-3 Big Ten
Afterwards, Justin Fields said that he thought Ohio State took things more seriously:
I asked Justin Fields and JK Dobbins why Ohio State has had more success in this rivalry.... #OhioState
— Justin Rose (@JRoseWXYZ) November 30, 2019
“We take it more seriously than they do.” #Buckeyes #Wolverines #TheGame pic.twitter.com/Z4Hlj4OumE
He's probably right. This September he told the world that he took nothing but online classes. Fields was part of a university community in the same way someone in jail next to it is:
“From what I have seen, the campus is beautiful and the people around are great,” Fields said.
Even in relatively good circumstances online classes are often jokes. A lot of small liberal arts schools are scrambling to get together joke online masters degrees in a hopefully-futile bid to survive in the face of declining enrollment. Those programs exist only to give people bullshit credentials they hope will pass muster in an environment that doesn't really care to examine them.
Those are for people for whom the diploma they receive might actually mean something at some point. For an Ohio State quarterback? If Fields even does any of his own work, spelling his name will suffice to pass. I don't have many illusions about the academic standards placed on Michigan players, but I'm dead certain they actually show up on campus because I know many people who have taught or been in classes with Michigan football players. So you wonder at which point the dubious nature of college football becomes outright fraud.
"How far is too far?" is not a question that's ever troubled anyone at Ohio State. The NCAA is a joke to be exploited. Classes are a joke to be avoided. Anything not related to beating Michigan is a joke.
And, okay, you win. Whatever. Good one.
[After THE JUMP: slightly more of this]
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Michigan's not going to do that stuff. This isn't a value judgment. For a guy like Justin Fields, classes are a stupid distraction. It's reasonable to treat them like that. Michigan isn't going to do that, because the institution thinks things like going to class are important. This is also a reasonable thing to think.
What it does mean is that this is going to continue. Ohio State faced a potential reckoning point when some idiot emailed Jim Tressel about Terrelle Pryor. Gordon Gee said he hoped Tressel didn't fire him, eventually did fire Tressel when it was inevitable, and then everyone treated him like he'd martyred himself for orphans. They took their bowl ban, changed nothing, and continued beating Michigan.
That's literally all that matters in Columbus. When Fields said his bit about online classes the local paper rushed to defend him like he'd been caught lying four separate times to the NCAA. To describe their media as bootlicking does an injustice to bootlickers, who may have ill feelings about the boot in question.
Meanwhile Michigan's athletic department is so prim and proper it won't even try to dissuade hordes of Ohio squareheads from filling the seats around me every other year.
So that's how it is, and how it's going to be. Michigan's going to pretend to dignity and Ohio State's going to beat their ass. Nothing is going to change. You can be done with Don Brown all you want. Michigan can hire Super Robot Lombardi as their defensive coordinator, and Ohio State will beat his ass. Not one emotion you might have matters. You can agitate on a message board all you want and even if you get your heart's fondest desire, Ohio State is going to beat that guy's ass.
Maybe at some point Michigan will win one of the games that happens to end up close, and hooray for that. Not one thing you say or think or care about is going to change the situation.
So okay. The only thing I'm annoyed with this Monday is that I have to spend time writing this instead of talking about the basketball team, which is good and fun, because of some lingering sense of obligation. What is the optimal point at which I have discharged this duty in a way that will be minimally satisfying to the insane 20% of the fanbase who wanted a full hour of football talk on the podcast? At what point do the wishes of the 50% who asked for zero minutes of football take primacy?
Right about… now.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
You keep bringing up Auburn v Alabama - you realize we are not Auburn, don't you? Auburn is another football factory, who (likely) arranged for payment of their former heisman winning QB. They are the same as Alabama, OSU, etc....they just don't do it quite as well.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:05 PM ^
The only position in which Auburn out talented Michigan is QB and DT I guess. Harbaugh’s failure to find a game changing QB adds even more pressure to every other variable. Cam Newton and Deshaun Watson were X factors in their respective programs. I’ll give you that Newton was paid whatever. Harbaugh found a dude in Luck already... at freaking Stanford.
Where is our Andrew Luck? Is Caff that QB? McCarthy? Milton?
