The Long, Cold Football Off-Season Is Upon Us.

Submitted by Gordon on

Now that Brian has turned comments back on, Wilton Speight has transferred, and Tennessee is showing more concern for Penn State's victims than State College, the true college football off-season is upon us.

Yeah, I know there are bowl games to come, including one for Michigan.  And conference championship games next week.

But the true week-to-week college football season is over.

Only nine months until we, due to scheduling, care about Notre Dame again.

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You Only Live Twice

November 26th, 2017 at 10:52 PM ^

Durkin would not have gotten us to 8 wins!!  Also, he has not lost 5 QBs nor is he doing :"great" this year.  What the heck are you getting at?

Joined: 09/14/2013

MGoPoints: 9615

FlexUM

November 27th, 2017 at 9:33 AM ^

There is an important point you hit on...and that is the years of RR and Hoke were detrimental to this program. I don't think a lot of UM fans have come to realize what that did. I think it set teh program back a decade and while programs like OSU plowed forward you had programs like UM, Tenn, and some others take a huge body blow. That stuff isn't fixed over night 

As far as Harbaugh I think the simple rub is he gets so much attention for not acheiving excellence and for the amount of attention he gets people expect excellence. That isn't always the case and it's TBD to see if he is a Tier 1 college coach. Only a small handful of guys in that tier. I'd put him at 1b though to be honest. 

It's always one extreme to the other "he sucks and can't get it done" or "he's nick saban" maybe it's just as simple as he is a really good coach, a great fit for UM and overall the team is on the right track yet we are all dissapointed in a handful of performances, and that is leaving us feeling a little "meh" at times...and that's ok. 

I don't think the world hangs on next year either. I do think for him to be that "top tier" guy a year like this should be the basement and solidly the worst it can get at 8-4, and basically every year we are in the conference hunt to the end of the year (which would mean we are likely in the playoff hunt). Yes year is a big year but it's not NC or bust next year. 

There are literally 3 games that would make me feel 1000 times better. Last year Iowa, last year osu, and this year msu. If UM got it done those three games I think the perception is totally different. 

Joined: 11/05/2011

MGoPoints: 13574

bamf16

November 27th, 2017 at 8:43 AM ^

Sorry, can't just downvote this nonsense, because people like this are an absolute embarrassment to the fan base. Yes, Michigan is 1-5 under Jim Harbaugh against OSU and MSU. There's no arguing that. But no one's yet made a convincing case that the coaching is the primary reason for this.

 

Tell me how coaching led to the one in a million Blake O'Neil dropped punt. Seriously, make the case that the loss to MSU in 2015 was because of coaching. In 2016, Harbaugh took a team two seasons removed from a 5-7 record, quarterbacked by a first year starter who the fan base used to ridicule Hoke and Borges, a low level 3 star recruit who had an offer list that made fans irate into Columbus as the 3rd ranked team in the country. That QB threw a pick 6 and another deep in his own territory. Despite that, a few horrible calls don't get made, and Harbaugh is in the B1G Championship game and possibly the playoff. 

 

This year, I wish Harbaugh played Peters against MSU. But the game before, his decision to put JOK ahead of Peters on the depth chart looked pretty good, didn't it? See, no one blamed the "coaching" for O'Korn being ahead of Peters on the depth chart after the win at Purdue. And anyone who tries to say that they called for Peters after the Purdue game is a liar. And for Christ's sake, if you think Harbaugh is the primary reason UM lost to OSU on Saturday, I got nothing for you.

 

Michigan lost 4 games this year. John O'Korn started three of them, and in the fourth led the offense to 0 points on 2-9 passing in almost a full half of play. In the Michigan wins in which O'Korn started, he was pulled from one (Rutgers) and we all know how we did at Indiana. 

Joined: 01/05/2014

MGoPoints: -100000

bamf16

November 27th, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^

My goodness this is awful. Simply ridiculous.

 

The loss at OSU isn't about excuse making. It's about what the players did on the field. The quarterback fumbled the ball on the 1 yard line, threw a pick 6, threw another pick that was returned inside the red zone, and you're blaming the coach for the loss. 

 

Two different coaching staffs three different times concluded that John O'Korn wasn't good enough. By your logic, every player failure is on the coaching. I wasn't good enough to play football at Michigan because I was a 5'11, 240 pound defensive tackle. By your argument, it's my high school coach's fault for failing to develop me and every time a team sacks the opposing QB, it's the fault of the opposing head coach.

 

You're governed by rules of logic that dictate that if a coach COULD have done something differently, then it's his fault that the event happened. That is so flawed it makes me feel sorry for you. There is an indinite number of things a coach "could" have done differently, and that you concluded that it's on the coach more than the punter who dropped the ball is so outlandish it's actually turning you into a sympathetic figure.

