Great article on exactly how I feel right now

Submitted by Mr. Elbel on

I know the attitude from this board isn't normally a good one in reference to Nick, but he came out with a pretty good piece this morning on mlive. It pretty much perfectly describes my feelings right now in the wake of Monday's result, despite not at all agreeing with Harbaugh on rooting for the B1G.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2015/01/column_ohio_states_at…;

Some highlights:

 

"Harbaugh doesn't need any more inspirational tactics, the guy basically dreams in motivational speeches. But for good measure, he just got one. As the Harbaugh era begins in Ann Arbor, Michigan's biggest enemy is now the top force in the game.

Maybe Harbaugh and new strength coach Kevin Tolbert add a few more bench reps to the conditioning list after Monday's result. Maybe a few more wind sprints. Add another plate on that squat rack.

"You want to be like those guys? Then get to work.""

 

..."So here it is. Ohio State has the makings of a college football machine at the moment. Michigan State is going through a nearly unprecedented run of success.

The trek toward the top of the mountain, for Michigan, is a long one.

But the Wolverines also have a football coach who still wears cleats.

Let the climbing begin."

 

Let's do this. 317 days. Go Blue.

bronxblue

January 14th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^

Yeah, pretty much.

Though I will continue to beat the drum that MSU is going to take another step down this coming year.  We're still talking top-25 team, but it'll be interesting to see how they handle significant attrition and the lost of Narduzzi considering that defense clearly has a ceiling against elite teams and I don't see that offense being much better than it was this year to compensate.

maize-blue

January 14th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^

My thinking is somwhat close to this as well. Somebody on here posted in another place that in 2016 they will lose Cook and a couple of key pieces and that should be a season most likely for a drop off. I think they are still decent in 2015, but they aren't getting though OSU. The 2013 season was their high water mark and I think the Narduzzi loss will have a big effect. The guy was as big a personality as Dantonio.

Tater

January 14th, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^

I don't see denial at all.  I see people waiting for regression to the mean.  We have all watched Sparty try to sustain excellence before.  This is the best they have been since Duffy Daugherty retired.  

The bottom line is that Sparty built their program on the backs of those who sabotaged Michigan's recruiting in 2008-2010 and the resulting momentum they gained.  Having their Super Bowl be an "auto-win" for six of the last seven years has helped them keep their momentum.

Dantonio has done a nice job there, but it's about to get a lot tougher for them.  Michgan, Penn State and Ohio State were "down" for a few years.  Now Ohio State is the National Champion, Penn State is on its way back and Michigan is about to take a huge leap back into elite status.

At their very best, Sparty will be a team that loses three or four games a year when Michigan, OSU and PSU are elite teams.  All it is going to take is one bad year for Sparty fans to turn on Mark Dantonio.  They have already forgotten that they ever sucked.  

"Denial?"  Not a bit from this end.  Congrats to Mark Dantonio for another year of "almost."  Have fun recruiting instate against Jim Harbaugh.  Good luck in Ohio agianst Urban Meyer.  Have fun recruiting PA against James Franklin.  Have fun trying to combat "Narduzzi hangover" when coaching the defense.  

Sparty's window for "elite" status is starting to close.  They blew it this year.  Welcome to the "Hall of Very Good." 

maize-blue

January 14th, 2015 at 4:19 PM ^

Exactly. It's not a coincidence that a large part of Sparty's recent success has come during a not so successful period of Michigan football.

Jonesy

January 14th, 2015 at 6:28 PM ^

Exactly, 'look who theyre losing?!?'  Unheralded 3 stars who nobody wanted and who sucked at first and then became stars.  How are those hard to replace?  The only people they can't afford to replace are Dantonio and perhaps Narduzzi. This year we find out that either Narduzzi was a stud and they will be hurting without him or Narduzzi was just a dude and it was Dantonio all along. Doesn't appear to matter one bit what players they lose.

VintageBlue

January 14th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^

They beat Baylor a meh Nebraska team and......?

Right.

