I tell my 6-year-old not to spill the milk. And gosh darn, the next thing that happens, they spill the milk.
— Jim Harbaugh
Gosh darn, that leaking lactose almost cost Michigan a second straight football game. But Indiana proved U-M defense intolerant at just the right time, and it didn’t happen.
There are two ways to look at Michigan’s at-times torturous 27-20 overtime win at Indiana. The first is full of thundercloud fury and righteous disbelief.
How can they struggle this much? Fifty-eight yards passing? Sixteen penalties? Overtime, against a team Ohio State smoked by 28 and Penn State by 31? Whoo, boy, this is uglier than a bellicose Buckeye with Copenhagen-stained teeth.
There’s plenty to worry about, no doubt. Michigan can’t throw the football much these days, and just decided not to try against the Hoosiers, creating 58 yards through the air. Seventeen of those came on fifth-year senior quarterback John O’Korn’s playground heave while running for his life.
The Wolverines played nearly 35 minutes of football with 10 points on the board, against a defense that short-circuits the scoreboard against teams with an offense. And 16 penalties — whether you’re playing in Bloomington, Columbus or Antarctica — are a clear sign that the you’d better keep these milk spillers away from the new carpet.
Worries? Oh, there are worries. Nail-biting Wolverine fans might be gnawed to the elbow come next Saturday’s game in Happy Valley. Others might not even look in, fearing the Wolverines’ photos showing up on milk cartons.
Jim Harbaugh can’t afford to pursue that type of panic. And he isn’t. He’s got a 5-1 ball club that’s fighting for its life, a too-young collection of considerable talent that isn’t scaring any Big Ten foes at this point.
Harbaugh sees the big picture — and he remembers.
He thinks about his freshman year, and redshirt freshman year, and redshirt sophomore year. He wasn’t what he became, and he’s seeing players trying to get there.
“I wasn’t a finished product, by any means,” Harbaugh recalled. “I don’t think I could have even gone out there as a true freshman, like some of these guys are. But they’ve got something special.
“If you can dig down, dig deep, and stay in the moment, not look for a soft shoulder, crying, or an excuse to be made … that’s something special.
“We can grow. Our best people will be on it — our players and our coaches — and we’ll forge ahead.”
Harbaugh isn’t trying to shine up Michigan’s shortcomings. He sees them, and he’s all over them in practice. The Sour 16 penalties will draw all sorts of scrutiny in the film room. The lack of a consistent offense and a passing game that got all but ignored in Bloomington will continue to demand work.
Even the defense — which saved the Wolverines time and time again in this half season — will draw plenty of scrutiny for its Flag Day contributions and late breakdowns that allowed 10 points in the final 3:27 of regulation.
The big boss isn’t whistling past the puddle of Borden’s best on the kitchen floor. He’s mopping it up and understanding that nobody’s drowned in it.
“It’s a process,” Harbaugh insisted. “They like being around each other, I can tell you that. They like practicing hard, and they like playing hard. They like leaving it all out there on the field. Those are all good things to have. We’ll keep forging on.
“I’ve been around young ball clubs before. We’ve got to become a more disciplined football team. We know it. We see it. We’re coaching it. We’re talking about it. We keep taking strides.
“When guys dig down, you feel like you’ve got a heck of a chance.”
They’ve also got a heck of a challenge over the next six weeks. Penn State on the road? Wisconsin at Camp Randall? Ohio State in The Big House?
On paper, those are sour setbacks you couldn’t sweeten up by filling Michigan Stadium to the brim with strawberry milkshake.
Everybody insisted, Michigan couldn’t come off a second straight 10-win season, flood the NFL with Wolverines and not stumble a bit. They were right — and at the time, they weren’t factoring in losing a starting quarterback.
That’s where Harbaugh’s crew stands. It’s not like there aren’t plusses — a better-than-expected defense, junior tailback Karan Higdon putting 200 yards rushing on the board, flashes from young performers all over.
But it’s not going to be easy. More often than not, the Wolverines will be hanging on by their fingernails against the Indianas of the Big Ten and taking spills versus the big boys.
“It doesn't have to be that way,” Harbaugh noted. “We can grow, and we can learn. We will.”
In the meantime, a few rolls of paper towels in the travel bags are advisable.
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