A win is a win, and we should give due respect to the Spartan Seniors who completed their Spartan careers Saturday, but a 19-16 victory vs Maryland is as close as you can get to a hollow victory.
Mark Dantonio called the victory a “Program Win”, but sorry coach, beating Maryland was not a Program Win!
Maryland finished the season with a record of 3-9 overall, including a Big Ten record of just 1 win and 8 losses. Maryland’s only Big Ten victory was posted against winless Rutgers. As it relates to the Spartans, they finish the season with a record of 6-6 overall but just 4 wins and 5 losses in the Big Ten. Six victories earn the Spartans bowl eligibility, but sadly an invitation to a Bowl game that few will attend.
It was reported that 51,000 attended the game, but a visual check suggests the attendance was closer to 25,000 and when the game clock ticked Zero, maybe 20,000 were still in the stands. Imagine 20,000 to 25,000 in a stadium with a capacity of 75,000 or so? But that is what a program gets in return for just 4 wins during the Big Ten season.
As we look back at the 2019 season, there were no meaningful victories and nothing felt purposeful. The Spartans Big Ten victories came at the hands of Northwestern, Indiana, Rutgers and Maryland and only Indiana posted a winning Big Ten record of 5-4. At the bottom line, the Spartans Big Ten victories came at the hands of opponents with a cumulative Big Ten record of just 7 wins and 29 losses.
It was not a Program Win:
Mark Dantonio called Saturday’s victory a “Program Win” but sorry coach, with the greatest of respect, a bottom line threshold should be 8 wins & 4 losses overall, inclusive of a bottom line Big Ten record of 5 wins and 4 losses. So a victory vs Maryland that enabled the Spartans to post a record of 6-6 overall and 4-5 Big Ten does not qualify as a Program Win”. To most alumni it’s a failing grade!
I won’t go through all the stats because for the most part they fall into the bottom 50 percentile when measured amongst 14 Big Ten teams in Big Ten competition. Nevertheless, by all measures the stats are abysmal. When measured against 14 Big Ten teams, the Spartans Offense ranked #11 in scoring (19.8 Points per game), while the Spartans Scoring Defense ranked #7 (yielding 26.4 Points per game). That’s am upside down deficit of nearly 7 points per game.
Moreover, efficiency has abandoned the Spartans. The Spartans finished the Big Ten season ranked #11 in Turnover Margin with a negative (-0.44) and only Northwestern, Maryland and Rutgers were worse. And finally, as it relates to a stat that is the most reliable indicator as it relates to an ability (or inability) to control the Line of Scrimmage, the Spartans Rushing Offense ranked #12, averaging just 111.6 Yards per game.
I have great respect for Mark Dantonio, but to apply the term “Program Win” is frankly an insult to 500,000 alumni. Furthermore, the downward trend that has culminated in a Big Ten record of 17 victories and 19 losses over the past 4 years, has rendered former players, coaches, and 500,000 alumni around the world spewing. The administration of Michigan State University better take note.
If the President, the Board and the AD think 25,000 fans at Saturday’s game vs Maryland was a “one off” anomaly, then they are sadly mistaken. If there aren’t meaningful fixes implemented in the offseason, then the “new normal” will be disastrous decline in attendance and a dreadful drop in donations.
Spartans bottom line:
If President Stanley is unfamiliar with Ohio State or Wisconsin, he better click onto Google Map and find them on the map in fast order, and then set about to study how their respective Athletic Administrations have built consistently competitive Championship programs across the athletic spectrum.
Jim Harbaugh stoops lower than anyone thought possible:
Jim Harbaugh has orchestrated an abundance of idiotic and mindless gimmicks since becoming Michigan’s Head Football Coach, but none were any more ridiculous than untying the cleats of Ohio State, Running Back JK Dobbins in the 2nd Qtr.
Can you imagine a coach standing in front of his team during the week leading up to “the game” and saying: “OK, Carlo Kemp, when things get really bad, let’s untie the cleats of JK Dobbins at the bottom of a scrum. Got it?”. To which Carlo Kemp must have replied: “yes Coach, you can count on me”. Oh my…
Sure enough, 3 plays into the 2nd Qtr, Carlo Kemp attempted to untie Dobbins cleats at the end of a play, yet the Officials were not as mindless as Harbaugh and assessed Michigan with an “Unsportsmanlike Penalty” for minus 15 Yards. Just 6 plays later Dobbins rushed for 6 Yards and a Touchdown to increase Ohio State lead to 21-13.
