Penn State 27, Michigan 17
I've reached the point where I'm running out of things to say that haven't been covered here ad nauseam already. Oh, look, another disaster so holistic in nature that it's difficult to tell which macro-level issue is causing each of the myriad micro-level problems. It's time to yell, or feel too resigned to yell, whatever makes you feel something.
Here are some stats from today's loss to a previously winless Penn State team.
- PSU, down to their fourth- and fifth-string running backs, rushed for 272 yards on 5.9 per carry before three late kneeldowns out of the shotgun made the numbers look slightly less catastrophic.
- The Nittany Lions scored on their opening drive for the first time all season. They covered 75 yards in ten plays.
- They also recorded a stop on their opening defensive drive for the first time all season.
- As far into the game as the third quarter, PSU QB Sean Clifford had more total yardage than Michigan's entire team.
- Quarterback Cade McNamara threw for 91 yards on 25 attempts, but at least there was some explanation: he hurt his throwing shoulder late in the first quarter, had to come off for two drives, and then played the better part of two quarters despite being clearly limited in his ability to pass downfield. He pulled himself after nearly throwing an interception on M's final, desperation drive.
- The Wolverines rushed for 6.4 yards per carry and still held the ball for under 24 minutes.
- PSU defensive end Jayson Oweh, who committed two offsides penalties that gained ten yards for Michigan, would've been the seventh-most productive non-quarterback for the Wolverines.
- James Franklin botched the end of the first half with an unnecessary spike on first-and-goal, leading to a field goal instead of a touchdown. This easily could've been worse.
- Then again, Jim Harbaugh called for a first-half punt on fourth-and-three from PSU's 43-yard line.
- The offense finally ran an under-center QB sneak. It didn't work.
- From The Athletic's Jason Starrett: this is the first time in 1,350 games of Michigan football that the Wolverines lost to an opponent with an 0-5 or worse record.
The state's professional football team of sorts, the Detroit Lions, cleaned house during the game, firing head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn. As Jim Harbaugh reacted in dismay to Joe Milton's sneak being ruled short of a first down, effectively ending the game, ABC showed the news on the ticker below him.
In Detroit's case, the fans knew it was time to move on before the franchise did, leading to a wasted 2020 season. May Michigan's leadership not make the same mistake.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
November 28th, 2020 at 4:47 PM ^
I joined this site 12/10/14. Maybe it's my fault.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:28 PM ^
Way to go Putin... you ruined Michigan football!
Damn Russians...
November 28th, 2020 at 8:00 PM ^
Many of us were pumped and super glad to have him. It's a bad year for sure ( ok terrible ).
It's a hard thing though .. do you get rid of him and then poof we will crush it with a new head coach or could this be 2016 Notre Dame and poof the next 3 season will take off and all will be much better?
Right now many of us (me too) just would like another fresh start. Would that be the right decision and if not how much longer do you give? Maybe 2 more years tops because this is a young team who lost a lot of OL. It's rough for sure.
November 28th, 2020 at 8:56 PM ^
The sunk cost fallacy applies here. No point throwing good money (or hope) after bad. It's over. Time to move on.
November 28th, 2020 at 11:13 PM ^
I don't disagree. I have a feeling he will leave after this season. JH has done good things here and at most of his stops along the way and for whatever reason it's just not there and has been trickling down over the past 3 years really. I think he is under a ton of pressure to be honest. He has to be feeling the weight of the fan base by now.
If he managed to beat OSU though ....... lucked out that is .... I think many would be like .. ok ok .. two more years .. to get this on a real track but that's it! Ha!
Like many have said ... if he won 8 games a year AND beat MSU 3 out of 4 and beat OSU at least half the time most of us would be ok with that. I still think that is what most want or at least what I would love to see.
I have said this several times now and I truly believe by the 2022 season (his year 4) Day at OSU (if still there) will not be able to maintain what Urban did while there and things will come back down to reality for them and won't be the powerhouse they were during his stint.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^
I'm indifferent at this point to the fact that we lost but my goodness, how it is that every promising QB seems to get injured for us? This would be the fifth significant QB injury since the 2016 Iowa game (Speight twice, Peters, McCaffrey, McNamara).
November 28th, 2020 at 4:22 PM ^
Also, gotta love the play-calling. Running into stacked boxes three times to try to get 2 yards and barely making it due to a missed tackle. Wasting multiple 2nd-and-2 with interior running plays instead of taking shots (or at least some kind of pass). It’s the opposite of speed-in-space, which is now some kind of grim joke.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:07 PM ^
What is with the slavish dedication to running into the middle of the line on 3rd and 4th and short?
We haven't executed on that practically all season. Run Corum wide to get one yard, throw a screen, anything but the up the gut that keeps failing.
