Michigan is 1-2 and struggling mightily heading into a Saturday night contest with Wisconsin … and the Big Ten is fighting to play, with COVID starting to pick up again. Maryland – Ohio State has been canceled, along with several SEC games, and there are questions as to how much longer the season will continue.
As of now, though, Saturday night’s game is on. Head coach Jim Harbaugh said his team would be ready to go this week … we tackle several of his Monday comments in News & Views format.
NEWS: Michigan is essentially out of the Big Ten race with five games to go following a loss at Indiana, its second of the year, but Harbaugh believes his team still has plenty to play for.
HARBAUGH: “Our expectation is to win this game. My enthusiasm and attacking this with our team, that's where we see the opportunity. Win this game, get prepared for it, expectations of having a great day today … get excited about a lot of things ... an opportunity for our team and to coach our team to build our team and put some tweaks — not major things but some really good ideas and tweaks, and we’re excited to put those in place.”
VIEWS: This was in response to how he felt he was doing as a coach in year six, with some noting the expectation was that he would compete for titles. He’s been close, but he hasn’t gotten over the hump and the fan base is restless. It seems as though he’s getting further from that goal the deeper he goes into his tenure, and while this is a young team, it’s hard to explain how disjointed it looks at times.
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The tweaks he’s talking about — that includes playing more young players, which he should in what’s becoming a throw-away year with opt-outs, injuries and COVID, etc. Some of the upperclassmen just aren’t getting it done, and it’s time to see what some of the young guys can do.
NEWS: The defense has gone without a sack in the last two games against two average-at-best offensive lines.
HARBAUGH: “There's opportunity to play, and guys are ready. Talented guys … we’ve talked about it before. Put them out there and let them play. That's what they’re here for. … “The scout team guys have been a pain, so let’s give them an opportunity, too. Other ideas and tweaks we’re putting in I'm super excited about, all for the coaching of the players to do what they came here to do and want to do ... play ball.”
VIEWS: He mentioned several beyond the d-line. Frosh Zak Zinter was Michigan’s best offensive lineman Saturday at Indiana in his first start, and he mentioned Joe Milton, Cornelius Johnson and Roman Wilson as guys he liked on offense.
But the defense needs to be better up front and apply more pressure. Redshirt junior end Luiji Vilain came on after junior Aidan Hutchinson went down and got better as the game progressed. He’ll have to play more with Hutchinson out. Harbaugh also mentioned other youngsters who will get their shots up front.
“Kris Jenkins, David Ojabo I think is ready to play and play fast. Get in there and give them some reps and get the lip to quiver a little, have the snot bubble coming out of the nose. Go play aggressive, hard for three plays, come out. If you’re playing well, you’ll get another three … aggressive, fresh guys out there that can roll.
“Taylor Upshaw I think had some real good reps, and so did Luiji, Gabe Newburg. Mazi Smith, Jess Speight, Chris Hinton … we’ll be giving all those guys the opportunity to go and see if we can't generate more pass rush.”
That’s just about everyone, so someone had better to step up.
NEWS: Redshirt sophomore quarterback Joe Milton threw for 344 yards in a loss at Indiana.
HARBAUGH: "Joe made some very good plays out of the pocket, some great throws. A lot of improvement … he’s making improvement just playing the game and in situational awareness. There’s still a ways to go there. He’s still learning, still making progress. It doesn't happen overnight.”
VIEWS: That includes knowing when to dive for the sticks on third down, knowing when to make the short throw to keep the chains moving rather than going for the home run … things a quarterback has to know to play winning football.
But Milton is the least of this team’s problems right now. He’s got all the tools and will improve. Right now, he’s locking on to his receivers and missing some throws, but he’s playing behind a makeshift line with no running game.
The weight of the offense is all on his shoulders, and he’s doing a pretty admirable job.
NEWS: Harbaugh was asked point blank if he was still interested in being the long-term coach at Michigan, informed that there was plenty of speculation surfacing about his future.
HARBAUGH: “I don't have any interest in listening to that stuff. …”I think you know me by now. I always like letting the action speak for what you have to say. I’ve always thought this — that action speaks so loudly that people can't even hear what you're saying. Let the actions speak as they have in the past.”
VIEWS: What he was trying to say was that he’s here and working hard to turn the season around. It’s clear, though, that the losing is wearing on him, and he shares the fan base’s frustration.
This is a tough one for A.D. Warde Manuel and the administration. It’s hard to recruit when the head coach appears to be a lame duck (his contract expires in 1.5 years), and it’s hard to justify his $7 million (or whatever it is) salary given the results, let alone in a time of COVID.
This is college football’s current soap opera, but it’s something they need to figure out sooner than later. Recruiting depends on it.
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