For gosh sakes, what an asinine thing to do on a football field, a mindless idea to gain advantage, yet resulted in a critical 15 Yard penalty that “jump started” Ohio State to score another Touchdown. Yet such is the case of a desperate head coach, a mindless, self-absorbed Head Coach. Of course, “desperate men, do desperate things”.
Yet, that’s what Michigan paid $49 Million for. Not a strategist but a hi jinx artist, a prankster, but how much valuable practice time do you think Michigan lost preparing for such an asinine prank?
Last year Harbaugh lost to Ohio State 62-39, a 23 point deficit. and after having a year to prepare, yesterday Harbaugh lost to Ohio State 56-27, a 29 point deficit. The University of Michigan was obsessed with hiring a “Michigan Man” to become their Head Coach, meanwhile they should have searched for a Championship Coach.
Ryan Day is everything Jim Harbaugh is NOT. Ryan Day is a Champion. His team played like Champions yesterday and played like Champions throughout the season. Ryan Day is only the 7th highest paid coach within the Big Ten while Jim Harbaugh is the highest paid coach in the Big Ten and the 3rd highest paid coach in college football. But, Jim Harbaugh’s team didn’t play like Champions yesterday…they rarely do!
In fact, after 9 years coaching Power 5 Football (4 years at Stanford and 5 Years at Michigan) Jim Harbaugh has never won a Championship of any kind, not even a Division Title. Meanwhile, Ryan Day who had no alumni affiliation to Ohio State, executed a perfect regular season record of 12-0 and won a Big Ten East Title in his first season as Head Coach of The Ohio State University.
Give Ohio State AD, Gene Smith credit for another brilliant hire (Urban Meyer, who had no Ohio State pedigree or affiliation was his first).
Jim Hackett’s esoteric coaching search has rendered ordinary results:
Meanwhile Jim Hackett, a former Michigan player and Steelcase CEO was hired by Michigan to become interim AD for the sole purpose of executing some kind of esoteric, nuanced coaching search (at least according to Hackett). Yet then after creating a lot of PR drama regarding the search, while talking about Gantt Charts and Statistical Analysis, Hackett did exactly what everyone expected in the first place, he signed Jim Harbaugh a “Michigan Man” and inked a $7.5 Million per year/$49 Million contract.
What did Michigan and Hackett get in return for their investment? They got a coach who beats the daylights out of lower tier teams like Rutgers and Maryland, yet fall decidedly short in the biggest games vs Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin to name a few.
Jim Harbaugh is a dreadful 1-12 vs ranked opponents, and 1-3 in Bowl games while having lost the last 3.
And how about Don Brown’s Defense? Bown’s Defense yielded 567 Yards to Ohio State last season…and then yielded a whopping 577 Yards to Ohio State this season. On Saturday, Ohio State scored 14 points in the 1st Qtr…14 points in the 2nd Qtr…14 points in the 3rd Qtr…and 14 points in the 4th Qtr. And Don Brown gets paid the better part of $2 Million per year for that? I wonder how much time Don Brown and Jim Harbaugh spent practicing the art of untying JK Dobbins cleats with the hopes of gaining an advantage and being undetected?
And how about “Speed in Space”?. Yesterday, Shea Patterson, under the guidance of Josh Gattis, completed just 4 of 24 passes for just 55 Yards in the 2nd Half. It is estimated, Gattis will earn $1.3 Million with bonuses. But really?
Let’ make this clear, there is no “genius” in the Jim Harbaugh repertoire: he is an “old school”, stubborn, self-absorbed coach, who fashions himself as a latter day Bo Schembechler, yet with respect to the late Bo Schembechler, he had a dismal Bowl record as well, posting just 5 wins and 12 losses (29%) and of course, never won a National Championship.
Michigan’s bottom line:
So to all the Michigan partisan beat writers and talking heads who fawn at the feet of Jim Harbaugh, please drop the term “Great” from the Jim Harbaugh and Don Brown descriptors, because in brief, no coaches in the land “do less” with a bounty of 4 & 5 Star recruits than Jim Harbaugh and Don Brown!!!
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