 

And to be so obtuse you become sympathetic on a football message board is REALLY saying something.

 

I'm just going to leave it at this. Michigan going 1-5 against MSU and OSU means that they haven't beat their rivals. It doesn't mean they can't. There's a big difference you need to wrap your head around. Secondly, we're going to just have to agree to disagree and leave this here, because I sincerely think you lack any basic understanding to rationally discuss football with anyone posting here. Again, a tell tale sign of someone who has no idea what the hell they're watching or talking about is an overabundance of blame on "coaching" and inability to dissect subjective aspects of an argument. 

Joined: 01/05/2014

MGoPoints: -100000

cbrad

November 27th, 2017 at 10:54 AM ^

The MSU loss in '15 partly falls on Harbaugh since the team was improperly aligned. Chesson out wide as a gunner was useless as he had no one to tackle. A timeout should have been called because no one was back to receive the punt meaning everyone on MSU was coming. Gunners should have been pulled for extra stout blockers TE, LB- lined up tight.

Team could have been better coached on the situation. The Aussie punter,likely lacking American football instincts, should have been given his options- if you can't get it off then run or fall on it-not absolutely necessary to punt. Team did not seem aware State was selling out for the block and that's on coaching.

Regarding the pick 6 vs. OSU last season that also falls somewhat on Harbaugh. Your D is playing lights out you should go conservative and wait for them to err- then you capitalize. That took the lid off the scoreboard for the Bucks and ignited their O as turnovers tend to do. Harbaugh even admitted that was a terrible error to go play action out of your own end zone. So again, coaching plays a major role in every loss.

Joined: 05/15/2010

MGoPoints: 3208

Broken Brilliance

November 26th, 2017 at 5:55 PM ^

As a school teacher the next four full weeks of work will drag ass no doubt but I for one will enjoy the rest of the NFL season and I'm a Packers fan! We also have CFP and bowl games and from there only one month til signing day.

Joined: 09/07/2010

MGoPoints: 7708

bamf16

November 26th, 2017 at 6:13 PM ^

Fellow teacher here. 

 

But I'm a Steeler fan, so we can't be civil with each other for the next few hours.

 

(The only thing that got me through the heartache of Super Bowl XLV was seeing Woodson holding the Lombardi.)

Joined: 01/05/2014

MGoPoints: -100000

Gordon

November 26th, 2017 at 5:56 PM ^

Notre Dame, Northwestern, Michigan State, Ohio State, and also Rutgers for some reason.

Lots of games that you can road trip to in great football stadiums and towns, pretty much every rivalry, and Rutgers.

Joined: 08/30/2010

MGoPoints: 2358

xtramelanin

November 26th, 2017 at 6:21 PM ^

ND, ohio, and state on the road.  wiscy and nambla valley at home.  those are likely all top15 teams, and throw in a surprise big 10 team that makes it too. 

as a side note bama only had the 62nd toughest schedule and though they only have one loss, because of their soft schedule they might be on the outside looking in for the CFB. 

Joined: 12/09/2014

MGoPoints: 15439

Gulogulo37

November 27th, 2017 at 6:01 AM ^

I'll keep saying this but I really don't get why people are freaking out so much about next year's schedule. It's basically the same as this year but with ND added to it. The other 4 we already played this year with 2 home games and 2 away and next year they all just switch. Considering how good those teams were this year, it's hard to imagine they're collectively going to be better.

I'm probably also not that worried because however good those teams will be, I'm confident we're going to be a whole lot better.

Joined: 03/16/2010

MGoPoints: 28359

xtramelanin

November 27th, 2017 at 6:14 AM ^

being on the road makes a difference.  sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but it makes a difference.  i'll tell you from personal experience (tens of thousands but not 80 or 100K fans) you simply can't hear line calls unless you are literally yelling into the earhole of your linemate.  younger, less mature players are impacted even more.  

Joined: 12/09/2014

MGoPoints: 15439

evenyoubrutus

November 26th, 2017 at 6:36 PM ^

Harbaugh recruited skill players. Harbaugh recruited offensive line. Harbaugh recruited QB Vs Hoke version of all that. Does that require any more explanation? And tackle will be fine. We've got three very good tackle prospects coming off redshirts. And MSU isn't getting any better. It's a two game season.

Joined: 11/04/2008

MGoPoints: 178383

ijohnb

November 26th, 2017 at 7:09 PM ^

Two? That is a murderers row schedule. And while State might not get any better we have them at the trash tornado. The losses of Gary and Winnovich (if he returns) and Higdon will hurt, but it kind of looks to me that 2019 might be THE YEAR we are all looking for.

Joined: 09/21/2009

MGoPoints: 69986