18 — Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
In lopsided loss, Michigan falls flat on
its face
Two weeks ago, the Michigan
football team reached its lowest
point at the Big House in Jim
Harbaugh’s six-year tenure with a
shocking loss to three-touchdown
underdog Michigan State.
It stooped even lower on
Saturday night, this time to the
tune of a 94-year record. For
that, it has only its own lack of
execution to blame.
The Wolverines were chased off
their own field from the opening
kickoff. By the end of the second
quarter, Michigan trailed No.
13 Wisconsin, 28-0 — its largest
halftime deficit in the history of
Michigan Stadium, which opened
in 1927. It only got worse as the
night went on, resulting in a 49-11
loss.
For much of the first half,
Harbaugh stood on the sideline,
bent over, hands on his hips. It
was a far cry from the coach who
triumphantly returned to Ann
Arbor in 2015 and wore his heart
on his sleeve.
On
the
field,
his
players
appeared to do the same. The
Wolverines gained a mere one
yard of total offense in the first
quarter, and junior quarterback
Joe Milton didn’t even complete
a pass to his own team until the
Badgers led 28-0. Things weren’t
much better on the defensive side
of the ball, as Wisconsin strolled
into the end zone with little
resistance on multiple occasions.
Asked to put his finger on
where things went sideways, fifth-
year senior captain Carlo Kemp
shrugged.
“Things just happened,” Kemp
said. “Things played out like that.”
Added Harbaugh: “We were
thoroughly beaten in every phase.
Didn’t really do anything well.
And did not play good, did not
coach good. Not in a good place
with the execution, not in a good
place adjusting and what we were
doing schematically. So not a good
place as a football team right now
and that falls on me.”
The words echoed Harbaugh’s
sentiment following last year’s trip
to Madison. After getting blown
out 35-14, he proclaimed Michigan
was “outcoached and outplayed.”
The same words applied on
Saturday night.
The storyline leading up to
this game was whether or not
Badgers’
quarterback
Graham
Mertz would play after his
recent bout with COVID-19. As it
turns out, that barely mattered.
Michigan seemingly folded in
the first quarter, and by the end
of the night, its body language
spoke louder than the lopsided
scoreboard.
Playing for pride in the second
half, the Wolverines tarnished
their only spark — a four-play
touchdown drive led by backup
quarterback Cade McNamara —
with a running into the kicker
penalty on fourth-and-five. The
ensuing dejection was apparent.
With heads hanging low, the
Wolverines finished the fourth
quarter with zero yards of total
offense. By contrast, their porous
defense surrendered 163 in a
lifeless garbage time showing.
Understandably, the results left
Harbaugh floored.
“All things, thoroughly, (are)
not where they need to be in
terms of execution,” Harbaugh
said. “So that starts with, as I said,
starts with me, starts with our
coaches, and also every person
here. Understand what we’re
supposed to do and then going and
executing it.
“If somebody’s not executing
it, then why is that? Are we
communicating, are we coaching
it well enough? There’s nothing
right now to say that an acceptable
job is being done right now. Players
or coaches.”
Following
Saturday
night’s
embarrassment, Michigan is 1-3
for the first time since 1967. More
specifically, it is 1-3 in Big Ten
play for the first time since 2014.
Harbaugh’s predecessor, Brady
Hoke, was fired after that season.
The
next
month
could
determine
whether
or
not
Harbaugh endures the same
fate. He has the back half of a
pandemic-shortened season to fix
things, and at this point, it seems
the best place to start is in his own
players’ heads.
“Right now, my concern level’s
nowhere near worried or nervous
or anything,” Kemp said. “… Am
I worried? No. We’ve shown in
the last three weeks, even though
what the outcome has not been
what we wanted at all, we’re still
here.”
Michigan is quickly learning
that showing up isn’t enough.
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Editor
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
A dejected Michigan team showed little fight in Saturday night’s 49-11 loss to No. 13 Wisconsin.
Michigan’s road to this point started in 2017
Injuries aren’t an excuse, they’re an
indictment
Three weeks before the Big
Ten’s season began, Wisconsin lost
its starting quarterback.
With all that’s happened since,
it’s easy to forget. But Jack Coan, a
steady if unspectacular starter for
the Badgers in 2019, injured his foot
in practice and was declared out
indefinitely. His replacement was
sophomore Graham Mertz, a four-
star recruit. In Wisconsin’s first
game, he lit up Illinois, completing
all but one of his passes.
After that game, the Badgers
took another hit — a COVID-19
outbreak that infected 12 players
and 10 staffers, including Mertz,
his
backup
and
coach
Paul
Chryst. While Mertz was back
for Saturday’s game, several other
starters had yet to be cleared,
including
cornerback
Rachad
Wildgoose, running back Garrett
Groshek and defensive end Garrett
Rand.
Watching
Wisconsin
play
against Michigan, you couldn’t tell.
The final score was 49-11, a
beatdown in every sense of the
word. Wisconsin was better at
every position (except punter).
Most notably, what both teams
put on the field was a depleted
version of their normal selves. The
Badgers could make sure that didn’t
derail the game. The same couldn’t
be said of Michigan.
The Wolverines took the field
without both their starting tackles
(Ryan Hayes and Jalen Mayfield)
and both their starting defensive
ends (Kwity Paye and Aidan
Hutchinson, the latter of whom is
out for the season) due to injuries.
Boy, was it obvious.
“There’s guys that, they came
to Michigan cause they wanted
to play,” Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh said Monday. “Some are
playing earlier than they thought
they would, and there’s been some
good play. Those are some of the
areas ... to build upon.”
