Bama gets to star in its own Meltdown Time

Submitted by yossarians tree on October 12th, 2021 at 2:09 PM

Don't know why I take so much pleasure in watching entitled Bama fans melt down, but I do.

And Texas. Lordy, Lordy Texas. If there is a football program in the south that is a comp for Michigan, it is likely the Longhorns. And as bad as things have been for us, would you trade with UT right now? I wouldn't.

https://www.rollbamaroll.com/2021/10/12/22721618/nsfw-its-meltdown-time-tide-and-horns-sound-off

 

jhayes1189

October 12th, 2021 at 4:43 PM ^

Texas for the last 9-10 years or so is a constant revolving door of coaches and their only chance of being a 10 win team is with an offense that can put up 50+ points per game as they seem to have totally neglected defense all together since the Mack Brown era ended (I know they tried with Charlie Strong, but to no avail). The guys they hire don’t have any sense of program stability to them (which I believe Harbaugh does have), just trying to find high flying offenses so they can hopefully put up 60 vs. OU (who also had kind of neglected defense, but seems to play just enough to win the Big12 every year). In no universe would I want to be Texas….even when they were going to BCS Title games and beating us with one amazing player on the Rose Bowl, I wouldn’t want to be them. There is something so schmoozy about football in Texas, which is why guys like Art Briles, Jimmy Johnson, Jimbo Fisher, Sark can coach teams at different levels of competition in their state. All seem to fit in the Jerry Jones mold in some way. 
 

I still feel like their is something so wonderfully stable about being a Michigan fan. Even with our constant need for a moral high ground, there is a great sense blue collar workmanship and winning at the line of scrimmage that can make you a force for decades on end (I loved Haskins blue collar shirt from the press conference)…I mean, we went through RRod, Hoke and back and we are all still here!! Loving our team as much as ever! We are a truly resilient bunch! 

JHumich

October 12th, 2021 at 2:26 PM ^

I personally have loved the Harbaugh era. Were any of y'all actually here for RichRod and Hoke? I also think the Harbaugh era will be a couple decades, will include half a dozen B1G championships and at least one national title.

The period up until now will one day be generally thought of as those early, difficult years before he got over the hump.

michengin87

October 12th, 2021 at 4:16 PM ^

I tend to agree.  It took Dabo from 2009 until 2015 (not including interim HC year 2008) to get to the CFP.  Before that, it was a regular diet of 9 and 10 win seasons with a couple of 11 wins.  Since 2015, it is 6 for 6 CFPs with 2 championships.

I'm not saying that Jim will replicate, especially since we're in a much tougher conference than the ACC, but the point is that Dabo struggled for a full 6 years before finally breaking through.  I'm pretty sure that we're still a year away, but I thought that in 1997 after an 8-4 (5-3 Big Ten) season in which Michigan lost to Alabama to finish the 1996 season.

The thing I wanted to see this year was progress in every phase.  I think that everyone would have to agree that literally every phase of our game is improved over 2019, a team that went 9-4 (6-3 Big Ten) and by the way also lost to Bama in a bowl.  Disregarding the obvious 2020 of course.

jhayes1189

October 12th, 2021 at 5:45 PM ^

Harbaugh has pulled us out of total mediocrity/bad football into what looks to be sustainable. It can’t be minimized how much RRod especially, and Hoke also depleted the culture of Michigan Football. Harbaugh should be here for another decade as I am certain his next 10 will be better than his first 6 seasons. He is rebuilding culture here, that is what is completely lacking now at places like Texas, Nebraska, USC, Tennessee, Miami, FSU and any other blue blood has been a  constant revolving door of coaches who only have flash in the pan seasons at best surrounded by mediocrity and bad football. I could easily see Harbaugh winning at least 75-80% of his games for the next 10 years with some BiG10 championships, some playoff appearances and maybe even a Natl title. 
We are all just jealous of what Saban has done at Bama and what has gone on at OSU which had the championship foundation re-laid by Tressel in the early 2000’s only to be brought into lethal mode by Meyer, and possibly may sustain with Day. Harbaugh will get us there, culture will build and saturate making us into a BiG10 threat every year. 

bogeywon

October 12th, 2021 at 2:17 PM ^

Yes I would trade with Longhorns. Last natty 2005. Also colts run. So yeah. Our last good team 2004. The long Hart henne years produced good wins but zero against OSU. We’ve been a mess since 2008. 

bogeywon

October 12th, 2021 at 2:27 PM ^

What do you define as good team? I say big championship. Or 10 wins and a osu win. What good teams have we had since 2004? 2006 was legit but lost to OSU and then got blown out by USC. I have a high standard but that’s the last M team I can remember with some dogs on it. But still lost to OSU. No championship or bowl win. 

