Quote:
Originally Posted by Zimmer4141
I do love how the "WIN A BIG GAME FOR ONCE" crowd totally dismisses that in 2016 we went back to back weeks with home wins by 17 over #17 Colorado (8-1 in Pac-12), 49-10 over #7 PSU (8-1 B1G, B1G Champs), and 14-7 over #9 Wisconsin (7-2 B1G)
We've played in and won plenty of big games.
I don't think Harbaugh is a big game coach in the sense that I don't think he's a terribly bright person (I'm trying to be polite here). IOW I think the guy on the opposite sideline will tend to make better in game decisions than Harbaugh. And I do think we have to live with the reality that Harbaugh is going to cost us some games, maybe not as many games as James Franklin has cost Penn State, but more than we'd like.
Digression: Speaking of James Franklin, 9/24/2016 is the last time a team beat Penn State. That was us. Penn State has 5 losses since, and in all 5 cases the other team didn't beat Penn State, Penn State beat themselves. It's really remarkable how a program can luckbox into the best QB in program history and damn near completely waste his services.
Ok back to Harbaugh. I could care less about the big game narrative. All I want from Harbaugh is to bring in big time recruits, go 10-3 a lot, and get to The Game with the division on the line 50% of the time. If he does that, it won't matter that he's not the greatest in big games, he'll win enough of them eventually anyways. You can't lose em after all.
That said let's put this "can't win big game" narrative to the test:
2015:
Lost to
Utah breaking in a new QB, the bounces didn't go our way. No egregious **** ups. This is not on Harbaugh.
The MSU game. Sadly it wan't even the botched punt that cost us this game. In my life of watching Michigan football there are only two games I would bet $10K that were legit fixed. This game
is one of them. "[A]n 18-point swing in expected points by bad officiating." Fluke play or refs on the take. Either way, this is not on Harbaugh.
The Game. That was the most talented team in Ohio State history. In case I'm accused of hyperbole, the NFL draft proved my case. Then you have THAT team coming off a fluke sideways rain loss + they were an underdog to Michigan for most of game week. So now you have the goat OSU team with a giant chip on its shoulder vs a pretty good but not great Michigan team. A recipe for disaster. This loss is NOT on Harbaugh.
2016:
Iowa was not a big game but **** it lets just go over all the losses. This was simply 'one of those games' where it took a million things to go against us when all we needed was one play in our favor that never came. These type of occurrences happen to every team. This game is not on Harbaugh.
The Game. This is
the other game I'd bet $10K was completely rigged. That loss is NOT on Harbaugh.
FSU game: We played tough. Glasgow picks a bad time to miss a tackle. Jourdan Lewis picks a bad time to get beat 1 on 1, although FSU QB makes an uncannily perfect threading the needle throw. Bad **** happens. This game is not on Harbaugh.
2017:
The MSU game. This game was lost the instant that Purdue guy made that illegal hit on SP8. Forget about the weather. Bottom line with O'Korn as your QB you aint winning many games vs teams with a heartbeat. This is not on Harbaugh.
The Penn State game. That was their 2nd best team of all time. It's at their place, at night, with 49-10 on everyone's mind and we have O'Korn. That game is not on Harbaugh.
Wisconsin. We played about as good as you can with a borderline 3rd string QB vs a very solid team at their place, and then he gets injured and in comes O'Korn. That game is not on Harbaugh.
Ohio State: Did I mention we have O'korn and they didn't. We played as good as you can play given the circumstances. Not on Harbaugh.
South Carolina. I cared so little about this game I honestly wasn't that focused and the loss didn't hurt me at all. I was probably daydreaming about ND 9/1/18 the whole game. Yeah I know about the TE gaff but still what are the odds that play ends so terribly? It seemed like blame could be spread around on a lot of guys that game. If Higdon doesn't fumble in scoring position, if the OL could block, if Peters didn't suck....Anyways, I'm not putting this on Harbaugh, but if you do I won't argue. It was a pathetic game that we gave away. No doubt tho.
2018:
The ND game. This was one of those games that having Harbaugh genuinely hurt us. Running on 3rd and 3 from ND's 43 yard line and then punting on 4th and 2, is one of the saddest sequences I've seen in my Michigan watching life. It's almost as if Michigan wasn't even trying to win this one. Completely unconscionable. Then the 2nd and 2 from the ND two yard line. We have no tackles but we can run inside and we decide to pass instead of run 3 times. There are no words for that obvious **** up. It's almost as if Harbaugh wasn't watching the game at all and was just calling plays in a vacuum. And then that final sad TD drive where we take FOREVER down two scores. I don't know what to say other than I don't appreciate being reminded of the Brady Hoke years. This game is on Harbaugh plain and simple.
Ok, so in my expert opinion, Harbaugh has cost us 1 game over 3.5 seasons. That's not too bad. Given that I think Harbaugh is kinda dumb I would expect him to cost the team at least 1 game per year. So either I am wrong--a possibility that seems unimaginable--or Harbaugh is running above expectation. Bottom line: even though I do think Harbaugh is not a big game coach due to genetic limitations, the narrative that Harbaugh is not a big game coach is damn near completely unfounded. It's just a media fabrication to generate more clicks. That's all it is. And now that we have one of the greatest QBs in Michigan history, who ****ing cares about the past anyways?!?!