Idk there are so many factors here it hurts.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:11 PM ^
Those are generational type players that don’t just fall into your lap once every couple years. Unless you run a football factory where your players take online classes and get paid to football, then you do get those types more often.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
Because Auburn is a football factory that also cheats dummy.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
I agree with this. The OSU of the past two years is head and shoulders better than the OSU teams from Meyer's first few seasons. It's not close. This year's OSU team is being touted as their best team ever. And they look every bit the part.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
This is an excellent point and why the gap has widened in talent over the past 7 years. The state of Ohio hasnt improved in terms of generating talent since Urban took over - it has probably actually decline a bit. He put in place the SEC piping to direct money and other benefits to bring in consistent levels of elite talent. Tatoogate and all the small time shit that Tressel used to do pales in comparison to what is down there now. If we are going to get rid of Harbaugh (not something I am in favor of) you need an SEC coach like Kirby Smart to take over the reins and construct a similar infrastructure. Honestly, I dont give a crap what their X's and O's credentials are. Look at Dabo - you need a CEO style coach that can line up the bagmen, bring in recruits, and act as a motivator. If they actually know anything about football I guess that is a plus too
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
You need a Bama insider, like Smart or Pruitt who knows what has been going at Bama so Saban can’t have the NCAA come in and stomp on them like he did outsider Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss.
December 2nd, 2019 at 5:39 PM ^
So let me get this straight. Tatoogate was something that Tressell did to get his players paid?
Pretty shitty program that requires you to give up your own belongings to get the money/benefits. I mean Ebay does the same thing. How is that an advantage? They are trying to get these guys paid big money. The price on the secondary market for gold pants returns a lot more than the value of a tattoo. Even a large one.
Meyer killed it at Bowling Green and Utah too. He did so before being in the scary SEC. Was he implementing these direct pipelines of cash and benefits back then too.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:17 PM ^
Give me a break. Hoke’s team beat a 5-8 OSU team and went to a failed 2pt against a good one — Harbaugh went to 2OT against a great one. And, yes, OSU 2015-2019 is way better than OSU 2011-2014, because the trend has been steadily straight up.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:40 PM ^
It has been 5 years. All the Hoke guys are gone. Maybe we can bring Hoke back as a position coach and utilize his passion for the OSU game?
December 2nd, 2019 at 2:58 PM ^
I thought Brady Hoke would've slotted in well as D line coach. He did that in the 90's under Carr and was very good. Doubt he would've taken the job though.
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:59 PM ^
It's beyond harbaugh.
The B1G has cast their lot with O$U because they are more lucrative and are more able to compete with the likes of Alabama or Clemson.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:49 AM ^
I think it will take a special QB. That's a great equalizer. Where is Stanford without Andrew Luck? Where is Michigan State without Kirk Cousins or Connor Cook? Purdue without Drew Brees? Even when Purdue beat OSU last year, we've seen that David Blough is at least a backup-level NFL QB. Unfortunately, I don't think Shea Patterson was special enough.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
Harbaugh not fielding a competent 2 deep at Defensive Tackle this far into his tenure is not Shea Patterson's responsibility.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
Patterson was dealing; he thew for 305 yards with multiple dropped passes Saturday. Aside from the fumbled snap, he was fine. What wasn't fine was giving up nearly 600 yards of offense. The defense could not get stops - that's it.
December 2nd, 2019 at 2:40 PM ^
Shit he was 14/19 for 250 yds at halftime and that was with that horrible drop in the end zone by DPJ. Carving them up he was.
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:51 AM ^
That's what it is Brian. It's not even a rivalry since that implies the other side has a shot. Hence it's hard to care. And if we feel like this what message does it send to the players and coaching staff. People wonder why there is this palpable "here we go again" feeling from the players? Because here we go again.
Justin Fields transferred when he lost the starting job to Jake Fromm, yet the bootlickers you describe really want everyone to believe that it was because of racism. Which is an important thing to write about. I'd like to hear their thoughts on income inquality or the transfer of wealth in this country from black citizens to white. As far as the racism that caused Fields to leave, it evidently wasn't a problem for his sister who plays softball there.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:16 AM ^
It was pretty simple, Ohio State needed a quarterback, and Gene Smith said make him eligible right now. The NCAA/Ohio State make a shitload of money, and they could not have been happier to do it.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
Yeah bc a successful Michigan with the wealthiest alumni base outside Texas wouldn’t do the same thing. God the delusion is real.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
What exactly do you want people to feel, think, agree with you on?! Plenty people here are understanding of the situation and what we're battling yet you want cliches and platitudes to be the reasoning we can't win. You aren't changing anyones minds. Neither are we apparently so what the fuck is your point again?
