Michigan @ Wisconsin, Saturday, 9/21/19, Noon(EDT), Fox Sports

[iam416]

The MGO walking punching bag of a coach, James Franklin, is 41-15 since 2015. HARBAUGH!!!! is 40-15. Now, that doesn't include Franklin's first year, but make no mistake -- he walked into a situation that was god-fucking-awful.

He also took a horrid Vandy team that was 4-20 in the preceeding to years and had them at 6-7, 9-4, 9-4 -- in the SEC.

So, I think the retort that cuts best re HARBAUGH!!!'s record is that he's basically been James Franklin at Penn State. Without the Conference Title.

[Hannibal]

That is a good point about Franklin. He took over a program that was in the nadir of the Sandusky punishments, kept it afloat, and turned it into the B1G champion in year 3. Harbaugh had talent when he took over -- Peppers, Henry, Hurst, Ross, Cole, Butt, etc. He did a good job in year 1 of reviving the team's spirit and fight, although the 2015 loss to OSU was a fucking disgrace.

mgoblog doesn't like Franklin because he makes retarded in-game decisions. He does definitely do this but he is a good motivator and recruiter.

[AlabamAlum]

[iam416]

mgoblog doesn't like Franklin because he makes retarded in-game decisions. He does definitely do this but he is a good motivator and recruiter.

Oh, I know. But it's almost as if they willfully ignore all other aspects of building and running a CFB program. "In-game coach" actually doesn't make my top 3. If Franklin is terrible in-game, then he has to be way better than HARBAUGH!!! in other aspects because, well, the outcomes are virtually the same.

As far as Gattis. At Bama he was a position coach with a title. I never got the sense he was ready for an expanded role. At least not yet.

Right. I think this being borne out. If the Thamel story is true -- that HARBAUGH!!! hired Gattis on the strength of a 20 minute call, then that's beyond negligent to reckless. When UFM hired Tom Herman in 2012, he brought him in for a full day. He had him go over offensive schemes with him. He would show him a play and have him teach it back to him. Because, you know, this dude's actions were going to affect UFM's reputation.

I still sort of feel like HARBAUGH!!!! was pushed to change the offense and he was like, well, fuck it, Gattis? Sounds great. When can you start?

[iam416]

Eh, it's not my problem. Thank god. But it is the hot topic of the day in CFB, and talking CFB is better than talking politics, so why not do a deep dive into the misery of our gracious hosts?

[AlabamAlum]

Well, I have my own misery. Did you see the Mike Shula-esque defensive stats on Bama I posted?

[iam416]

Ohio State is a likely down an OL against the Corn People. So, join the club.

[AlabamAlum]

The rumor on Gattis was that when Lox was in the works of hammering out the Maryland deal, he assumed that he would become the main guy at Bama. But Saban told him that he was in the works to bring in Sark, and that if Lox left, his role with Sark would be the same as it was with Lox. So, Gattis had his agent put out feelers.

[AlabamAlum]

Ohio State is a likely down an OL against the Corn People. So, join the club.

Nebraska is not good. They are Mississippi State with a corn logo.

[iam416]

The rumor on Gattis was that when Lox was in the works of hammering out the Maryland deal, he assumed that he would become the main guy at Bama. But Saban told him that he was in the works to bring in Sark, and that if Lox left, his role with Sark would be the same as it was with Lox. So, Gattis had his agent put out feelers.

Yeah, I think Saban was indifferent to whether Gattis stayed or not. Maryland's offense seems dangerous. Well, except when they get inside the 5 against Temple. Then it's a fucking trainwreck.

But, the Turtle is definitely do its best to put its speed in space.

Nebraska is not good. They are Mississippi State with a corn logo.

Yes, but Lincoln is a much nicer hamlet. Starkvegas is merely a slightly less down scale Tuscaloosa. The amount of despair on US-82 is truly hurricane fucked in the ass third world shit.

UNL does some nice things on offense that will present a real test. The defense has shown out way better than I anticipated, but OSU should score some points.

[AlabamAlum]

Tuscaloosa is a great college town. Very much like a Madison or Athens.

Stark-Nam is a depressing sinkhole of despair. It is a smaller version of Montgomery.

I liked Lincoln, so I can't throw too much sass their way.

[iam416]

The Golden Triangle!

[Tom W]

mgoblog doesn't like Franklin because he makes retarded in-game decisions. He does definitely do this but he is a good motivator and recruiter.

Michigan fans in general hate Franklin because he's at Penn State - with their tin foil hat nonsense and their incessant insistence that they were completely in the dark about the Sandusky horrors. I gather that the latter applies across the conference, but the schedule kept them from playing Michigan during most of their penalty time. Now that they're "exonerated", it's time to get back to conspiracy mode for them. There's some weird animosity between the two programs.

