Michigan Football, the 2020 Abbreviated COVID Season

[Hannibal]

Michigan has 7 or 8 wins built into each season by virtue of modern scheduling habits. 9-10 wins today is about as hard as 7-8 wins 25 years ago.

Harbaugh won't win 10 games this year, so this idea of "he may not win national championships but at least he wins 10 games every year" is false.

Amazing what one meaningless blowout over a really bad team can do for people's attitudes.

[hack]

I'm hoping for the right kind of 8-4, by which I mean beat Sparty.

I don't think we're going to see this, but I'm all for taking the rest of this year to find out what McCaffrey and Milton are all about. Patterson just isn't going to make the reads fast enough, if at all. If McCaffrey's able, let's get him seasoned in time for that MSU game.

[hack]

To be clear, I think 9-3 is possible. I don't see how we beat OSU or @PSU, which gets us to 3 losses. It doesn't have to be more than that, even though it very well could be.

[iam416]

To state the obvious, again, this is the week that will really let you know where M is. After this game, M plays 4 pretty good teams, but 3 are at home. If they beat Iowa and look decisively better then 10 wins is still on the table. If it's a rock fight or if, heaven forbid, Iowa pulls the upset then 9-3 is the ceiling and that'll be ambitious.

I'm still not sure where I am on this. Other than I think Buchanan's predictions for shootout type scores are considerably off.

[hack]

I don't know enough about Iowa, nor do I have the bandwidth for CFB so far this year to actually find out. My older one's sixth-grade geography teacher has blown up my past three weekends. The advanced STEM classes assign a reasonable amount of homework, but this guy's another story. We usually go down to Charlottesville for a game every year, and I'd been hoping to get down to Blacksburg too this year to see that atmosphere, but right now it's just fucking survival mode.

But at this point I'm guessing that Patterson is the starter for better or worse, and that this is a win but not an easy one.

[iam416]

Heh. On most weeknights last year I spent an hour, sometimes way more, with my son on "6/7" math, which is 1.5 years of math in 1. Exhausting. On the upside, "7/8" this year is much better. However, even with considerably more free time, I have no inclination to do a deep dive into Iowa. I watched them play Iowa State -- at least the 2nd half. They looked like Iowa.

Stanley is solid. They have some skill outside. And they have their typical gaggle of dudes who get carries, some better than others. They also play their standard sound defense. If M rips them then you can put your doubts aside and get back to HARBAUGH!!!!! If M's offense struggles then that doesn't bode well for any of their 4 tough games left -- as each of those teams plays better defense than Iowa. They also have AJ Esperanza at DE, and he is certified bad ass. It'll be interesting to see how M copes with him. I'll be interested because, if he doesn't get injured, Chase Young should receive the same treatment.

[iam416]

And I realize I'm sort of on the wrong thread. I'll post further Iowa thoughts on correct thread. I'll post further homework anguish thoughts here. It is written.

[hack]

Fourth grade was like this too, and it stabilized after a bit. Fifth grade was coasting. But you realize you have the homework-happy teacher, you've got to tighten down the system. Is what it is. All we can do is trust that he will feel guilt and shame when told of our abandoned plans to tailgate in Blacksburg.

I do expect that Iowa isn't going to beat itself, especially on defense. Probably will fail to take what's there a little bit on offense in order to not turn the ball over.

[Jeff Buchanan]

My original post that prompted Paul's response:

Fan expectations for what Harbaugh could achieve at Michigan were too high. ..................intense post game criticism of (Harbaugh's) coaching record and talk he be fired (was) overblown.

I think that position has been adequately defended by myself and others.

As for the rest of the views that spontaneously erupted in what followed having little to do with my original post, ehh, that's an internet forum for you.

[hack]

"The elite characterization was imagined and largely undeserved attribute assigned to Jim Harbaugh by the M fan base."

You wrote that. Good luck adequately defending it. If you give it a try, I'll have a canon of links to point at you.