Obviously Dantonio is going to keep MSU at a level where "Sparty No" is a thing of the past but they lost their marquee games at home and away this year.  They lose their guru DC and despite the success, they still can't recruit at a top level.  When Harbaugh rights the ship and starts taking 3 out of 5 from MSU they won't have that gimme against UM to prop the record up to double digits anymore.  They'll be good but having 6 years of flacidity from an archrival is an easy way to elevate good/very good to great.

I really don't mean to denigrate MSU.  They play the games on their schedule and win most of them but the mid-October free lunch program ended when Harbaugh was hired.

Get Jim Harbaugh

January 14th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^

I have 100% faith in Harbaugh. If we had Hoke still, or anyone else for that matter (well, except maybe Miles), I would not be excited very much. These next eight months are going to be brutal.

AmayzNblue

January 14th, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^

I think it's pretty clear that money was not his primary motivation. He could have named his price up to 8-10M realistically at several NFL teams. He wanted to come home. That gives me hope that he will be around for much longer than many rivals believe. 

StephenRKass

January 14th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^

I think this is exactly right. So far, Michigan hasn't proven anything, Michigan hasn't been anything, for some time now. But if anyone is going to move us in the right direction, it is Harbaugh.

I look forward to the day when the Big 10 is the place football players want to go . . . when Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, and Wisconsin are all competitive and on the top of the mountain. No half measures will do. We need the best facilities, best coaches, and best players out there, if we want to truly be the "leaders and the best."

Bodogblog

January 14th, 2015 at 12:05 PM ^

I don't like the constant 1969 references either.  That's got nothing to do with today.  You invoke tradition and history in its broadest sense, and yes several specific events to paint a broad picture of motivation; but you should never take a specific event and say "everything's shaping up to look like this, let's be motivated by it and win."  You always play for your current teammates and your own greedy, selfish desires. 

Bodogblog

January 14th, 2015 at 1:15 PM ^

It's a bit of a mock, but not far from literal.  I know the players hate losing, but I didn't see enough guys who just refused to lose.  The Fuck You I'm Not Losing guys.  Selfish is OK in my book (not to paraphrase the incredibly overused - often incorrectly - Wall Street speech), there's nothing wrong with wanting to win and being absolutely hell-bent on it.  Hyper competitives want to win for themselves in addition to their team.  Did Harbaugh duel with Durkin for 8 days on the basketball court for his team?  No, he wanted to win, can't stand losing.

Receivers that rip the ball out of the sky.  LB's who create contact at the line and push ballcarriers backward on critical 4th and 1's.  RB's who will get the first down just because Fuck You I'm Not Losing.  They seemed to overthink technique and assignment and not the win or loss result of each play.

ChiBlueBoy

January 14th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^

I get what you're saying. My view is that in the spectrum of greed vs. aversion, the truly competitive people hate losing more than they enjoy winning. They have to avoid the pain of losing, so they insist on winning. I guess I don't see that so much as selfish or greedy. I see it as insisting on winning for it's own sake and, goddammit, if I have to drag every other MFer on this team with me, I will fucking do that.

mgoblue0970

January 14th, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^

Really you guys?  It shouldn't take years.  The cupboard is overflowing for Harbaugh. 

From my perspective, Michigan is soft right now.  Toughen them up, make practices competitive rather than hand clapping cheerleading sessions -- change the culture of the program in that direction and there are some wins alone. 

 

Jonesy

January 14th, 2015 at 6:30 PM ^

Agree, we have one question mark--quarterback.  If that gets answered well then this team should beat every team not named MSU and OSU and at the very least put up a good fight against those two.

mgoblue0970

January 14th, 2015 at 9:43 PM ^

I really don't even question QB. Look, Morris did really, really well for not having any coaching direction, development, and 2 coordinators. He's somewhat mobile and can throw the damn ball. The other 2 guys are gonna push him in camp. I think there's a ton of upside at QB with the raw talent they possess and the new staff.

