If you are Team #NeverFireHarbaugh, do you expect a national championship?
I decided I'd rather add this to the ultra-snowflakey gameday board than put it up midweek.
I thought we'd compete for national titles when we hired Harbaugh. Now just competing for the Big Ten seems like we're going to need a miracle season.
I'm not saying I want Harbaugh on the hot seat, but I am saying I won't be delusional enough to think we're ever going to sniff the air of Clemson, Bama, OSU, etc.
If you're one of the people who shouts at everyone who dares to question Harbaugh, is it because you still think he's going to start making the CFP on a semi-regular basis or is it because you have just decided beating up on the bad teams (usually) is good enough?
September 21st, 2019 at 7:17 PM ^
The problem with college football is it has the most elite-level programs it's ever had before. There are four maybe five teams now at levels Michigan will never get to which makes a national championship completely out of the question. Even if they got to a playoff they would take a Notre Dame type beating.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:20 PM ^
You know there is always a chance I win the lottery. So we go that going for us.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:31 PM ^
Expect? No. Would like? Yes.
People need to seriously calm the fuck down. One team wins it every year and that takes a combination of recruiting, coaching, and luck. Harbaugh has been remarkably consistent by Michigan standards. 10 wins in 3 of his 4 seasons followed by a shitty bowl record - That's Michigan. Every once in a while we get an outlier season that *may* produce a natty but those are extremely rare and should not be expected on a routine basis.
Anyone comparing Harbaugh to either RR or Hoke is an idiot. How quickly people forget what a horror show those years were.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:34 PM ^
Here's where we're at, I think:
1) Most "Fire Harbaugh!" people want a national title.
2) Most "Harbaugh's the best we can and should do" people don't live and die for a national title. I am actually one of these people. The thing that I guess really prompted this post is that a number of people from Category #2 get very angry with people from Category #1 and it comes off as sounding like Harbaugh is as good a coach as there is, and that's really not true. I see no reason to attack the people from Category #1.
3) The big problem for people from Category #2 is that they also think, oh, we should win conference titles and we should beat OSU sometimes. But as it stands right now, that is the same thing as saying we need to compete for a national title. OSU is elite. Super elite. We have Bama in our division. So really, you just have to accept beating State on occasion and calling it good. Either that or hope that OSU somehow implodes. Or that the NCAA gets rid of the rules that only we follow.
4) If you have reached the ultimate state of enlightenment then you are peace with Harbaugh, but that's still no reason to get short with those who are struggling with coming to terms with reality.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:38 PM ^
Right now we're not even able to do what was common when I began following UM in the 1980's, beat OSU more often than not and win Big 10 titles. We've not won a Big 10 title since 2004 and we shared that one with Iowa, 2003 since our last solo title.
In the meantime:
OSU has won 8
PSU has won 3
Wisconsin has won 3
MSU has won 3
We are no better than Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota or Maryland. Yes, we are still better than our bitter rival Rutgers!
Will Harbaugh win a NC? Odds are no and the idea that UM is anywhere close to being back in contention needs to die. We seem to be a middle of the road program that every few years sniffs at the championship but can't break through. There have now been 8 years of Big Ten Championship games and we have yet to make that game. I don't see anything changing at best for another 2-3 years and thats being optimistic to the extreme.
September 21st, 2019 at 7:44 PM ^
Its good to see when all the other excuses fall by the wayside, we still have the old standby, 'everybody better than us is cheating'.
September 21st, 2019 at 8:22 PM ^
Obviously you need to cheat in order to field a team that looks like they know what they’re doing. I mean, look at dirty Iowa with all their solid play.
September 22nd, 2019 at 2:53 AM ^
MMMhmmm yes, VERY solid. Their W/L records the last three years have been very solid indeed.
/s
September 21st, 2019 at 7:45 PM ^
Harbaugh will never win us a National Title here, period. If he stays 5 more seasons I think he could win us a Big Ten Title though.
September 21st, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^
I do not expect them to win a Natty. They have different recruiting standards then 90% of the country. Bo was one of my favorite people in sports ever and he never won one. In fact 8-3 or 9-2 was the norm, sometimes 10 wins, sometimes 7. That was against a watered down BIG10 where there were only 2 real powerhouses. Winning 9 or 10 games and spending most of my fall Saturdays happy is good with me. UM hasn't been a consistent top 5 team since the 1900's. Take the pressure off and let the man coach.
September 21st, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^
I'm happy that our team does well academically and is scandal-free.
I would like us to show competency on the field.
