Why has Michigan struggled in night games under Harbaugh?
Night Game W/L
L Utah 17-24
W Minnesota 29-26
W Rutgers 78-0
L Iowa 13-14
L FSU 32-33
L MSU 10-14
L PSU 13-42
Overall record: 2-5
Outside of the Rutgers game (who lets be honest is terrible) I don't think U-M has played one good game at night under Harbaugh. If not for some good fortune in Minneapolis they could be sitting at 1-6. Harbaugh is 24-3 in games that kickoff at 3:30PM or earlier, and could easily be 26-1 if not for "trouble with the snap" and "the spot." I get going on the road and playing in hostile environments under the lights is challenging, but there is a marked difference in U-M's play and execution at night. Might be time to change up how they prepare or the routine for night games? I'm at a loss.
October 24th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^
So you looked at this and concluded that it must be night games and then I guess implied that it's perhaps something to do with coaching... Let's go a bit more in depth.
@Utah - 1st game of the season, 1st game with the team, new transfer QB throws 3 INT's, one after an overthrow of a wide open receiver in the end zone, one a pick 6, team loses by 7, but we're asking if it's coaching? (Utah went 10-3 that year too, btw)
@Minnesota - Defense didn't have a real good game in this one, Leidner played really well, Michigan actually trailing at the half. This one, I can see the argument; Minnesota was a 6-7 team that year, and UM's defense should have held their own much better than they did. Didn't help that Rudock got hurt too.
@Iowa - this one we can debate too. Michigan had no business losing to Iowa in this game, but the defense largely held its own, despite giving up 100 yards to Iowa's RB. Even though Iowa scored late, they were put in FG range by a ticky tack facemask penalty. Offensively, receivers were open almost all night, Speight just played horribly. Could a QB change have made the difference? Doubt it. This was a player execution nightmare, though significant questions as to why Isaac was only given the one carry and Smith was given more carries than any other RB despite once again doing very little remain. Would these coaching decisions have been made differently if the game were at noon or 3:30 though?
FSU - Whatever they did at halftime on both sides of the ball worked really well. Throwing a true freshman into the position played by your Heisman finalist isn't easy, and who knows how this ends if Jordan Glasgow makes the tackle. Bredeson and Kalis seemed woefully unprepared for FSU's twists and stunts, so coaching needs to take some blame for that. But again, would these problems have been avoided in a 3:30 matchup?
MSU - Backup QB, 6 turnovers in a monsoon. MSU moved the ball better than they should have in the 1st half, but teams doing better in the 1st half against the UM defense this year isn't limited to just night games. Plus, MSU had only 1 long TD drive; the other was a short field after a turnover and aided by a 15 yard Personal Foul penalty on Bush.
@PSU - whole team got curb stomped. Defensive gameplan perhaps worse than what they tried against OSU in '15. What impact does the night game have on this? I'm not sure.
Here's something though... in these 6 games, 3 of them saw Michigan playing either entirely with a backup QB, or a backup QB in when the game was still in doubt. In one, it was a transfer QB's first game. So in the two left, one was Speight playing horribly and the other a game during which the coaching staff made some real good adjustments on both sides of the ball.
Can't totally reject your hypothesis, but I'm not sure there's overwhelming evidence that the blame is where I think you'd like to place it, especially in light of the coach's overall record at both schools. Something worth keeping an eye on moving forward though, especially in the 11/4 game against Minnesota.
(Though I don't think many on this board would be too upset if it were a different backup QB getting the start!)