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Just enjoy the game, Liney.
I've talked to our good mutual friends and the consensus among them is they feel better about the M football team after the PSU game than they did before it. That's based on a solid second half by Shea Patterson and an offense that had rhythm and flow to it. There's still the QB indecision, bad QB reads and dropped balls, missed blocks and so forth but there appears to be an identity emerging on offense that isn't the train wreck that it's been v. Army, Wisconsin and Iowa. Josh Gattis is gaining some cred.
Brown will continue to do his thing. It's risky, no doubt. Players have to execute the switches. On the big plays M gave up to PSU, they didn't and you'll see this in the various film reviews coming next week along with Brian's UFR. Some will be interested in looking at them, some will have already made up their minds and don't care to see what they will consider excuses.
Speaking of making up minds..... In 2014, a lot of folks were done with the debacle that had become the last years of LC, the RR and then the Hoke years. Estimates indicated that up to 10,000 season ticket holders were not going to renew ...... until Hackett hired Jim Harbaugh. One can argue how much money the Athletic Department actually recovered with this move but apparently it was A LOT.
There are some saying that donors and season ticket holders - the bread and butter of Michigan athletics - is again at a tipping point. A loss to either ND, MSU or osu and more likely a loss to all three is going to push a lot of people on the fence about renewing season tickets or donating money over the edge. So, there is pressure for M to continue to advance what was achieved in a loss v. PSU to a solid win over ND.
One game at a time but it's becoming more probable that Harbaugh can't afford to loose to ND then to both MSU and osu and keep his job. If you look at the 2020 schedule M opens on the road against Washington and has MSU and osu on the road. If he can't beat MSU and osu at home in 2019, is anyone going to buy tickets to see his team lose to both of them on the road in 2020 and go 8-4 or worse? The entire home season ticket package? Doubtful on both counts.
As much as observers say, and Harbaugh says himself, the team isn't paying any attention to what is said by outsiders, they are probably paying attention. My take is that Harbaugh, in particular, is hearing it because Warde Manual is probably telling him what important people are saying about the team, what level of competence and competitiveness the M teams he has coached have achieved and his future as M football's HC. Personally, I think he was a good hire to begin with and will continue to advance M football's goals ..... but not everyone who is paying seat licenses and buying season tickets shares that view from what I'm hearing.
So, ND is big. A loss is going to hurt important people's belief that Harbaugh remains the best choice for Michigan football's future. I'm just a bystander watching traffic go buy. I've already said that I'm more dispassionate, less emotional about losses. I enjoy the game in this new found detached sort of state and that's enough for me at present.
I've talked to our good mutual friends and the consensus among them is they feel better about the M football team after the PSU game than they did before it. That's based on a solid second half by Shea Patterson and an offense that had rhythm and flow to it. There's still the QB indecision, bad QB reads and dropped balls, missed blocks and so forth but there appears to be an identity emerging on offense that isn't the train wreck that it's been v. Army, Wisconsin and Iowa. Josh Gattis is gaining some cred.
Brown will continue to do his thing. It's risky, no doubt. Players have to execute the switches. On the big plays M gave up to PSU, they didn't and you'll see this in the various film reviews coming next week along with Brian's UFR. Some will be interested in looking at them, some will have already made up their minds and don't care to see what they will consider excuses.
Speaking of making up minds..... In 2014, a lot of folks were done with the debacle that had become the last years of LC, the RR and then the Hoke years. Estimates indicated that up to 10,000 season ticket holders were not going to renew ...... until Hackett hired Jim Harbaugh. One can argue how much money the Athletic Department actually recovered with this move but apparently it was A LOT.
There are some saying that donors and season ticket holders - the bread and butter of Michigan athletics - is again at a tipping point. A loss to either ND, MSU or osu and more likely a loss to all three is going to push a lot of people on the fence about renewing season tickets or donating money over the edge. So, there is pressure for M to continue to advance what was achieved in a loss v. PSU to a solid win over ND.
One game at a time but it's becoming more probable that Harbaugh can't afford to loose to ND then to both MSU and osu and keep his job. If you look at the 2020 schedule M opens on the road against Washington and has MSU and osu on the road. If he can't beat MSU and osu at home in 2019, is anyone going to buy tickets to see his team lose to both of them on the road in 2020 and go 8-4 or worse? The entire home season ticket package? Doubtful on both counts.
As much as observers say, and Harbaugh says himself, the team isn't paying any attention to what is said by outsiders, they are probably paying attention. My take is that Harbaugh, in particular, is hearing it because Warde Manual is probably telling him what important people are saying about the team, what level of competence and competitiveness the M teams he has coached have achieved and his future as M football's HC. Personally, I think he was a good hire to begin with and will continue to advance M football's goals ..... but not everyone who is paying seat licenses and buying season tickets shares that view from what I'm hearing.
So, ND is big. A loss is going to hurt important people's belief that Harbaugh remains the best choice for Michigan football's future. I'm just a bystander watching traffic go buy. I've already said that I'm more dispassionate, less emotional about losses. I enjoy the game in this new found detached sort of state and that's enough for me at present.
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