A disconnect had formed between the fans and the team. Varying degrees of “we deserve better from you” that got directed to some folks that are well paid to put product on the field, and other folks that actually ARE that product but are just recently able to vote and purchase cigarettes, compensated with catered meals and an array of educational classes at a prestigious university. Entitlement being what it is these days, some of this blowback gets downright nasty and finds a public forum, be it a message board, social media, or actually sending an email to a student athlete that attempts to blow their world up because of one dropped ball. Fandom pecking order be damned, if you so much as brushed up against a Michigan sweatshirt you seemingly have the right to assemble an opinion from Stephen A. Smith and Paul Finebaum soundbites and scream it from the mountain tops and/or into the proverbial face of a 19 year old and let them know what YOU expect, what YOU deserve. Optically odd, but “sign of the times” and whatnot. Luckily, there are some reasonable people out there, like our own Baby Beth, who commissioned a group of 10 year olds to remind the world that its just a game, and that even in that realm, a single play doesn’t define a player.

Sure, Penn State happened, and though for some reason on this site I chose to pretend it didn't, it was in fact the first positive feeling that came out of this season, the first time Michigan passed the eye test. On the road, in a white out, absolutely dominating a decent Nittany Lions team...so unfortunate to have that occur after joining the officials in spotting them 21 points. Regardless, we started that game too late to win it. And it seems now we started this season too late to win it, depending on your definition of "winning a season." (OSU is going to win the B1G, was always going to win the B1G, and there’s nothing you can do about it).

While I don’t believe in transitive property football things, I think the Notre Dame game showed us something. Either a) Michigan is ready to boat race Georgia in the Fill-in-the-blank Florida Jump Off Your Roof onto a Mattress Bowl, b) Notre Dame is not very good and/or is a bunch of candy asses that can’t handle rain, or c) Brian Kelly is a terrible coach that killed a kid. Perhaps it's d) all of the above.

How did Michigan do it? Where did this come from? And most importantly, WHY DIDN'T WE DO THIS SOONER?

Weather took the passing game out of the equation for both teams, putting the Wolverines at a huge advantage. How you say? Because Michigan has been pretending they can’t throw all year in preparation for a perfect storm like this (pun intended). You need to understand the Harbaugh long game folks.

Jokes aside, running when the other team knows you’re going to run isn’t easy. Michigan has proven that fact time and again, and it has been particularly rough sledding this season under Gattis, his RPO(?), the never ending attempt to morph last year with this year, and to bring/not bring Warriner-ball into the fold. Saturday there were holes. Big ones. Backs routinely found themselves 5 yards upfield before serious contact. Maybe the installation, or lack thereof, is settling in. I’m envisioning some semblance of Warriner-Gattis replacing the old Drevno-Pep style game planning with a run game coordinator and a pass game coordinator, but I just don't know if that's what's happening or if it is even the plan. But we saw an improved version last year's run game on the field on Saturday. No P, no O, just R.

I believe the story of the season (barring a miraculous Saturday after Thanksgiving) will be they tried to install too much, too soon, to the detriment of what was a known commodity, regressing the veterans, and confusing the newcomers. The skiddish version of Shea didn’t help much. Combine that with a defense adjusting to the loss of Chase, Gary, and Linebacker Jesus before perhaps finding new Linebacker Jesus, and you get things like Wisconsin and the lost quarters of Penn State and Illinois.

And so, Harbaugh. We asked him to save us from ourselves and take us back to a level that we only achieved in our bloated legend filled minds. He has underachieved in that quest. He has underachieved in even lesser quests. A ring-less 4 years, and none to get here in year 5. And that, coupled with lofty expectations that float somewhere around “we'll see how we do against Alabama in the 1 vs 4 game, but I think we have a chance” is a recipe for disaster, exacerbated by perceived arrogance from the man himself.

I believe the story of this regime to this point is that Harbaugh had a plan to install an offense that requires no wrinkles, built on line of scrimmage domination and a “here's what we’re going to do, good luck trying to stop us” type of attitude. Run until they cheat the run and then pass to wide open dudes, mix in play action, repeat. That plan got abandoned when inconsistent results got intertwined with the idea of "modernization.” This has no real meaning when it comes to college football offenses, which are in a continuous loop of going Back to the Future. There's a timeline where Jim stuck to his guns and didn't bring in Gattis. I believe that would have been a recipe for more short term success. I continue to hope that there will be an innovation factor that makes the hire pay off in the long run. Harbaugh is not going anywhere. Ever. So this is the ride. It has its up and downs and the occasional corkscrew.

There's a lot of positive talk now, with strong feelings coming from those that braved the elements and sang and cheered, celebrating dominating an old rival and sending them off to irrelevance until 2033 when we may meet again. Winning is great. Winning in weather is greater. And while the idea of "what could have been" still lingers, there are plenty of fights worth fighting for remaining on the schedule: Alabama former coordinator faceoff in College Park. Hammering the final nail into Dantonio's coffin in the Big House. Avoiding looking ahead in Bloomington.

Competing on the last day of November.

Go Blue!

Blog

We Decide When It's Over - Michigan 45, Notre Dame 14

UMTailgate.com