And you're dead on with the second and short calls. Where is the speed in space? What a joke.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:57 PM ^
I was surprised to see Zinter still playing. He isn't ready. He sure looks the part but I wonder why Steuber wasn't at RG and play Trente Jones. Haven't heard a peep from him.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:26 PM ^
It's not time to yell...... it's time to cry.
November 28th, 2020 at 7:11 PM ^
I can’t yell anymore. too much energy
this staff deserves known of my energy or any of ours on this blog. It’s known by some on here i think, I’m a big WSU Cougar fan as well.....I’ve seen some dark times post the Mark Price era ...honestly this is worse than any of those miserable times of winning 1 or 2 games in a whole SEASON.
that is fuckin saying something.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:27 PM ^
Anemic, sloppy, impotent, bad, ugly.....See you next year. I'm checked out for the last two games, hopefully the last game is canceled....or else OSU will drop 75 to 100 on this defense
November 28th, 2020 at 4:28 PM ^
Harbaugh should go to the Lions and the great thing about that will be that when he calls a stupid play Stafford will say "fuck that" and do something better and Harbaugh will take the credit.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:30 PM ^
I'm not sure what people were expecting? Breaking in a new qb and 4 olineman plus wr's. Then Mayfield gets hurt.
Mac looked good until he hurt his shoulder. He's a leader and he's tough. Unfortunately it seems that our best qb always gets hurt. The offense will be much better for the experience they are getting this year.
The defense is really only losing players and hutch. Everyone else is back. This year was always going to be a down year. I would like to see Seldon get some time. It can't hurt.
Playing in empty stadiums. It's a lost year. Having a crowd makes a huge difference. The energy you get from a big play. The effect for the defense is huge.
Harbaugh should focus on recruiting and being the face of the program. Let the coordinators have control of their assistants, scheme, and play calling. Hire some A-level recruiters.
2021 and 2022 recruiting classes could be great. Starting over you're going to lose McCarthy, and the several db's they're in on. Xavier Worthy will be gone too.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:34 PM ^
I expect them to playing to their strengths, and hide their weaknesses. They have fast guys but don’t use them. They run in the middle with a weak offensive line.
I expect them to scout opponents.
I was expecting average performance and basic competence from staff. it’s not much and they have not achieved even that.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:45 PM ^
Harbaugh should be focusing on his LinkedIn profile.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:31 PM ^
Not sure why you got a lot of down votes except for assuming Jimmy will be back next year. The empty stadiums comment is correct but it is the same throughout the B1G. It could be a bigger factor here in Ann Arbor.
If Jim returns in 2021, then massive coaching staff changes needs to take place. A pay cut would be in order and put that money into paying the news assistants more. I wonder if Jim's coaching reputation has been tarnished and would not be able to attract top assistant talent. Time will tell.
November 28th, 2020 at 10:00 PM ^
Dierdorf used to say the practices by far were harder than the famwsy, and it made playing them easy. Not having fans shouldn't matter a lick of practicing properly. But that's hard to vs a gimmick D
November 28th, 2020 at 11:39 PM ^
Hopefully this is a joke. Anyone who still thinks Harbaugh deserves more time is delusional. It’s over. Don’t be part of the problem.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:32 PM ^
https://gregghenson.com/harbaugh-out-at-michigan
Not making excuses, but this is what I believe is happening here. There is no other explanation. Harbaugh didn't forget how to coach or stop caring. It's all bad for Michigan, and for those of us who care about the program.
Maybe Harbaugh does exit with grace. But questions will linger and the truth will eventually squirt out like a muffed punt.
And having run off the guy with the fire, ability and drive to solidify the program for a generation, what's next?
Growing up in the 70s, 80s and 90s, Michigan football was a constant that helped me weather the tough times. My son is now 14 and in his lifetime the Michigan football experience has been more soap opera than sports. Sports implies competition. We've seen flashes. But it's been more sizzle than steak, for sure.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:22 PM ^
The article is an interesting perspective which seems credible. Harbaugh came to Michigan after having incredible success at every level. Once here, he started out with fire and was at OSU's level. But he couldn't keep it up. Perhaps the limitations here wore him down. He recruited well but never at OSU's level. He has his own limitations but always seemed to have an intense competitive fire. He seemed to have lost his fire the last few years. He doesn't seem to be the same Jim Harbaugh who arrived here. It's possible this strange year is an anomaly in so many ways but I think he's likely gone. And I think he will likely have success in the pros. As for Michigan, it looks like it will be tough for anybody to win big here if Jim Harbaugh wasn't able to do so. It's not impossible but it might take a uniquely capable coach and a change in culture which values winning as much as they do down in Columbus.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:39 PM ^
Although not very likely, and I am not assuming this; but Michigan would need to hire some under the radar HC like Ohio did with Tressel. There is some HC talent out there and Michigan needs to land one of them. He'd be someone younger who is an up and comer. He'd also look at this as a destination and not a stop over job.