JonnyHintz

October 12th, 2021 at 2:37 PM ^

We went 9-3 in 2004 bud. And we lost to OSU. Lucky for us, OSU was having a meh year 8-4 (4-4) so we split the conference title with Iowa (but won head to head). So we split with the only two B1G teams on the schedule to finish the year ranked. 
 

What an absolutely horrendous take on your part. We’ve had plenty of teams as good or better than that 2004 team. 

IDKaGoodName

October 12th, 2021 at 4:13 PM ^

Absolutely. If you want to try swapping full season schedules and taking a look that might make a little more sense, but I'm unsure why anyone thinks that being Texas would be much better.

If nothing else, Texas has the weather going for it in recruiting, not to mention the state is a hotbed for talent. And they still come in subpar.

Heads so so far up asses around here

BlowGoo

October 12th, 2021 at 10:15 PM ^

Actually since 2000, Texas has beaten Oklahoma EIGHT times in 2005, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, & 2018.

During same period, Michigan has beaten Ohio THREE times in 2000, 3, & 2011.

But during those same periods, Oklahoma has suffered 39 regular season losses playing a BigXII schedule.

Ohio meanwhile suffered 15% fewer losses, only 33 playing a Big10 schedule. And only SIX of those (18%) regular season losses have occurred since Harbaugh became HC at UM.

So point is defeating Oklahoma is, frankly, not as hard as defeating Ohio. ESPECIALLY during the Harbaugh HC years. 

1VaBlue1

October 12th, 2021 at 7:39 PM ^

He was clearing a path for ~70 yr old Nick Saban to get through to the lockerroom, but I don't think he hit her on purpose.  He pushed some guy out of the way and her chin got in his way.  Unfortunate for her, but not intentional - the guy didn't even know he hit her, just kept moving forward and keeping a path clear.  So, doing his job.

I'll give him credit for doing his job - Saban would have been murdered trying to get through that crowd on his own...

MGoFoam

October 12th, 2021 at 2:40 PM ^

You likely find pleasure in it for the same reason people watch reality TV. You enjoy seeing someone who is not you suffer. Alabama fans aren't entitled, they've just grown accustomed to not losing. We (Michigan fans) melt down every time we lose (or even when we just don't win well enough), not because we've won a lot recently, but because we've won a lot of games in the course of playing football for 100+ years.

Gloating over a rival's misfortune? OK. Gloating over an unrelated team's misfortune, mostly because you're jealous of their results? Not such a good look.

And there are several other recent threads in which these results were addressed. You are not providing any new information or subject for discussion. Did you need to create a new thread just so we would know what you're thinking?

JacquesStrappe

October 12th, 2021 at 10:54 PM ^

I’ve said it in the past and I will repeat. Anyone referring to Texas or USC as tire fires need to be more precise on the period they are referencing. If they are referring to the last 10 years, it is defensible albeit with caveats.  
 

Texas has beaten their rivals more than we have with three. Further, even if we go back to 2000, they have won a national title and two conference championships (2005, 2009) while we have only won the BIG once. Our BIG championship also was not achieved via a postseason where no co-champs are possible, unlike Texas’ titles which had to be won outright. 
 

As far as USC is concerned, they of course have a couple of national titles, three Heisman winners, and shared or won outright PAC-12 titles every year from 2002 to 2008. USC also won the PAC-12 in 2017.

So, really the only thing Michigan has arguably outperformed those two programs in is coaching and culture stability. Of course, this assessment turns on your individual perception of the RichRod and Hoke regimes and whether cultural stability has been a blessing or curse for changing our ways to become more competitive.

I happen to believe that the carousel problems at Texas, USC, and other programs like Tennessee actually set back rebuilds longer than establishing some semblance of stability that allows a foundation to set and be built upon.  That is why I support Coach Harbaugh’s efforts, though with some gripes about past scheme, tendencies, and culture issues. It’s a lot like Wisconsin and Iowa with the Alvarez and Ferentz coaching tree legacy.  It is not dynamic or inspiring or great for impatient fans, but the consistency eventually yields fruit even if it means the programs are not always in the thick of the chase they are always usually pretty good and occasionally catch lightning in a bottle.
 

If the standard is Bama or Ohio State then we need to be lucky enough to make an inspired coaching choice and be prepared to potentially totally revamp the culture in the way we do things on and off the field. That’s a really high variability approach which either turns us into a Oklahoma-quality team or relegates us to the Texas-USC-Tennessee shenanigans.  
 

It sure looks like LSU might try to emulate the approach of Texas and USC and they might end up emulating the same results. LSU is probably better off retaining Orgeron and being thankful for that 2019 season.  Probably a bad long term decision without a better alternative.  And also a good lesson for Michigan.