ND fans expect us to turn on Harbaugh after he goes 9-4
It's always interesting perusing the college football blogosphere and seeing what other fans think of our situation with Harbaugh. Obviously most of the time it is negative. We all know that Michigan creates ire everywhere just by being Michigan, and that is doubly compounded by Harbaugh.
Notre Dame has always struck me as an odd animal for offering criticism. Eric Murtaugh, a longtime ND blogger and noted M-hater from One Foot Down, has a new blog called 18 stripes, and never misses a chance to rip on M.
Excerpt from one of his more recent posts:
2017 seems like the year a long honeymoon starts ending for Harbaugh in Ann Arbor – expectations for year three will still be extremely high despite massive turnover on both sides of the ball. The schedule isn’t kind to the Wolverines either – they open in Dallas against Florida and down the stretch face road games at Happy Valley and Camp Randall before hosting Ohio State.
Michigan has recruited well enough that the floor remains high, but a step back even to 9-4 could start bending perceptions of Harbaugh from “crazy genius” back toward “just insane”.
This is a common thread among ND writers/fans. I've seen it from MSU and OSU fans too, but on this particular occasion I've limited my perusing to Irish corners.
Following is some additional noteworthy commentary. (Sources at the bottom)
You have to hand it to Michigan. There was no one - at least, no one who wasn't living in the fantasy land known as Ann Arbor - who genuinely believed that Harbaugh would leave the NFL for Michigan, even if it was his alma mater. The Wolverines were abysmal following the 2014 season, where they fell to 5-7 amidst blowouts, a concussion scandal, and the resignation of the athletic director - the very definition of a college football tire fire. Why would any coach with options walk into that?
Then when you realize Harbaugh is actually insane by clinical definitions it becomes easier to understand why he took the job. Of course, that won't stop the fans from eating him alive when he loses a third straight time to Ohio State. All the goodwill Harbaugh has built up from his two seasons will vanish come 4 p.m. on November 25th.
When does the Harbaugh honeymoon end?
The answer is obvious: 2017. Harbaugh is the only Michigan coach besides Rich Rodriguez to fail to beat the Buckeyes in his first two seasons. It's hard to see a triumphant Michigan squad succeed this year, either. They return so little that the losses spell doom for the Wolverines so much it could result in a 9-win season. That will prompt the very real grumbles from Michigan fans that Harbaugh isn't the right guy after all. The so-called Maize and Blue faithful can only take the abuse from Urban Meyer for so long before they decide it's time for a change.
Notre Dame only wishes it could play Michigan this year, when the Wolverines' loss of so many starters means the chance of a crushing defeat at the hands of the Irish would be surprisingly favorable. Alas, they'll have to wait until 2018, when the Wolverines will be a title contender.
Will Harbaugh still be the coach by then? Keep your eye on the game against Ohio State at noon on November 25. If the Wolverines lose that one (again), Harbaugh might just be given his walking papers, even if he's 11-1. Common sense tells us to never underestimate the delusional arrogance of Michigan fans.
In other news, Notre Dame went 4-8 last season.
Sources:
https://www.18stripes.com/
https://irishsportsdaily.com/
http://notredame.247sports.com/
WD was born 6/28/2009 and began posting Michigan-themed baby apparel the next day.
He had the gear.
Well if you have to be good at something.....
The more hysterical the takes, the greater the delusion and fear. This from a fanbase that still sees a portion of each ticket they buy go to the Krispy Kreme budget for that fat fuck Charlie Weis! Fuck Notre Dame! Hard to imagine the hours of therapy and buckets of prescription drugs it requires to maintain that righteous self-image in the face of all evidence. Not hard to imagine how insane they'll be when Jimbo is still pissing down their earhole ten years from now.
Nah, Fuck Notre Dame.
He knows Harbaugh is a devout Catholic.
He knows Brian Kelly will be fired after he goes 6-6 this season (10-14 last 2 seasons).
He is simply trying to speak Notre Dame Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh into existence.
Shut your dirty whore mouth!
because they're stuck with this guy:
ARE YOU FKKIN KIDDIN ME??!?
Seriously. "Harbaugh is clinically insane" Uh, your coach was directly responsible a kid getting killed, your fanbase let him keep coaching and he gets purple faced angry every single game. Go fuck yourself ND
Nobody reads One Foot Down or 18 Stripes.
If you want to take the pulse of Notre Dame football, you go to Rock's House. And it is seeping with jealousy. They worship Harbaugh. They want to hire his brother just to get closer to him.
This is some very loud whistling past the graveyard.
Who in the world that pays any attention to college football could type the following, read it, and still convince themself that it should be posted on the internet?
- Will Harbaugh still be the coach by then? Keep your eye on the game against Ohio State at noon on November 25. If the Wolverines lose that one (again), Harbaugh might just be given his walking papers, even if he's 11-1. Common sense tells us to never underestimate the delusional arrogance of Michigan fans.
Nothing that could realistically happen this year would lead to Michigan firing Harbaugh, much less if Michigan is 11-1 with the only loss being to an Ohio State team that figures to be in the playoff discussion again.
What a complete moron. He did get one thing right though - ND wishes they could play us this year. Come next year, they'll be breaking in a new coach in game one against a fully weaponized Michigan team.
...and Michigan will be beating them in South Bend. Good luck winning the 2019 game in Ann Arbor.
Harbaugh won't be fired if they have a down year. That's silly and uniformed for him to say that.
However, starting 0-3 to Meyer and going 8-4 will induce plenty of fan grumbles. He's not totally off base.
He is totally off base and so are you it seems.
Michigan football deserves higher expectations than the ones you have. Harbaugh is fun to have as a coach but he's got to win, particularly the big games. So far, he hasn't.
It has actually become quite comical how often this type of delusional talk comes from other fan bases regarding Harbaugh. Some of my other favorites are that "any other coach would be on the hot seat this year after the results of Harbaugh's first two years at Michigan." And the famous "Harbaugh wears out his welcome everywhere he goes."
That last one is especially entertaining since that hasn't been true one time. The closest was the 49er's situation, but everyone outside of El, Columbus, and South Bend understand that it was York and Baalke to blame there. Anyway, this stuff makes for some hilarious entertainment during the off season.
The Game is in Ann Arbor this year
That's like the 3rd or 4th time this week I've seen someone on here say that we play OSU on the road this year. I guess some people were successful in drinking the memory of last year's game away. I'm jealous.
weird too because that game last year jumps out at me as like the most "on the road" game ever in my memory. I am sure about very little this year but I am sure that Ohio State is at home.
Wait, we don't play our rivals on the road in back to back years? When did Brandon stop making the schedules?
Alternatively, it could just be that people assume that Jim Delany decided to make Michigan play in Columbus every year, since it sounds like the sort of thing Jim Delany would do.
Hey doofus, don't tell me what to do! I'm going to upvote you.
OSU comes to Ann Arbor this year.
Where is The Game this year?
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!
Just consider the source. Enough said.
People may not say it but I do.
I've heard this laughable garbage from OSU fans, Staee fans, and now ND fans.
"They'll turn on 'Third-place Jim' if he doesn't win the conference this year!"
I would be willing to bet that there are a small number of fans that would loudly complain if Michigan doesn't win the B1G this year, and a smaller number that would say that Harbaugh should be fired, and no doubt some of those idiots will be posting online for idiots fans of other schools to circle-jerk to.
But the VAST majority of Michigan fans realize that this is likely a rebuilding year and will understand some slip-ups. There is hope and a chance for another monster year, but we may have to wait to 2018 and 2019 to be true contenders again, and I bet most fans realize this.
think you may be under-estimating how fast this fan base will begin to sour. I am not saying it would go from "bickering" to "fire him" very fast, however, if we go this year and next and 1) do not beat OSU, and 2) don't play in the BIG championship game, I'm guessing opinions will be split about 50/50 with Michigan fans. Maybe 60/40 if we win a big(gish) bowl game in one of those years.
Agree.
Disagree.
I do expect a very competitive game with OSU regardless of outcome. (Even Brady's teams made it a close game more often than not.)
half those people claiming to want him gone will be OSU, PSU and MSU fan creating MGOblog accounts to complain here.
At least the ones who know anything at all about football and team building.
At least the ones who know anything at all about football and team building.
knows no bounds
sounds more like wishful thinking to me