After all, who was Bo Schemblecher before 1969? Can history repeat?-It's about time (51years and counting). I remember either a Detroit News or Freep article headline in the early fall of 1969 saying "Bo Who?"
November 28th, 2020 at 6:05 PM ^
Yeah, but the article doesn’t really explain why we constantly run up the middle into a stacked box, and haven’t recruited and developed a QB. I don’t doubt the administration can be troublesome in regards to keeping up with OSU, but does that really explain players not tackling and covering?
November 28th, 2020 at 7:14 PM ^
Sorry, I don't buy it. How does any of that external environment explain the inability to have a two minute offense? To manage a clock? To have so many transfers? To run it up the middle all the time? To run 4th and short out of the shotgun? To not make needed changes at coaching positions? And on and on. I can believe he can't get some of the players he wants. Disillusion with his bosses does not explain gross in-game incompetence.
November 28th, 2020 at 8:34 PM ^
Maybe he is unhappy. Boo hoo. If I’m unhappy at work my boss still expects me to do my best. And I expect my staff to do their best. If they can’t, then they need to find a new position, and quickly. Further, even if he plans to leave, he should be doing everything in his power to help the players succeed. That’s not a liberal or conservative mindset. That’s called responsibility.
November 28th, 2020 at 9:41 PM ^
Yeah. You could say perhaps that the administration has cost us the odd recruit, or maybe assistant coach, for whatever reason, but it's hard to argue that it has anything to do with fundamental coaching issues that we're seeing week to week (and in some cases have seen for six seasons, like clock management).
November 28th, 2020 at 10:06 PM ^
Especially with his boss being Warde his former teammate. Who are they referring to ? The leftist regents? The issue might be they won't use the bag, but other than that, not sure what the Regents could do to hamstring the program.
November 28th, 2020 at 8:02 PM ^
I'm sorry, but this is stupid as hell on several levels. Never mind the grammatical errors, it insinuates that this isn't working at U of M because the University is liberal and "football/Harbaugh is conservative".
- Almost every University in the country is liberal (including Ohio State/Columbus). This is not an impediment to having a good football team.
- Jim Harbaugh publicly attended/supported a Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016, and has met with the Obamas several times. He's a Democrat. Whichever side of the political spectrum you fall on, his problem with U of M isn't its "liberalness".
November 29th, 2020 at 1:33 AM ^
This article is highly speculative and gives few arguments supporting its hypothesis. It's the administration's fault, because... why exactly? UM's a far left institution and football's a conservative game? What?!?!?
What exactly has the administration done to thwart the football team? Did the admin stop them from recruiting DL and CBs? Did the admin fail to recruit, develop and keep quality QBs? Did the admin direct the offense to run it up the middle and fail repeatedly?
I agree UM and Harbaugh should have an amicable divorce, but this article would have gotten me a C- in high school English class.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:33 PM ^
Serious question - Can the Athletic Department afford to fire him given the hole COVID left? I bet not, but I have no way of knowing for sure. Any one got some inside info on that?
November 28th, 2020 at 4:41 PM ^
The balance sheet of the Athletic Department has nothing to do with this. If Stephen Ross or some other big time donor(s) want Jim gone, he’ll be paid and gone.
November 28th, 2020 at 5:30 PM ^
If any athletic department can afford something, it's Michigan's. This year was a big loss, obviously. But it's a one-off and they know this. Michigan can afford to do many things that most athletic departments can only dream of.
November 28th, 2020 at 6:32 PM ^
Given the way the AD mismanaged his contract situation and failed to extend him, there’s not a cheaper coach in america to fire.
If you’re just making a dollars/cents cold decision, you fire Harbaugh without a second thought. Michigan either has to move on or extend him by January, and it’s pretty insane to extend someone after this.
November 28th, 2020 at 10:12 PM ^
He didn't mismanage anything. Or would you rather he had that extension ?
November 29th, 2020 at 12:45 AM ^
Considering there’s been zero credible reporting to suggest they’re moving on from each other, it looks like Michigan’s going to be giving an extension nobody in the sport will buy off Harbaugh’s worst season that will do nothing to fix the recruiting issue that being this close to the end of his deal has caused.