It's going to be a bizarre, and probably very dark, carnival in Happy Valley in a few weeks.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Here's the thing that's bothering me re Harbaugh ........ talent mentioned one of ufm's skills is organizational. I posted a link to an article from Touch the Banner (TTB) from a HS football coach that focused on the disorganization that M's game against Army and Wisconsin demonstrated a degree of it that was troubling. He went on to describe how disorganization of different types affects the play on the field on game day. He then gave examples of those v. Wisconsin and assigned each of them to how he deals with them at the HS level. His charge was the Harbaugh wasn't organized and that the play of his team on the field demonstrated that.

Space Cyote, in his post, expanded on this theme a bit more criticizing what appeared to him as a poorly schemed offense, unnecessarily departing from what Harbaugh is comfortable with and then poorly implemented ,,, a conclusion he reached and an argument he advanced by giving examples. In my view, this too screams of organizational chaos resulting in poor performance.

If any of this is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt it isn't, it points to an appalling degree of disorganization within Harbaugh's coaching staff. What bothers me is that he came to Michigan with a strong coaching track record reflective of refined organizational skills, especially in the NFL. When he was considered out at SF, "the owner idiots" managing the organization were faulted for pushing him out and he was a hot commodity that could have easily transitioned to another NFL HC job. Instead he came to M. You have to ask, what has happened?

So, it may be he's stepped back, seeded authority, is unfocused. Coasting so to speak. In high performance jobs that happens. It's hard to sustain the degree of intensity and focus it takes to stay at the top of your game. During his Monday presser, I was less observant of what he was saying - mostly coach speak - and more interested in his body language. Compared to his post game presser where he appeared to be shell-shocked and vacant, it looked like he had recovered. He was actually animated and energetic. Could have been an act but that is not his MO. When he speaks openly, like he did on Monday, He wears where his head is at on his sleeve.

It's possible, I suppose, for this to have been a pretty big wake-up call. He's either going to dig in at M or he's starting to plan for his transition to something else that might revitalize him. I know what this soul search is like. I've experienced it myself both as a military fighter pilot and as a Physician Assistant in an ER practice setting - two distinctly separate high performance careers where I several times kicked myself in the ass or made a final decision to move on as a means of revitalization or retirement.

While looking at things through this lens involves a lot of feelings ball, I think it's important to consider Harbaugh's coaching in this context. As much as I hate to raise the specter of, "we'll know (enter whatever you want to look at) more about where Michigan football is next weekend followed by Iowa and then a road game, that M has struggled with under Harbaugh's tenure, at Illinois.

I'm looking at this 3 game stretch not so much as to define the program by a win or a loss but to measure where Jim Harbaugh is in his soul search. That's going to let me know where I stand on him as M's HC and the degree to which I'll stay involved with Michigan football while he is the HC and as a past time that occupies a lot of my time from August - January.

[iam416]

I know I'm in the distinct minority, but I think current HARBAUGH!!!! demands a re-examination of old HARBAUGH!!!! Rather than just assume he's somehow forgotten how to coach, I want to look and see if the baseline was accurate.

I think there's a good case to be made that he was absolutely "cutting edge" at Stanford AND that he was a huge beneficiary of Andrew Luck. Taking the first point, I think his offense at Stanford was a devastating weapon against P12 defenses premised on stopping Chip Kelly. He had the right scheme for the right league and he whipped some people with it. BUT, he never could beat Chip's Oregon teams when it mattered or, for that matter, even keep it close. He was outclassed by Oregon. Taking the second point, the assumption was always that HARBAUGH!!!! made Luck, but with years of additional data I think the case could be made that Luck made HARBAUGH!!!! I'm not saying one argument is dispositive -- it's likely a hybrid. But, if the former were entirely true then there's no real explanation for M's failures at QB. None. So, I'm starting to lean more toward something like a 30/70 explanation (Harbaugh did some good things with Luck, but mostly Luck was just awesome).

With respect to the Niners, he walked into a stacked defensive team. And that was absolutely how they won. On offense, I give him a lot of credit for moving to Kap and even being a little cutting edge (relative to the NFL) with how he used him and Frank Gore. It's basic stuff these days, but at the time it was giving NFL defenses problems. The offense eventually leveled off/declined and the defensive talent eroded and the team was no longer that good.

So, in the present I think a couple things. First, there's no real cutting edge way to game the system in the B10 and rise to the top of the B10 East. Not with Ohio State sitting there. Ohio State isn't going to turn into some knucklehead program and they're going to have gads of talent. To beat Ohio State you have to recruit on par with them and bring quality schemes. I think HARBAUGH!!!!'s biggest problem is the former. I thought his offense was fine -- especially if he could develop a good QB (heh). I think his defense is generally fine. But, neither scheme is good enough to overcome the talent disadvantage he brings upon himself as a merely good recruiter.

IMO, he's stuck 100% behind Ohio State until the recruiting becomes more even. He may pull off an upset here or there, but on the whole the program will be 2nd best in the East. That's his ceiling as things currently sit. And I think that's consistent with is stint at Stanford and SF.