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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — There’s really nothing nice you can say about Michigan football’s debilitating 49-11 defeat at the hands of No. 13 Wisconsin. And Jim Harbaugh isn’t about to.
After the past two losses, the ones the preceded Big Ten Week 4, Harbaugh at least praised the effort his players showed. But on Saturday night, after the Wolverines gave up 341 yards on the ground — 6.7 yards-per-play — to the Badgers, Harbaugh didn’t mince words about where the team stands now that it’s 1-3.
“We were thoroughly beaten in every phase,” Harbaugh said. “Didn’t really do anything well. Did not play good, did not coach good. Not a good place with the execution. Not in a good place adjusting — what we were doing schematically. Not a good place as a football team right now. That falls on me. Get after — really going back to basics in everything we do and look at everything that we’re doing. Everybody’s gotta do better — I’m at the front of the line in accountability.”
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The first step is admitting you have a problem — and Michigan has more than several right now.
It wasn’t long ago that the Wolverines were contending with the likes of the current No. 1 Alabama — as a matter of fact, it was in this calendar year. No, the Wolverines did not win, but they held their own — something they’re not even close to doing at the moment.
The offense isn’t working. The defense isn’t working. Special teams appears to be the only thing that hasn’t reached the stage of full-on debacle.
Harbaugh agrees, nothing that Michigan is doing is working. The first step is admitting you have a problem.
“Every part, every part is not where — close to where it should be,” Harbaugh said. “Stopping the run, stopping the pass, running the football offensively, throwing the pass in the passing game. All things thoroughly not where they need to be in terms of execution. That starts with me, starts with our coaches — also every person here.
“Understanding what we’re supposed to do and then going out and executing it. If somebody isn’t executing, why is that? Are we communicating it, are we coaching it enough. There’s nothing right now to say an acceptable job being done right now — (that goes for us) coaches.”
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So what do you do if you’re Michigan and Harbaugh?
After the first loss of the season to Michigan State, the team continued to attempt to stick a square peg in a round hole the following week against Indiana. At least in this game against the Badgers, it was so thorough of a beating that you can’t just pin the loss on personnel issues on offense, stodgy playcalling or cornerbacks being stuck on an island in the pass defense.
No, this was a different look entirely, as visceral of a beating as Michigan has endured. At least against Ohio State the past two years, the offense had a pulse when the defense didn’t. Saturday night’s game showed what can happen when nothing is working, except that it’s all working together towards failure.
So, for Harbaugh, it’s time to reevaluate literally everything. Determine not just the coaching and the player performance, but the methods to which the program is using.
“Go back and look, every fundamental possibility and address it,” Harbaugh said. “So you look at what are you doing schematically — because it can only be those three things: schematically — what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, who’s doing it. Gotta look at all those things right now. Right now, all three need to be addressed.”
Harbaugh agreed that the team energy is lacking — on top of the execution and coaching issues. They made a change to redshirt freshman Cade McNamara midway through the second-half, and while that generated a spark, it was a moment fleeting. 3-for-3 and 74 yards passing and a 24-point deficit quickly turned into 4-for-7 for — still — 74 yards and a 38-point loss.
As quickly as the offense appeared to have gained momentum, it lost it just as fast, along with a hungry defense which seemed to have forced a three-and-out giving the ball back to Wisconsin on a special teams blunder.
So when it comes to reevaluation, everything is on the table. Literally everything.
“Process of everything we do — we’ve gotta try to win by all means necessary.” Harbaugh said. “That’s gonna be our training, that’s gotta be our workouts, that’s gotta be our meetings, that’s gotta be our coaches. All of us in terms of putting our plan together — every meeting, every walkthrough, every practice, nutrition, recovery — everything we do is going to be aimed at improvement.
“Really all areas, all areas. Anything we can identify of a way we could do it better. I’m thinking of things, but gotta address all areas.”
Harbaugh taking accountability is a positive first step — the first step is admitting you have a problem — and his morose tenor after the game is an indication that it’s genuine introspection.
Asked about where he feels he can improve, what he needs to do, he signaled holistic change. While that won’t likely mean change in personnel, roster or coaching-wise, still — the first step is admitting you have a problem.
“Yeah, really the thing that stands out the most is, the coaching, the players to do what they’re asked to do,” Harbaugh said. “Making sure that they have an understanding of what to do. Therefore, they can go for it. There seems to be hesitation, there seems to be some confusion, some lack of communication on both sides fo the ball, both offensively and defensively. Getting things adjusted to, getting things fixed. Identifying how to improve those areas are some of the first things we’re gonna address.”
The only problem is that it took three-straight losses for Harbaugh to recognize these issues weeks after the common fan. But it’s a start.
We’ll see if Michigan can key in on those issues and cleanse the palate next week against an improved Rutgers.