Basically, because of the way they handled his contract, they have no choice but to fire him, which I don’t think is what they planned on doing.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:38 PM ^
I believe it's time to retire Frames Janklin and replace it with Him Jar-Jarbaugh.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:39 PM ^
In my opinion, it boils down to recruiting talent and player retention. Harbaugh and his staff have not good, consistent recruiters. They have consistently underwhelmed. And there's something wrong when you just cannot keep top players on the team.
Harbaugh arrived at Michigan in 2015 and was supposed to bring Michigan neck and neck with Ohio State's program, recruiting and competitiveness.
This never materialized.
Instead his teams have always seemed to be a patchwork of makeshift equipment. An imported Iowa QB. An important QB from Ole Miss. A running back committed to Iowa who switches to UM.
But you can use chewed bubble gum, twistie ties and aluminum wrapper to keep your broken down vehicle's engine running only so long.
Michigan is now 2-4, and starring down the barrel of 2-6.
Harbaugh is 49-22 overall.
3-3 vs. MSU, 3-3 vs. PSU, 2-3 vs. Wisconsin, 1-1 vs. Iowa, 0-5 vs. Ohio St.
Michigan just lost to arguably the worst team in the Big Ten conference, 0-5 Penn State by 10 points. The outcome was never in doubt.
And next week Maryland is going to beat Michigan too on senior day. The Terps are 0-5 vs. Harbaugh. It will be their first win over Michigan since joining the Big 10.
Michigan's consolation prize will be a thorough and decisive defenestration in Columbus. It is a safe bet that Michigan will fail to score in that game.
The real question now is, if even Jim freaking Harbaugh can't make it happen at Michigan, then my God, who ITAF can?
November 28th, 2020 at 4:46 PM ^
There are several incorrect statements here. Maryland has beaten Michigan since joining the Big Ten. And despite it’s record coming into this game Penn St is nowhere near the worst team in the Big Ten. That’s actually us.
November 28th, 2020 at 6:03 PM ^
Fundamentally, most of these observations are correct. For years there were those of us who expressed serious reservations about the direction of the program and many of us were voted into near oblivion. While I have tremendous respect for Jim and the entire Harbaugh family, he needs to do the honorable thing and resign, immediately. While we can debate the causes, dwell on the challenges, or speculate on the future, the facts speak for themselves. JH and his staff failed abysmally in recruiting, player development, player retention, and on field execution. It’s time to accept that, save everyone the embarrassment, name an interim and move on with a search for a replacement.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:40 PM ^
It’s over. Period.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:44 PM ^
Not til it's over, says Lenny Kravitz
November 28th, 2020 at 5:09 PM ^
fitting, because "are you gonna go my way" is a succinct summary of our running game tactics
November 28th, 2020 at 4:42 PM ^
So the offense when Gattis came in was supposed to be read based, but yet in year 2 we have an offense with basically no reads and an inability to make the defense respect anything besides a handoff or short pass. Just truly mind boggling. They are literally passing up free yards on the backside of plays.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:47 PM ^
Shot, chaser
November 28th, 2020 at 4:51 PM ^
Agreed!
Like a shot of Jamesons then pickle juice.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:48 PM ^
Jim looks like a whiny little bitch in these pictures ... which in fact he is.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:48 PM ^
Great comparison to what the Lions did today, even if only where a lot of us are at mentally.
I grew tired of the announcers spewing... well Michigan is in the middle of a recruiting cycle blah blah blah or who is going to take his place? Fucking puulease...No one really gives two shits now and this coach and a lot of his staff need to go tomorrow. If anything, a radical change at this point would be to our advantage.
November 28th, 2020 at 4:49 PM ^
One of the sickening things about Harbaugh’s teams is that they don’t play with any enthusiasm. They take on his personality, which is arrogant and dull. Take a look at Michigan State right now. They pretty much suck talent- wise but the are playing extremely hard and with a ton of energy. As a result, they have a huge lead on Northwestern. I don’t remember a single Harbaugh team that played like that.
November 28th, 2020 at 6:15 PM ^
Harbaugh teams seemed to have enthusiasm up to and including the revenge tour. Its been exceedingly flat since then minus maybe the ND win last year
November 28th, 2020 at 4:49 PM ^
Say what you will about the 2020 season. There is absolutely no excuse for this in year 6. None. Even after last season my mindset was who do you replace him with? At this point, I don't care. Replace him with someone. With the amount of money this program is willing to pay its coaching staff it shouldn't be that hard to find a qualified candidate who can at least competently coach.
I honestly don't know what happened. I remember the dramatic turnaround the team made from '14 to '15. It was amazing. Then, 2016 was a playoff-caliber team that just couldn't quite get it done in a couple of games. It fell off from there. Even that 2018 team was a bit of a mirage.
It's almost like something happened to Harbaugh after the 2016 season and he hasn't been the same since.
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