Jonesy

January 15th, 2015 at 7:38 PM ^

If Morris is anything better than average it will be a surprise to me.  He has done really, really horribly so far and has given no indication that he will be any good.  There's no reason to expect anything more from him than speight or malzone.

93Grad

January 14th, 2015 at 1:35 PM ^

People think that Harbaugh makes us automatically competitive with Sparty and OSU when we are starting from miles behind both those programs.  There is no other coach I would rather have than Harbuagh but it is going to take years for him to make us consistently competitive with those other two programs. 

Its me Dave

January 14th, 2015 at 5:08 PM ^

The second Hackett introduced JH as the new coach, Michigan automatically became a spoiler risk to OSU.  Given the current players, Hoke's history of playing The Game pretty close and HARBAUGH, I think chances of ruining the year for a top 5-10 OSU team are pretty damn good right now and for the foreseeable future.  Those are the sort of wins that sustain a fanbase through a couple tepid years of rebuilding.

DCGrad

January 14th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^

In The Game in nearly a decade? We won in 2011 and lost in 06, 12, and 13 by slim margins.  Not that I needed a reminder why I don't read his writing.

nappa18

January 14th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

A loss is a loss but just for the record, since 2001, when the bad streak began: 2001lose by 6 I think, 26-20, 2002 wasn't it 14-9, we win in 03, 2004 was not close (37-21), 2005 we blow a late 21-12 lead and lose 25-21, 2006, lose 42-39, 2007, Lloyds last game lose 14-6 with Hart and Henne banged up, 2008 and 2010 were Rich Rod coached blowouts (42-7, 37-7?). Somehow we kept it fairly close at home in 2009 losing 21-10 I believe. 2011 win, 2012, lose by 5, 26-21, 2013, ouch! lose by 1. Even the last game we trailed by one score in the 4 th qtr.

So in the last 14, admittedly while only winning two, there were only, "only", 2 real "blowouts.

FWIW.

Blue Mike

January 14th, 2015 at 1:31 PM ^

If you look past the actual score, I'd argue that 2007 and 2009 were closer to the "blowout" category than "equally-matched" that the score shows.  That was the height of the Tressel-ball "do enough to win" era.  He knew in 2007 that Michigan wasn't mounting an offense to score any real points, so his offensive gameplan was ultra-conservative.  Same thing in 2009; he knew the only way Michigan was winning was by OSU making a bunch of mistakes, so he went conservative again.  I remember watching both games thinking Michigan had no chance to win and that OSU was in complete control.

Even watching the game the past 3 years hasn't really felt like Michigan was OSU's equal, or even close to it.  Sure, the score was close in 2013, but there is a reason that Hoke went for 2 rather than overtime.

Rivalry games tend to be closer in score than expected because of all of the emotion surrounding them.  But don't kid yourself, we aren't close to OSU right now.  There is a lot of work to be done between now and next November.

nappa18

January 14th, 2015 at 9:03 PM ^

Didn t mean to imply, and I don t believe, that we were as talented or well coached as Ohio in those non blow outs. Just saying, we were close enough to pull a game or 2 out. Even in 2009, we lost 21-10 but check me out, this is strictly from memory, we were down 14-10 with Forcier moving us.

93Grad

January 14th, 2015 at 1:38 PM ^

this is way too close to a moral vistory type argument which shows just how far off we really are.  The fact that we have to point to "not getting blown out" as a sign of our competitiveness with OSU is just plain sad.  By every other measure (head to head, winning percentage, championships, bowl wins, recruiting, etc) we are not even close to OSU as a program right now and haven't been for most of the decade.

The_Mad Hatter

January 14th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^

you have to beat the best.  That is the only silver lining in OSU being the defending NC's in 317 days.

It will serve to motivate the team, the coaches, and everyone associated with the program.  I can't wait for The Game next year.  It is going to be one sweet victory for Michigan.

MGoGrendel

January 14th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^

where we had great success against Ohio. Many times they would come in undefeated (or 1 loss) and we would beat them. Earl Bruce got fired because he couldn't beat us.

They were "the best" te week before we played them and we won. It will happen again. We can beat their best.