Harbaugh's Career: "Woulda, coulda, shoulda"
Jim Harbaugh's career has had it's fair share of heartbreakers. How would you feel differently if these games were WON?
2015: vs. MSU "punt" game (did not include Utah, Michigan was breaking in a new QB, that had only been there a month, on the road, with a new offense and a new head coach).
Note: for that heartbreaking loss, we did actually have two nailbitting wins at Minnesota and at Indiana that year. I know it doesn't help much.
2016: at Iowa, at OSU (2 OT) (FSU game doesn't count because Michigan would've been in the playoff...but let's say Michigan WINS the B1G championship but LOSES the first semifinal game and finishes 13-1).
2017: vs. South Carolina (finishes 9-4).
2018: n/a (loss at ND seems fair, Shea's first game, we didn't play great, and the comeback win at Northwestern evens it out...moving on).
2019: at Penn State (this one is the weakest of the arguments, but it should've been a great comeback win in OT...no question in my mind).
How is Harbaugh viewed in your eyes if we when all of these games?
Bonus Question: Aside from at OSU 2016, if you could only turn one of these into a win...which one would you choose? (Fictional semifinal playoff loss doesn't count...say we got blown out in that game).
Fleck.
I like fleck but why would he come to Michigan? He’s building minny and in an easier conference. I wouldn’t mind seeing gattis as intern for a year.
Matt Campbell
7-6 Matt Campbell who was pummeled by ND to end the season? 26-25 at Iowa State in a very poor Big 12. Hard pass.
Sounds very Hoke like.
It's Iowa State. Never had higher than 9 wins in their history. He has the same number of top ten wins as Harbaugh here.
I will never understand the “keep him because we can’t do better” crowd. All of the games mentioned in this thread are games he came up short without a corresponding list “great wins” as a counterbalance. OSU lost Meyer and found their guy on their own staff but we couldn’t find ANYONE better than what JH has produced?? If we hired Day there would have been incessant hand wringing that “he has never even been a head coach. With Tressel it would be “he has only coached at the FCS level”.
What you’re really saying is that you lack the confidence in the AD because there is sure as hell a coach out there who could have beaten OSU once by now.
Simple. Win a massive game you are not supposed to win. How you get there is coaching. Year 6
I remember playing this game on RichRod’s record. If my aunt had balls...
1. 2016 spot against OSU
2. 2015 punt against Sparty
3. 2018 2-Pt conversion MD vs. OSU
4. 2019 drop against PSU
5. 2016 Dalvin Cook run against FSU
You can take your #3 and launch it out of a cannon. That has NOTHING to do with MICHIGAN. Relying on other teams to do your bidding is not the sign of an elite program.
Not saying anything about being elite, but if that happens and UM wins the big 10, you'd celebrate it like the rest of us.
Of course, but I think if we were to get blasted 62-39 to OSU anyway I think that would leave a bad taste in peoples mouths still, just like in 2004 when we lost to a 6-4 OSU team after already winning the Big Ten title.
i have accepted things as they are....fewer highs but also fewer lows. Has made autumn saturdays more enjoyable.
No offense, But i hate this way of thinking. It sounds like you have givin up.
Hard to argue with it tho. I’ve also come to acceptance and I’m less stressed and less crazed. Definitely haven’t given up, but I’ve also not watched an OSU game start to finish since 2016
Not really giving up, just growing up and being a responsible fan. I mean, what else are you supposed to do? It’s silly to get overly upset about a game played by a bunch of 18-22 year olds, especially when you have zero control over what’s happening.
Not to put words in you mouth but that also sounds like as a fan, I don’t expect our head coach to be held accountable for the expectations by the board and AD at his time of hire. We’ve accepted we will never be elite and are ok with that. It’s not like the current recruiting shows great momentum for the future. While I’m hopeful this will finally be a year with great QB play, nothing in his tenure would suggest that’s going to happen.
will do
I’m basically just echoing other posters’ remarks, but something definitely also left me after the 2016 OSU game, and then after the sheer disappointment of the 2017 season. Probably a mix of all of the years of being disappointed and getting older.
2019 PSU. Recency bias and all. Plus it would have been an amazing comeback win and we'd have a better claim to being 2nd best in the BIG.
Either way, second best coach of all time behind Moeller.
Um, gee, I dunno. More wins? That's a tough one.
STOP STOP STOP PLEASE STOP, I DON'T WANT TO RELIVE THESE MEMORIES. thank you
Either penn state last year cuz I feel bad for Ronnie Bell (but this wouldn’t have really changed the season trajectory) or Iowa 2016 for what it did to my mental instability. Finally, MSU punt game. I was there with my now wife for her birthday present, and she’s an MSU fan. She was pissy and shitty all game cuz we were around more Michigan fans than MSU fans and we were all cheering and high fiving (she’s a sour puss). Anyway, she complains and wants to leave the stadium with just over a minute left since we had the ball and the game was “over”. Told her we are staying til the end cuz you never know and leaving then wouldn’t really get us out any faster...low and behold I jinxed the biggest POS victory in MSU history
How is Harbaugh viewed if he loses all these games? 2015 Indiana, 2017 Indiana, 2019 Army, 2019 Iowa.
I don't get what the purpose of picking and choosing games to change the outcome. They weren't wins, just like the games I listed weren't losses.
2015 Minnesota as well
There are so many moments the past five years that could have changed things for Michigan Football under Harbaugh. Can't dwell too much on the past but only look ahead. Michigan football is in the second tier of elites and that's a stretch because the program doesn't always finish in the Top 10 at the end of the season. best season has been 10 wins and 2 or 3 losses, including the bowl game. The next step is to go 11 and 1 and then win the bowl game, and call that good.
MSU 2015 every time. While it was incredibly enjoyable at the time, it ended up keeping OSU out of the B1G Title Game, and thus the CFP, with one of the most talented Buckeye teams in history. Screw Sparty.
He's been breaking my heart since he was with the Niners. Love ya Coach
Crazy.