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:12 PM ^
Something about Auburn, I think.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:28 PM ^
Bc this woe is me doom and gloom bs is just that. Y’all act like Harbaugh’s issues here are not fixable. Like Michigan is intrinsically set to fail due some odd mixture of luck, institutional morality(aka arrogance and stupidity) and Big Ten conspiracy.
Why even bother watching football since, you know, the outcome is inevitable, turn in your tickets and watch basketball instead. I’m sure you would’ve said the same thing about that program back in 2010.
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:51 AM ^
Well, not much to say, anyhow. For me, this game was an epiphany, a realization that UM has been surpassed in a significant and semi-permanent way. Urban Meyer, bless his heart, put in place a recruiting machine, and (sadly) is smart enough to pick a successor coach who knows the Xs and Os as well as anyone. Why do people think he's so loyal to creepy coaches? Hint: lose loyalty, and the machinations of your recruiting system might just become a little too public. The system is now built for the programs that look the other way, and it will be a long time before this game is competitive, modulo some kind of other change in the world. UM just doesn't play the game at that level.
I only wish the Game was the season opener. Get whooped, and then slowly build towards a season of redemption, where, at the end, you can think, "well, maybe we could beat them now". Even if it wasn't true, it would leave a better taste in the mouth than a season-ending beatdown.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:04 PM ^
Once our players get NIL rights I'm gonna be paying for a shit ton of handshakes. The Michigan Money canon can make us competitive with osu.
December 2nd, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
yes, because osu won't be adding cash to their "no need to play school" deals.
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:52 AM ^
A tough reality. Think about this: the basketball team is performing a miracle in the same reality. Look at who are leading our team. Did they even sniff an offer from UNC or Gonzaga? How they are playing now is simply amazing in the face of programs that are the basketball parallel to OSU, Alabama, Clemson and LSU. Substitute Kentucky, UNC, Kansas and it's the same story: Sham classes, bags of dough, player dorms, one and done. I don't know how long they can keep up this level of play, but it is nothing short of a miracle in this day and age.
And I also sat next to two assholes in red on Saturday. I wish someone would fire their money cannon at StubHub in two years and take a bunch of Michigan middle and high schoolers to The Game.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:03 AM ^
take a bunch of Michigan middle and high schoolers to The Game.
That's child abuse.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
not at all. Builds character! Also we need to inspire the next generation.
OSU visiting fans had their car window down, driving down Main Street, with a kid of about 6 hanging out the window yelling "Losers!" Yes, his parents are lovely people, nothing you can do.
A bunch of fired up young Michigan fans, instead of big mouth red coats in those seats.. not going to change the game but would be nice to see.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:06 PM ^
well, basketball operates in a one-and-done environment. football is three-and-done. if football was one-and-done, things would be much easier to compete with the cheaters.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:48 PM ^
Basketball is completely different due to one-and-done, which actually gives a 1a program like Michigan an advantage. Virginia won the national championship and has competed for the title for years now without five stars for the same reason: their most talented players stay for more than one year.
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:53 AM ^
Everyone needs to ask themselves the question:
Who has consistently beaten Ohio over the past 20 years?
Every now and then some team rises up and beats them, but that's been the exception.
And let's be honest, a lot of those wins in the 90's were Lloyd Carr's 2-4 loss teams pulling off the upsets.
When watching the game I saw white shirts on the line either holding ground or pushing blue shirts back.
There is still a talent gap and it's very apparent.
Want to get rid of Harbaugh now? OK. Let me know who the miracle worker is who's going to turn things around in year.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^
Anyone who claims OSU's current level is unsustainable doesn't pay attention to recruiting rankings and hasn't made note of the Clemson/Bama paradigm: once your program attains that level of recruiting by hook or by crook, it is absolutely sustainable. And, with Clemson specifically, if you only play one or two teams with a pulse every season, there's no reason to think you can't be 11-1 or 12-0 every single year.
Unless and until the NCAA decides to do something about it.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^
It's sustainable within a one-coach timeframe. Saban and Swinney haven't left yet, we'll see what happens if and when they do. So far it looks like the Meyer to Day transition was seamless, but Day is still young and unproven at the aspect of running a whole program, it's possible that he doesn't have what it takes to keep it going at the incredibly high level it is at right now. From where they are, the only place to go is down.
