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For the most part, Michigan’s lack of success under Jim Harbaugh is just a narrative — one with some truth, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Many pundits claim that the Wolverines are a third-tier team under Harbaugh, noting struggles against Wisconsin and Penn State. However, Michigan is 2-2 and 3-2 against those two teams, respectively.
Really, it’s about one team: Ohio State.
It’s Ohio State that’s kept the maize and blue from reaching the Big Ten Championship and the College Football Playoff. Michigan has been on the doorstep twice under Harbaugh — in 2016 and 2018 — but fell in Columbus, keeping the team from Indianapolis and beyond.
Some have said that Harbaugh doesn’t get the rivalry — laughable, given that he played in it and offered a guarantee he’d beat the Buckeyes his senior season. Perhaps that more means that the Wolverines haven’t placed as much of an emphasis on The Game as they should, given that Harbaugh has treated every game as ‘a championship-type game,’ as he’s repeatedly said throughout the years.
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Appearing on Lunch Talk Live on NBCSN with Mike Tirico on Wednesday afternoon, Harbaugh didn’t mince words when it came to Michigan’s failings against OSU, noting that beating the Buckeyes is the last vestige en route to the Wolverines higher aspirations.
“We’ve gotta beat Ohio State,” Harbaugh said. “Nothing makes us angrier than that, or me. That’s what we’re working toward every day. We’ve beaten everyone else, but we haven’t beat them. That’s what we have to do, beat them, win a championship, get ourselves into the playoffs, win a national championship.”
Regardless, as a coach that many didn’t think would return to the college ranks after a successful stint in the NFL, Harbaugh is enjoying his time in Ann Arbor.
Michigan hasn’t quite gotten to the pinnacle of what many envisioned when he took over in Dec. 2014, but that hasn’t kept him from striving to get over that proverbial hump.
“It’s been a joy to coach our guys,” Harbaugh said. “We’re a high-drive team. We’re driving toward success, we want to put it over the top. We’re on outside of the playoffs, having gotten in and want to push that over the top. That’s our mission.”
Assuming the season happens as scheduled, Michigan will have a tough challenge against OSU, given that The Game will return to Columbus again this year on Nov. 28.
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