[Jeff Buchanan]

With respect to Harbaugh's tenure at M and me backing him as a fan ...... not that that means anything important:

After stepping back from the ledge following the Wisconsin loss, I took the position that I was going to wait to see if JH could regroup and put a competent football team on the field for the next three games (Rutgers, Iowa at home and Illinois on the road). That was something he didn't do in Madison and criticism aimed at that singular circumstance was well deserved. Talk of him being fired because of his overall record at M, his failure to meet fan expectations however, was overblown and, IMO, undeserved.

The Rutgers game, despite the view of some that it means nothing because ..... Rutgers ....... fails to account for several positive things that go towards answering the question I've posed:

• The players appeared to play energetically. That indicates to me that they were still believing in the coaches and buying in to what they were telling them to do. I think there was some serious questioning of whether the coaches had lost the players.
• I don't care that it was Rutgers, widely regarded as a bad football team, against whom the offense in general and Patterson in particular looked good. Coaches have to get their shit together and players have to improve execution to make that offense as efficient as it was no matter who the opposition is. It was essentially a scrimmage. Still demonstrative of significant improvement.

As for Iowa, it's a bigger test. If M wins, it further cements the position that indeed, Harbaugh is at least performing to my expectations. Others can continue to take positions that Harbaugh has not met expectations, a coaching search should be undertaken now and he and should be terminated if he fails to win out. I'lll continue to defend him as long as there is steady improvement.

At this point I think it is unrealistic to expect Harbaugh to put teams on the field that will beat PSU on the road and osu at home. I'm expecting wins v. MSU and ND, the later being difficult to achieve. Still, 9-3 is probably the ceiling, 7-5 should be the floor. Is termination talk warranted if M goes 9-3 or, God forbid, the team goes 7-5 losing to all it's rivals? I'd entertain that discussion at 7-5, be less likely to do so at 9-3 but we sure as hell aren't there yet in my mind.

[Jeff Buchanan]

"The elite characterization was imagined and largely undeserved attribute assigned to Jim Harbaugh by the M fan base."

You wrote that. Good luck adequately defending it. If you give it a try, I'll have a canon of links to point at you.

I already did with others here among our rivals supporting that view. I'm not going to restate my views or the evidence supporting them.

Fire away.

[Tom W]

[hack]

I already did with others here among our rivals supporting that view. I'm not going to restate my views or the evidence supporting them.

Fire away.

I've seen what you've posted. It's not hard to keep on top of the volume of posts here. If Harbaugh's reputation for being "elite" was "imagined" by Michigan fans, then 247 wouldn't have written a piece last week on how Wisconsin just dismantled that elite reputation, at https://247sports.com/Article/Jim-Ha...sin-135891599/. If it were only M fans imagining his elite status then Paul Finebaum wouldn't be calling him formerly elite now, at https://saturdaytradition.com/michig...n-elite-coach/. If it were only M fans imagining this elite status then Colin Cowherd wouldn't have called him elite here last summer: https://www.theherdnow.com/colin-jim...te-head-coach/. Obviously, those guys aren't Michigan fans. They're national media, and they've -- at least maybe until now -- called Harbaugh elite. Here's a podcast if you like it auditory: https://luminarypodcasts.com/listen/...289?country=US. Beyond that, here's Football Study Hall, at https://www.footballstudyhall.com/20...idbit-stanford. And also https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comment...ed_by_many_to/, https://www.flofootball.com/articles...ible-situation, https://www.freep.com/story/sports/c...augh/31993261/.

So let's be clear -- maybe we all agree that Harbaugh is not an elite coach, and probably some of us here who watch closer had our suspicions over the last two years. But in no way is it an accurate reflection of reality to say that "The elite characterization was imagined and largely undeserved attribute assigned to Jim Harbaugh by the M fan base." That's just wrong, and these are a small sample of the many links, from sites and voices ranging quality to clickbait, that illustrate how when he arrived here he was seen as an elite coach by far more than just Michigan fans.

[hack]

IMO We can't find our identity because it is to be found in some magical reality in which you don't have to get your hands dirty to win.

I really don't know how much to ascribe to intangibles given the tactics are so obviously flawed, but one thing that might help is to go back to Bo's goals -- win the conference; go to the Rose Bowl. I don't want to hear about the playoff anymore.