StephenJ- you’ve nailed it with your analysis. I am on a group text with former players, fraternity brothers that played with Harbaugh. I was a student trainer with the team from 1982-86 and grew up in Ann arbor and played football and baseball against Harbs until he moved to Palo Alto.  The general consensus is that he cant be the CEO and delegate, he is obsessed with tinkering with Gattis’s gameplan and it kills us every game.  
 

Unfortunately he has had 2 episodes with his health and had heart procedures.  Hey we are all in our mid 50’s and many have a few health issues here and there.  Be he is Jim Fucking Harbaugh and I am an anonymous VP of Sales in Silicon Valley, so it can slide for me, but i cannot for him.  Its life, but he is the not the same person and my friends and associates alll agree that its time for him to rest and recover.  This game is a fulltime 24/7 shit show and it gets worse every year.  Need to go younger and support the hell out of them. They will need it.  
 

i was happy to see Cade play so well tonight, but to sit there and watch us squeak out a Rutger victory was troubling.  I am proud the team persevered tonight.  At the end of the day, not giving up is what sports are all about.
 

Agreed. Scrolling though the #CadeLove posts--posts comparing him to Brady, one poster saying he was flawless, which, come on, he was very good, but not flawless--I couldn't help but remember the same posts about Milton. He looked very good in the first game and has performed worse in each since. And I wonder whether we've just seen Cade's best performance, whether we'll see the same steady decline, and the same fans who embraced him turning on him.

So, the Minnesota game, which we had all off-season to game plan for was all Harbaugh? Or all the ones since that?

I think you've got it exactly backwards Stephen. I think the Minnesota gameplan was the entire Gattis offense, and once it was on tape defenses know every play.

Now, Harbaugh is trying to retrofit some the old offense to get something going. Without the veterans we had last year, especially on the o-line, to pull it off.

I don't think it accurate to say the qbs have regressed unless the baseline by which you measure has a built expectation of upward trajectory.  O'Korn is a particularly bad example.  Sure, dude came in a played well as a sub in part of one game.  But, how many times have you seen that over the years.  Backup cames in a looks good until the mantle gets passed.  I don't think that is because Harbaugh suddenly "got his hooks into him".

When Harbaugh took over in this game things hugely improved.  Same thing happened back half of last season.  Shea actually improved.   I think Harbaugh teams need to run a Harbaugh offense.  When they do the results are much better.  

I think the team didn't quit was because of the spark when Cade came in.  Before he came in they were quitting. 

I don’t get the comment that Milton has regressed like some of the other QBs.  Milton has yet to demonstrate that he is any good, so there is nothing to regress from.  He has looked tentative all year.  This is the guy who couldn’t complete 60% of his passes in HS, and still cannot throw for a high percentage.  He is to Michigan what Jamarcus Russell was to the Raiders: a guy with all the measurables who just isn’t a good QB for whatever reasons.

This all sounds very reasonable to me. Harbaugh is clearly the common thread in all of these struggling offenses.

Over the Harbaugh tenure, there has been a clear trend of back up QB comes in, the playbook appears different/more simplified, the back up QB looks better than the starter, then the next week the back up QB runs the actual offense and looks worse. So why is it that our simplified playbook for the back up looks better than our actual offense? Is our actual offense too complex? Why aren't slants and screens that get TDs enough for this coaching staff?

Can’t disagree with any of this. I do have one question though. They tell us all the time that it is Gattis’ offense and be is calling the plays. If that isn’t true and JH is jacking with the game plan and forcing these shitty running plays into the line, why would Gattis stick around? Will he leave next year too? How could he just stick around and sit quiet while someone supposedly jacks up his game plan and calls? I’m not saying I don’t think JH isn’t doing it, I just see how Gattis can sit by and allow it without saying anything. He’ll never get hired to call plays again. 

I think you’re on to something here.  It’s no secret that Harbaugh is an eccentric character.  A lot of Michigan’s rival’s fans use words like “crazy” or “insane.” 
Who knows what is going on upstairs with him, or how his mind works.  I get the sense that what makes perfect sense to Harbaugh gets in to the minds of these young QBs and rather than going with instinct they are asking themselves what would coach do?  I get the sense that taking the time in game to think about overly complicated instructions is leading to indecisiveness.
This is pure speculation of course, but it makes sense to me.  Maybe QBs like Luck and Rudock had the ability to filter out the BS and focus on fundamentals.

This is different... Cade didn't make a single bad play... threw 4 TD in one half... saw him barking many times at sloppy sets by the players.  We have a QB who excels at improvisation... frankly, I'm floored how good this kid played in his first game, as a sophomore no less.  This isn't some exceptional athlete that Jim is trying to teach to become an automaton football player. Watch that half again, this kid is a star in the making.

Now.... some corrections on offense...  Zinter just isn't ready yet... was a turnstile in pass blocking, and it wrecked many a play... along with many missed pull blocks, and wait for the UFR, it'll be bad.  Carpenter isn't quite ready yet either, but both hold alot of promise.   Filiaga looks the part but makes alot of bad plays.  Steuber should be one of the guards.   Barnhart is doing better but also gaffing alot.    Hopefully we get both OT back and push Stueber and Barnhart inside, and I think we will be much better.

On defense,

The DL is showing signs of life, and of depth, though Vilain isn't containing anything, and just running up the field.

Our LB cohort is by far the weakest unit at the moment.  Ross, though played much better, overpursues everything leaving Shibley out of position and often I saw them in the same spot, turning one player into two.  And Barrett is out of position constantly.   The biggest gaffe the staff has made was to bulk up Kemp and have him play DE... play him at his normal weight at LB, and we won't see teams running as well...   

At DB, Hawkins is another guy who they recruit as an elite future NFL athlete and try to teach him the game.. he just doesn't know how to play. Leave Reynolds in....seriously...at least he plays sound.