"The Game"
It stirs up passion, anger, hate, meanness, viciousness and is the epitome of rivalry. And, while I think that the level of vitriol between the fan bases of Ohio State and Michigan respectively, has gotten a out of hand, I do always appreciate the annual tie between the two schools. Two Universities that need each other, that thrive off the other's existence, and who, like it or not, would not be what they are now without the other school being there to goad them.
But one of the two, I'm looking at YOU Michigan, has not been living up to their responsibilities of late, and there's even been talk that this is no longer really a rivalry game, but more of a "remember when" game where Michigan annually tries to bring back the ghosts of greatness, only to have them hammered back into the grave by the machine that is the Buckeyes right now.
The wings are clipped, if you will.
But why does it feel like the gap between the two schools is not being bridged? And, no Jim, it's not just that Ohio State played better than you on Saturday, it's that they ARE better. Whether you consider this an insult or not, it's true. If you cannot understand that then you are possibly incapable of remedying the situation as a whole.
The facts are this: Ohio State has embraced the present and future of college football while Michigan and Harbaugh are being skull-drug into it kicking and screaming all the way.
The is before you get to player analysis, before you realize that the last, great Michigan play-maker was....Mario Manningham? Before you realize that coaching staff does a horrible job developing O-Linemen, before you even begin to talk about whether or not Shea Patterson is a capable QB or no, or whether the defense is really all that they're hyped to be.
Ohio State is 5G, Michigan is dial-up. All Michigan did this year was try to add-on AOL.
There's a lot of pride in Michigan surrounding having a coach that's a "Michigan man". This is code for, someone who understands how Bo Schembechler coached the game and wishes to emulate that." History is great, and every school should recognize and honor theirs, but when it becomes an obsession to the point that it hinders your growth it's time to realize that you've got this all wonkered and it's time to embrace some change.
You can, and should, keep your tradition while modernizing on the field. But you have to recruit right, you have to bring in coaches who can properly develop players, and there's scant evidence that the current Michigan staff is up to the challenge.
That doesn't mean that they cannot game-plan well. Because, and this sounds funny in a game that was a 56-27 rout, they actually DID have winning game plan, and the right plan for beating Ohio State, on Saturday, but they didn't have the horses to pull it off.
What they did well:
1. Scheme the passing game. Michigan had open receivers all day. Peoples-Jones and Bell were wide open at times. If only they could have caught the ball on a more consistent basis.
2. Contain Chase Young. Twitter was melting down over 'holds' on Young, but the fact is the O-Line did a good job containing him. They were so focused on this they forgot the rest of the game however.
There will be a lot of things from this game that other teams will study and try and replicate. IF they have the talent Ohio State might be in a little trouble because the blueprint is now out there.
But that still leaves us with the question: WHY is Michigan not improving?
Before we answer that, I want to make this statement: ABSOLUTELY the program is in better shape now than when Harbaugh inherited it from Brady Hoke. The talent level is higher all around, the coaching is better, etc.
But we appear to have hit a plateau. Jim Harbaugh is getting perilously close to the "Glen Mason Zone" that zone where you raise the bar, but then flatten out at 8-4 or 9-3 and cannot seem to find an answer to improve from there.
Here's Harbaugh's coaching record at Michigan:
2015 - 10-3 Bowl: Citrus (w)
2016 - 10-3 Bowl: Orange (l)
2017 - 8-5 Bowl: Outback (l)
2018 - 10-3 Bowl: Peach (l)
2019 - 9-3
Seeing a trend here?
It is possible that 10-3 is the best that Harbaugh is ever going to do at Michigan. His BEST year in college coaching was his last year at Stanford, where he went 12-1 and won the Orange Bowl. Given that the B1G is tougher than the Pac-12 I cannot see that being replicated at Michigan any time soon.
Can this be fixed?
Honestly, I'm not sure. On paper Michigan SHOULD be able to compete with the elite tier of FBS schools every year. They SHOULD be a "machine" at the level of Ohio State, Alabama, Clemson. The budget and infrastructure is there.
But the results on the field are not. And the changes needed to fix this go way beyond just firing Don Brown. They may require a new head coach and a new direction, something that gives Michigan fans the heebie-jeebies because of the Rich Rodriguez error. But something that probably needs to happen anyway.
Whatever they do they need to get it right, or risk accepting taking a back seat to the Buckeyes and claiming Michigan State as their true rivals, which some have already suggested.
I still think there are sparks of a rivalry there with Ohio State but, for now, Michigan fans are fox-holed and Ohio State is winning the battles all over the place. What both schools need to realize is that this rivalry is much better when both schools are good. You WANT this game to determine who's moving to the B1G Championship every year, you WANT CFP consideration to be on the line.
It's up to Michigan to make that happen. The Buckeyes are doing their bit, as we'll see in the coming weeks.
Go Blue.
