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Tom, I agree with that take entirely. Still, I think larger than life fan expectations for M football under Harbaugh skewed how we saw him as a HC from year 1 through 4. IOW, given the circumstances in those 4 seasons, given his record - which is pretty good - we expected more and those expectations weren't justified.
This year though, expectations for a solid season were within a credible range - except for maybe the "speed in space" BS that never materialized and probably wasn't going to materialize. I thought the first three games told us some things about the season and the loss at Wisconsin confirmed them. Whatever we credibly expected didn't happen ....... and still, almost at the season's end, the offense looks as disorganized as it did early ....... with the exception that there's a decent run game, albeit knee-jerked into the 2019 O from last season after it became clear that whatever Gattis brought to the table fell flat for reasons we can't be certain about.
The blowout loss to Wisconsin was inexcusable. That loss demonstrated a lack of preparation that, compared to other team's offensive performances in game 4 of the 2019 season, wasn't at all comparable to teams who we'd like M to be considered favorably with. The PSU game had similar characteristics to those of the Wisconsin loss. Got beat early by a better prepared opponent then too late to the party.
Looking in the rear view mirror, you have to credit Harbaugh for getting the team to where it is after the disaster it had become through the PSU loss. He's improved a run game that can play conservatively to Brown's D and that approach produces boring wins that lack any kind of sustained excitement. M's offense is hard to watch even though it is achieving what I suspect Harbaugh has fallen back on. But there is no way Michigan football can compete with the top programs that we would hope it would be able to do - not with the approach we're seeing and not with the QB play that may or may not be Patterson's fault. So, yeah, M is not going to beat osu that plays at an entirely different level than M. The worrisome trend though is that M football under Harbaugh, leaves it increasingly vulnerable to teams with less talent but more innovative use of it. It might be worst case but I can see Dantonio doing what he does best subduing M's sludge-fart offense and surviving Don Brown's defense to eke out an "upset" win that we should be able to see coming. Worse, M could suffer the same fate at the hands of Tom Allen's very decent and innovative, IU team.
This year though, expectations for a solid season were within a credible range - except for maybe the "speed in space" BS that never materialized and probably wasn't going to materialize. I thought the first three games told us some things about the season and the loss at Wisconsin confirmed them. Whatever we credibly expected didn't happen ....... and still, almost at the season's end, the offense looks as disorganized as it did early ....... with the exception that there's a decent run game, albeit knee-jerked into the 2019 O from last season after it became clear that whatever Gattis brought to the table fell flat for reasons we can't be certain about.
The blowout loss to Wisconsin was inexcusable. That loss demonstrated a lack of preparation that, compared to other team's offensive performances in game 4 of the 2019 season, wasn't at all comparable to teams who we'd like M to be considered favorably with. The PSU game had similar characteristics to those of the Wisconsin loss. Got beat early by a better prepared opponent then too late to the party.
Looking in the rear view mirror, you have to credit Harbaugh for getting the team to where it is after the disaster it had become through the PSU loss. He's improved a run game that can play conservatively to Brown's D and that approach produces boring wins that lack any kind of sustained excitement. M's offense is hard to watch even though it is achieving what I suspect Harbaugh has fallen back on. But there is no way Michigan football can compete with the top programs that we would hope it would be able to do - not with the approach we're seeing and not with the QB play that may or may not be Patterson's fault. So, yeah, M is not going to beat osu that plays at an entirely different level than M. The worrisome trend though is that M football under Harbaugh, leaves it increasingly vulnerable to teams with less talent but more innovative use of it. It might be worst case but I can see Dantonio doing what he does best subduing M's sludge-fart offense and surviving Don Brown's defense to eke out an "upset" win that we should be able to see coming. Worse, M could suffer the same fate at the hands of Tom Allen's very decent and innovative, IU team.
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