Today was not competency. I'd argue that we haven't been competent yet this year.
Mental mistakes, penalties, little will to fight, especially on the road. This is a Harbaugh team. If you're happy with it, fine. I;m not. There are many coaches out there that could coach this team to 8 wins. I don't think Harbaugh can.
September 21st, 2019 at 8:15 PM ^
I don't know where I am.
I no longer expect to compete for a big ten title every year, much less a playoff berth.
Seeing where were from 2007-2014 has me worried about what might come if we fire Harbaugh.
But I'm definitely not a #neverfireharbaugh guy anymore. If Urban Meyer were even a bit interested I'd say lets go after him. 7 years of 90% wins would be worth whatever bullshit scandal comes out of it. Do you think OSU fans care about vacating 2010 given the run they have been on since 2001?
Harbaugh is safe. He won't embarass us by losing to App State or Toledo. But he can't beat top teams.
Just beat MSU this year.
September 21st, 2019 at 8:38 PM ^
If you arent fire Harbaugh after that travesty youre a piece of shit and part of the problem
September 21st, 2019 at 8:49 PM ^
If you are expecting national titles at Michigan you are expecting to much. It’s the same as Notre Dame. Michigan as a state isn’t producing enough top High School prospects to consistently compete for national titles. The population shifts have really hurt Michigan. You combine that with Michigan doesn’t have the ability to go into Ohio anymore and grab the premier talent out of there and quite simply they don’t have the talent base in order to compete for titles.
Michigan right now is a lot more Wisconsin then Alabama Clemson Ohio State. 10-11 win seasons are going to be the highlight until they find a way to recruit more elite talent.
September 21st, 2019 at 9:02 PM ^
Clemson can win titles out of fucking south carolina. A program that has maybe 10 years of history yet Michigan cant beat Wisconsin and Iowa consistently..
Fuck off
September 22nd, 2019 at 12:28 AM ^
This isn’t difficult to comprehend but obviously for you it is. A big part of Clemson’s rise is demographic shifts in the country. Clemson’s recruiting base is way better now then it was in the past and Michigan’s is way worse.
September 22nd, 2019 at 12:47 AM ^
Clemson absolutely dominates recruiting in Tennessee and the Carolinas
Adjust your mindset to account for North Carolina and Georgia being larger states than Michigan
September 21st, 2019 at 8:52 PM ^
The one caveat to my previous post is if they can somehow land a transformative quarterback but that doesn’t appear likely. The reality Harbaughs past success isn’t connecting with high school talent. A lot of these guys were 8-10 when Harbaugh wasn’t getting mocked nationally in the media.
September 21st, 2019 at 9:21 PM ^
No. But win the B1G maybe once every 3-4 years. Make the playoff every 4-5 years. NC would be a bonus. Don’t get how people on here can tell everyone what is wrong with the team from their computer chair. Just trust your coach and hope he figures it out. If he doesn’t within the next couple years he’ll be gone. Don’t need to listen to drunk assholes on here with their conspiracy theories about JH and what happened to him or is his dad the issue. Sorry, rant over.
September 22nd, 2019 at 6:14 AM ^
Yep. I think our expectations are way too high. There is a toxic mixture of arrogance and Michigan man bullshit in Ann Arbor.
September 22nd, 2019 at 8:52 AM ^
I did at first, but I don't believe in my heart he will deliver. In all the years of watching Michigan football, I have never seen a coach brought in to any program with expectations as high as they were for Harbaugh. He was a major part of the hype and as fans we all bought in with the exuberence that is normally reserved for a televangelist.
How can we forget , "Who's got it better than us ??? Nobody", the riding around in the car with the rap songs, the sleepover, climbing trees and the overall just quirky behavior. We looked the other way and said, " That's just Jim, wait until he gets his guys and his systems in place you won't laugh anymore". Now five years later we have had some success, but nothing compared to what the expectation was.
I watch intently and what I see is we are out matched when playing teams with elite speed, depth and most importantly determination. Go back and watch OSU last year and you will see Campbell and Olave run around the defense like we were standing still. Hate Meyer all you want, but he went and got the speed that is necessary in today's game. And please don't tell me that he was cheating, When Carr was here and we beat OSU every year, did something happened after he left? Did we forget how to cheat ?
My neighbor is a huge UM fan and yesterday, at half time he was cutting his grass. I watched all of it, but if it continues and he doesn't figure something out I will be investing my time in something else. Maybe instead of Hail to the Victors, we should have the band play Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen.