Northern Illinois Snowflakes: The Coaching

He really isn't. It's a rhetorical statement... that does, in fact, ring true with what some people are saying after today's win. "Never seen a more explosive team," "Don Brown never made adjustments like this," etc. There's a lot of hyperbole. Hintz states, correctly, that Harbaugh has rolled bad teams before.

2018 Western Michigan, for example. Final: 49-3, score was 35-0 at halftime. Shea went 12-17 for 125 yards and 3 tds. Michigan ran for 308 yards on 35 carries, with Karan Higdon leading the way with 13-156 12.0 ypc, Evans stepping in with 10-86 8.6 ypc, and some nice running from Tru Wilson 6-54 9.0 ypc. It's not 63, obviously, but are second-half TDs in a blowout game really that big of a difference?

Michigan beat Hawaii 63-3 in 2016, again leading 35-0 at half. 39 carries for 306 yards that game, with Wilton Speight contributing a modest 10-13-145 with 3tds and 1 int.

Now, 2016 and 2018 were both quite good teams, and Michigan's win today was every bit as impressive as those two. But you can't look at the numbers in those games and really think that what we saw today was in a completely different category, because it simply isn't. 

It is natural to feel excited about the team, to enjoy the games. We should; it's a game, and we watch for fun. Hintz and others, like me, have simply seen too many seasons start like this to start concluding that there is really "something different" compared with other teams.

If there is, in fact, "something different" about this group, we'll find out and enjoy finding out. I, for one, maintain that the likeliest scenario is that this team loses some games, including at least one dumb one that shouldn't happen, and that 9-3 is ok and 10-2 is a real success. But that means there are going to be a couple of games where the team needs to pass or complete a 2-minute drill and can't, or where the defense is exposed as middling and our running offense can't keep up, or something like that. Bad things happen in losses, which is why they are losses. 

So the people talking about how this season is different aren’t considering it a great achievement to do what we’ve done thus far? The notion that three wins against subpar competition is going to silence the Harbaugh critics isn’t considering this season a great achievement so far?

These aren’t the games Harbaugh has drawn his criticisms for. Winning these games, which hes always won, isn’t going to change the minds of his critics.  

Except we’ve already SEEN this level of domination from Harbaugh teams before. Beating up on bad teams is fine. No complaints (except with the inefficient passing game against Washington). 
 

But I’m also not going to sit here and pretend it means this is any different than any other year under Harbaugh. Harbaugh leans on the running game/defense and beats the teams he’s supposed to beat. To show this year is different, Harbaugh has to DO something different. 
 

That means go on the road and beat two of Wisconsin, PSU, and MSU. That means at least remain competitive against OSU (though a win would silence a lot of critics). If we lose 3 of those 4 (or god forbid drop another game along the way) then how exactly is this year any different than any other year under Harbaugh? Win the games you’re supposed to win and then lose to the better teams on your schedule along the way to a pedestrian 8-4/9-3 record. 
 

Enough with the preseason expectations bit. Expectations change throughout a season. The folks who thought Washington would beat us no longer thought that after Washington scored 7 in a loss to FCS Montana. Is Michigan better than we anticipated, it appears so. Am I happy about that, of course. Am I enjoying the season so far, undoubtedly.
 

But I also have the awareness to acknowledge that this is pretty typical Harbaugh. And for Harbaugh to change the narrative that surrounds him and frustrates many fans, these aren’t the games where he’s going to do that. Simple.