People thought USC under Carroll and FSU under Bowden were permanent fixtures at the height of college football. For them, it didn't last through their next coach's tenure. We'll see what happens to Clemson, OSU, and Alabama (especially since Bama is missing the playoff this year, for the first time, this year).
December 2nd, 2019 at 2:25 PM ^
I would argue that the landscape is vastly different now even from when Carroll was at USC. It felt like the Chase Young thing had the potential to unravel like Reggie Bush's situation (where a spurned agent burned the house down), but OSU was able to get out in front of it and have put mechanisms in place to shut that shit down before it gets out of control.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
Is Nebraska still 11-1 or 12-0 every year? Is Miami? How about USC?
Empires rise. Empires fall. No one stays on top forever.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
But that is usually the result of coaching turnover. OSU appears to have sustained 20 years of excellence and each coaching hire is better than the previous.
Osborne retired, Miami couldn't keep hiring great coaches and ended up with guys like Randy Shannon and Al Golden. USC hasn't been the since Carrol resigned and left sanctions in his wake as he bolted for the NFL.
When does OSU get an unlucky break on a coaching hire?
December 2nd, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
Nebraska hasn't been relevant nationally in 25 years. I don't think that's a fair comparison when you consider the different landscapes in terms of how these programs are run. Miami got destroyed by a dumb-ass booster who no one ever reined in to tell him he wasn't the show. OSU learned from the dude that outed Tressel, and they've excelled at keeping everything in-house. Shit, Meyer all but admitted he scrubbed his phone, and the University never followed through on even getting it from him when they investigated it.
All of these schools over the past decade or so have learned that the NCAA only has teeth when you give them the teeth. As long as you put on a good show and "investigate internally" you can make anything seem like a non-issue and make it go away (to wit, Chase Young).
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
You could've said the same thing about USC or FSU or Miami in years past. Now, OSU certainly has more of a sustaining blue blood foundation than those schools meaning they'll probably not fade away forever (just like we won't), but it does mean that we could be looking back in 10 years and it could be all different. One time USC had like 8 5* guys in one class. Now they're a shell of their former selves. Things change
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:07 AM ^
I really don't think there's anyone better for us. Everyone can yell out the hottest coaching candidate of the year (Rhule! Lincoln Riley!) and for every one I can show you 2-3 hot candidates from years past that amounted to not much (Sumlin, Hermann, Strong, Richrod, etc.). No one is a guaranteed thing and Harbaugh is still delivering 9+ wins with an offense that is rapidly improving right in front of us. Hold the course
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
Exactly. Every coaching change is a risk. Some will turn out to be worth it. Some will not.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
This is exactly it. Harbaugh is a fantastic coach and has proven this at every stop. We just happen to be in a division with a historical superpower in a time where the system is set up to allow them to sustain their reign. He's recruiting very well considering things other posters have already mentioned. He's throwing top money at top assistants. He's consistently beating everyone we should beat. I don't know what more you could ask for at this point besides literally stealing a game from OSU a couple times a decade.
A rebuild will not help. There is no one on the planet better suited to sell Michigan the university, and Harbaugh is already showing that he's willing to change his system to match the contemporary game by giving Gattis the keys towards the end of the year with good results. I don't see how a regime change has any chance to close the talent gap with OSU, so I'm happy with dominating State and hopefully overtaking PSU to become a perennial 2nd in the East. There is no better alternative until some systematic changes happen in the NCAA that brings some more parity to recruiting.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
I agree with this and am willing to give JH all the rope he wants - until recruiting starts falling off. If it looks like he or his staff fall below the current level they have set (I am not asking for miracles) then I think you have to bring in someone who can provide some new energy and at least temporarily sell hope and up the talent level. The death spiral in recruiting at the end of the Lloyd years when he didnt want to be here and it showed in recruiting set the table for the shit buffet of the next decade plus. I think Lloyd was great and am not saying he is responsible for everything that happened after he left but when the coach gets tired of climbing trees and pounding the pavement looking for talent, it is time to bring in a new coach
December 2nd, 2019 at 2:49 PM ^
Actually, Rhule's track record is pretty unblemished. He turned Baylor around in the same sort of time frame that JH did Stanford. 1-11 prior to 11-1 in 3rd season.
