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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — You can’t excuse the inexcusable. And let’s face it — what happened on Saturday was inexcusable.
There’s not much that can be said here that hasn’t been said elsewhere. Mel Tucker just did in his second game what Jim Harbaugh has yet to do since coming to Ann Arbor as the much-ballyhooed head coach — he took his team on the road as three-plus score underdogs and took it to a team he had no business beating.
Jim Harbaugh, in one fell swoop, proved every pundit, every seemingly misguided narrative right. He gave ammunition to crazed weapon-wielders who love to do nothing more than emblazon paths with the shells of those who were once high-and-mighty. He brought propane and blade sharpeners to a caucus already in search of their torches and pitchforks. Though some on this site see it as the worst loss in his Michigan tenure, and it might be, it might not — 2016 Iowa would like a word — for fans, this is a heartbreak that will perhaps sting more than any other since he arrived.
Because all hope is now gone.
That’s the difference between this game and 2016 Iowa. Despite Michigan similarly being 24-point favorites going into that 14-13 loss, at least that was a seeming aberration. Not the commencement of a startling trend. Now, Saturday’s loss to MSU was one of three games — which includes 2016 Iowa — that Michigan had no business losing. The problem is, the other — 2017 Michigan State — came at the hands of the same rival. Yes, that same, under-talented, outmatched team that loves to puff its chest and act like it’s been the better program through time. It isn’t, but Michigan continues to give that notion legitimacy. This was an opportunity to squelch that notion once and for all, to put it to rest for time immemorial. Instead, the Wolverines basked in their own genius after winning a game it should have in prime time the week before.
In the words of the late Denny Green, ‘They are who we thought they were.’
Let’s be clear: this is Jim Harbaugh and the coaching staff’s fault. There is zero reason to be upset with the players here. For all of the talk from the staff about putting players in the best position to succeed, it always seems so beholden to the Michigan philosophy of old: we’re Michigan, we’re going to do what we’re going to do, just try and stop us. The problem is, with every misguided run up the middle, with every play featuring inexperienced cornerback on an island, the maize and blue have been stopped, time and time again.
And these problems are not exclusive to Jim Harbaugh and his staff. So many in the national media are painting this as a Michigan program that was flying high before he arrived, and he was brought in singularly to get it to the summit. Let’s not forget where this program was in 2014: not just mired in mediocrity, but struggling for relevancy. Incapable of making a bowl game. Backsliding, almost gloriously. The Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke tenures rounded out the worst stretch in Michigan football history, but what makes this that much more painful is that Harbaugh, a proven head coach at multiple levels, was supposed to be the one that could scale the precipice after years of staring at the peak through foggy binoculars. Turns out, he can get you closer to the summit, but its that much more shrouded in clouds, and every time it appears to be in reach, there’s an avalanche sending you back down to the base.
“Team’s gonna own this,” Harbaugh said after the game. “Congratulations to Michigan State, but we’ve gotta own the loss, come back and find out where we can improve. This is a high-character team, and I believe they’ll do just that. Each of us looking at ourselves – player, coach, all of us. Strive to be a lot better. Try to find the places we can make improvements.”
OK, cool. But this has become rote, after every inexplicable loss, and after every explicable one.
There are no excuses here, but there are also no answers. There are screams to move on, from Harbaugh, from Don Brown. You could do that, but not only is there no guarantee that Michigan gets better, there’s a possibility, maybe even a plausibility, that it could get worse. You think the gap between Michigan and Ohio State is bad now, show Harbaugh the door and bring in someone else who can’t handle this lofty stage in Ann Arbor and watch the Wolverines never beat the Buckeyes again. Michigan isn’t the only so-called blue blood that’s been wandering the desert for the past decade. Every year, college football town criers spill into the square, proclaiming Texas and USC are back before they prove themselves jesters of the court. The program in Ann Arbor is not that, as it’s at least won big games at a more consistent basis. The record — rivalry games notwithstanding — has been respectable under Harbaugh.
The problem is, Michigan doesn’t yearn for respectability — it self-proclaims to be ‘leaders,’ ‘best,’ and ‘champions of the west.’
Thus, at this juncture, it’s no closer to the mountaintop as it was before. Instead, fans were given fancy binoculars with a better zoom and defogging technology, allowing them to see it with crystal clear precision. The problem is, the earth shifts, the mountain is gaining elevation. For all the climbing, the peak has risen that much higher.
Something’s gotta give. Michigan arrogance has run its course. If Harbaugh wants to keep climbing, keep striving for the top, he’s going to need to hire a sherpa who isn’t going to let a blustery wind to stagnate the progression, and those aren’t exactly a commodity. And if he wants to regain the fans’ trust, he’s going to have to reach a new level of accountability — to the fans and to his own players — which means doing the unthinkable, and beating the Buckeyes, somehow, come season’s end.
But nothing in this world — college football or otherwise — is promised. Show Harbaugh the door and play coaching roulette at your own peril. And understand that the expectations you or I had about what he was capable of in Ann Arbor was strongly tempered in his first official appearance as Michigan’s head coach.
“I make no guarantees,” Harbaugh said at his introductory press conference in Dec. 2014. “I made a guarantee a long time ago. And I’ve learned from that. I’ve grown. I understand that you don’t make guarantees.”
What happened on Saturday hurts. And it will forever hurt. That’s an indictment on the staff, a statement to every arrogant scheme and play run against the Spartans. Everyone involved needs to make penance in their own right, but things can always be worse.
The problem is, there’s no telling whether or not — under Harbaugh or anyone else — it can ever be better.
