It could always be worse: Florida State edition

Great post.  Fellow athlete here, and I will never, ever root against Michigan.  Do I want to see change?  Yes.  But those kids work their butts off and make big sacrifices and I want to see them succeed.  I may not support the coach, but I support the team and the players.

GO BLUE!

I don't disagree with any of this. I'm just pointing out what I see happening, not what should or shouldn't happen. 

While I agree with your overall point, it's a little bit unfair to say that our record is a once in a dozen years type thing. We're only 1-2 because there were no OOC tomato cans on the schedule. In a normal year we might be 4-2 or 3-3.

In 2017 we started 2-2 in the Big Ten portion of the schedule with a blowout loss to Penn State (though we did lose our starting QB then so it mitigates it somewhat). 

In 2017 we started Big Ten play 0-2 and 1-3. At the end of the year, Brady Hoke got fired. Where we are now is bad, possibly very bad. 

The apathetic fans are also the first ones who come roaring back with their chests puffed out when the team recovers.  I've actually gone back to look at past postgame columns for context and tracking the swings from "OMG we rule!" to "FIRE EVERYONE!" with this fanbase, often by the same people, is a rollercoaster.

It's fine to be disappointed with a team, but it's astounding to me that 1-2 during a fucking pandemic is the breaking point for people who profess to be diehard football fans.

Wise words. As a lifelong fan, I’ll still watch and cheer with the same amount of passion. No matter the outcome, it’s not like I am changing my team. Michigan has/is a part of my life. 
 

As fans, I think it’s more than ok to be apathetic when the team is in a rough patch.  Whether or not the team wins shouldn’t have a great effect on your life.  Just because fans choose to tune out for a season or two doesn’t mean they are bad fans, just have other interests that are more worth their time while the team/program has to stuff itself out.

If that makes some people “fair weather” fans in your eyes...?‍♂️.  Anyone else’s opinion on my fanhood means even less to me than the results of the games.

Captain of an NCAA DII soccer team here.  If my team was historically bad for one year, then giving up on my team is a problem for sure.  But if my team has been historically bad for 15 years and you can correlate the on field performance to the Athletic Dept, Administration and Head Coach then that is a completely different story. 
 

Lets be honest, even though Harbaugh’s record isn’t historically bad, one could say its historically meaningless.  What’s our best win under him?  I freaking monsoon of a game verse Notre Dame. 
 

This isn’t about giving up on Michigan, but it is about giving up on a Coach and administration that seems incapable of putting together a program that incrementally is getting better and one that displays progress.  We are getting worse each year under Harbaugh.  
 

I won’t give up on Gray or Germon or the team itself, but the powers that be are making this team worse and putting hard working kids in positions of failure.  How hard is it to not give up when you know you are gonna get lit up all game every game!?  Germon and Gray deserve team MVP just for playing hard in an unwinnable situation. 

Yeah, no difference in a fan being invested and an athlete on a team.....

Some of us fans are apathetic because we care too much to begin with. How much we care obviously hasn't gotten Michigan over the hump. Almost like the actual coaching and practice matter more for success than feels.

truth, particularly the 'terrible teammates' note.

i would never say someone is a 'bad fan,' or that their fandom is somehow less than my own.  what i will say, without hesitation, is that some of us seem to be the most miserable sons of bitches on earth, the type of fans i absolutely HATE sitting near in the stadium.

bad fans?  not really.  miserable fans?  absolutely.  byeeee.

I think the concern is not just that "crap happens" but rather that crap will continue to happen because something is wrong higher up in the program.  Nobody is expecting us to go toe-to-toe with OSU with all of the injuries and youth on this team, but we are not even competent at this point.  We have already lowered the bar from "competing for championships" to "looking competitive and/or competent week to week" and we aren't even clearing that low bar.

All programs have ups and downs, but what are you seeing that points that we are headed for an "up" any time soon?  Two back-to-back performances in which we look very ill-prepared and poorly coached don't really give me the warm fuzzies.  I will always be a fan, and will always root for Michigan, but it seems like there is apathy on the part of the coaches and the administration as much as on the fans.  If you looked at the product on the field without knowing the names, you might this this was a Hoke team.  We should and will continue to support the team as fans, but the administration should ask themselves if they are properly supporting the team by not at least considering whether changes may be needed at the top.

I agree. Have to feel for these guys who are busting their asses to have a season. I just wish I could understand what is going on from a game plan standpoint. How can a team be so ill prepared for blitz packages? It’s not as if IU did anything they haven’t put on film before. This sucks bc even with the roster holes, the on-field product doesn’t have to be this poor.

Boom!

well, that and the whole "putting a concussed kid back on the field because he didn't know what the hell was happening on his own sideline" thing.

Toledo or Liberty is not beating this team. Ease up on the dramatics everybody. 

Unfortunately he passed away this summer. 

While true, we clearly didn't prepare well for App State, also need to keep in mind that:

• They were a legitimately good team that year, coming off a 14-1 previous season with a Title and finished 13-2 that year with another title
• Armanti Edwards was a pretty elite athlete at the QB position and App State had a lot of speed on that offense.  
• We were exposed for our complete lack of team speed and once again, our complete in ability to defend a dual threat QB.

So, lets not discredit what App State did, we were not prepared, but they were no push over and exposed our complete lack of team speed that year.

I appreciate your attention to detail (really), but, please. A "Top 25" team would be able to beat Wofford and Georgia Southern that year with their second-string QB.