But then again, our coach has also clearly done that elsewhere, so...?
December 2nd, 2019 at 9:55 AM ^
Michigan’s offense gives me some hope. The defense was badly outmanned. Many folks have already posted the truth: beating OSU will require them to make some errors. We cannot make any. We can win, but will need some luck.
It’s either that, or we join the cheaters.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:14 AM ^
I always used to think defense won championships, but it's evident now that offense does. Our offense needs to keep improving (and the D needs to shore up) because we have to be aiming to beat OSU 45-42 because we aren't beating them 24-21 any time soon unless their QB has an all time brain fart game. Gotta keep improving that offense and fortunately Gattis looks like he might be the guy for it
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
The only way a defense beats offenses like Ohio State's is with a dominant defensive line, particularly on the interior. That's how Auburn slowed down Oregon's high-flying offense in the 2011 BCS game ... specifically, Nick Fairley, who was disruptive that game. That's how Auburn stayed in the game with Alabama this past week, specifically Derrick Brown. That's how Clemson stomped Ohio State in the 2016 Fiesta Bowl playoff game: Clemson's defensive interior spent all game in Ohio State's backfield.
(And of course you need a complete defense behind the DTs ... it's not just DTs that can beat these offenses.)
Michigan's defensive recruiting has been odd. We seem to focus on defensive ends and hybrid/viper players. DTs and CBs seems to be of secondary importance. I don't know if that's a function of Brown's defensive philosophy, or if other recruiting needs outranked those positions.
At any rate, unless Michigan has an offense that can match TD-for-TD, they need a defensive line that can at least slow down Ohio State's offense. Michigan's 2019 defense was not that.
December 2nd, 2019 at 11:51 AM ^
+1. Incidentally, this is also how Michigan "beat" OSU in 2016. What'd we have, 12 sacks or something?
If we ever manage to put together a defense of that caliber again, and combine it with a fully functional version of this offense, then we'd have a shot. 27 points wins the 2016 game going away.
Edit: On reflection, can Hoke come back as DL coach/recruiter? I'm not even joking. Dude was in over his head as HC but in retrospect, holy shit at putting together a line of Charlton/Wormley/Glasgow/Hurst, with Winovich and Mone rotating as backups... That's what it's gonna take.
December 2nd, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
Michigan had a potentially dominant interior defensive lineman who was going to start this season before Tennessee wrote him a blank check and he transferred away.
If you want dominant DTs, you have to be able to recruit and retain players from the South. Michigan won't be able to do that till it compensates players even more so than the SEC does.
December 2nd, 2019 at 10:27 AM ^
This whole “join the cheaters thing”.....
I mean, if all the major programs are doing it, then is it really cheating anymore?
At some point, what’s the difference between “cheating” no longer being cheating but just the way the game is played vs 150 year old laws that are still on the books in towns, cities, and states all across this country that nobody follows or pays any attention to? Like, at some point people started thinking “that law is beyond stupid, so I’m just going to ignore it” and then everyone else followed suit.
Well, the whole sports world knows this “cheating” goes on in both football and basketball. And the NCAA knows as well. Hell, even the FBI knows. And yet nobody with any semblance of power or authority does a damn thing about it. Because deep down nobody cares...it’s just what you do if you want a chance at winning. Therefore, I contend that we dispense with the “cheating” nomenclature, drop the religious fervor for the archaic “laws” regarding “amateur sports”, and catch up with what everyone else is already doing. We have the money, brand power, and tradition to play the new game of football at the highest possible level, we just have to choose to do so.
Edit: Another analogy that just came to me...it’s like we’re in a war and we’re still fighting using 18th century warfare tactics with our proud, colorful uniforms, our muskets with polished bayonets, our drummer and piper playing a peppy tune as we march into battle and line up against our enemy for a glorious and honorable day of battle, the way REAL gentlemen conduct war. Except our enemy is from WW2, fielding tanks, machine guns, snipers, aircraft, and modern battlefield tactics. Then we get furious every time they slaughter us because we lined up for a musket volley with all our beautiful uniforms and colors on parade just to get murdered by machine guns, artillery, and aircraft raids. Then we can’t understand why we lose so badly every time and accuse the other country of not fighting fairly.
Either we join the modern world or continue to get butchered until there’s nothing left.
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