In other words, the replacements
need improvement.
Without
its
anchors,
the
offensive line struggled to open up
holes for the running game. The
Wolverines gained just 47 yards on
the ground.
On defense, the effect was
equally catastrophic. Michigan as a
whole has struggled to get pressure
on the quarterback all season, but at
least Paye was everywhere on the
field.
Fifth-year senior Carlo Kemp
(normally a defensive tackle) and
junior Taylor Upshaw handled the
primary duties at defensive end.
They combined for seven tackles,
one tackle for loss and one sack.
As a comparison, Paye finished
with five tackles, a tackle for loss
and a quarterback hurry against
Indiana — a game he left early with
an injury.
“There’s a lot of room for
improvement,” Upshaw said last
Monday. “Obviously when you
have Aidan and Kwity, two guys
you really rely on, go down, it’s
gonna affect the game, but I have
confidence in the backups and
even the guys behind me so it’s
just gonna have to be one of those
things where you have to step up.”
While Michigan’s issues go
beyond the injuries, it’s clear that
the loss of Hayes, Paye, Hutchinson
and Mayfield is really hurting it.
That’s not to say it’s an excuse.
Losing three of the best players on
your team all at the same time is bad
luck, but the way the Wolverines
have played without them is an
indictment of their depth.
Back in 2018, Michigan had
Rashan Gary and Chase Winovich
at defensive end, both of whom are
in the NFL now. Both struggled
with injuries at times that season,
but the Wolverines had Hutchinson
and Paye behind them to step in.
On the offensive line, players like
fifth-year senior Andrew Vastardis,
senior Chuck Filiaga and Hayes
backed up stalwarts like Jon
Runyan, Ben Bredeson and Cesar
Ruiz as recently as last year. This
year, they’ve had to give starts to
true freshman Zak Zinter.
On Saturday, Wisconsin had four
different players garner at least 50
rushing yards, and that was without
Groshek — its leading rusher
against the Illini. The Badgers’ top
rusher Saturday was Jalen Berger,
a true freshman playing in his first
college game ever. He had 87 yards.
John Chenal, a fullback with three
career starts, had 71 yards. Danny
Davis, normally a backup wide
receiver, had 65.
“If you’re not embarrassed
with those numbers, then you
shouldn’t be part of this fricking
game,” defensive line coach Shaun
Nua said on the Inside Michigan
Football
radio
show
Monday
night. “I can’t sleep, can’t eat. It’s
just unacceptable. ... That is not
Michigan football.”
But right now, it is Michigan
football. With the kind of depth
the Badgers have, and the kind the
Wolverines don’t, they barely had a
chance.
If Paye, Hayes and Mayfield are
able to return soon, the Wolverines
will get a boost. But that boost will
mean little for a team that’s already
1-3.
Wisconsin is a shining example
of a team that has depth and knows
how to use it, the exact sort of team
equipped to do well in the COVID-
19 era. Michigan used to be that
kind of team, too, but now, it’s the
sort of team that throws things
at the wall and prays something
sticks.
That’s not an excuse, it’s reality.
It’s an indictment of coaching,
development, recruiting, retention,
all things a top Big Ten football
team has to have.
One
thing
is
clear:
The
Wolverines are no longer a top Big
Ten football team.
____________________________
Gerson can be reached at
amgerson@umich.edu or on
Twitter @aria_gerson.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Defensive end Taylor Upshaw tried to make up for key absences on Saturday.
T
alk to people from
Jim Harbaugh’s
first Michigan
team, and you’ll
hear stories about a man that no
longer seems
to exist.
There’s
the four-hour
practices
and the
submarine.
There’s that
time he got
stopped at
the door of
the Mormon
Tabernacle
Church in Utah for wearing
cleats, and that time he gave a
speech from Shakespeare before
the Ohio State game. You’ll
hear how he got so involved in
drills that he pulled a hamstring
at practice, and staffers who
followed him from Stanford will
tell you about how he ran them
off the racquetball court.
It’s a picture of intensity, focus
and competitiveness — and a
man who enjoys it all. It’s also a
picture that could sell to recruits.
Because back then, back when
everyone assumed hype would
crystallize into reality, Jim
Harbaugh recruited like he was
running a program that could
compete with the Ohio States
of the world. His 2016 class
featured the No. 1 player in the
country, Rashan Gary, a current
NFL star in Devin Bush Jr., and
contributors up and down the
board.
Ben Bredeson became a
captain. Mike Onwenu, Khaleke
Hudson, Sean McKeon and
Josh Metellus were multi-year
starters. Lavert Hill and David
Long were stalwart corners.
Carlo Kemp, Chris Evans and
Nick Eubanks are three of the
team’s best players now.
On signing day, Harbaugh
held an event at Hill Auditorium
that featured Derek Jeter, Tom
Brady, Ric Flair, Todd McShay,
Lou Holtz, Mike Shanahan
and a veritable stable of other
celebrities. Then a year later, he
signed a class that ranked even
higher, according to 247Sports.
Never has that felt further
away than Saturday night, when
Harbaugh got to his Zoom press
conference after a blowout 49-11
loss to Wisconsin and was out of
positive things to say about his
team.
“We were thoroughly beaten
in every phase,” Harbaugh said.
“Didn’t really do anything well.
And did not play good, did not
coach good.
“Not in a good place with the
execution, not in a good place
adjusting and what we were
doing schematically. So not a
good place as a football team
right now and that falls on me.”
The bricks on Michigan’s road
to a 1-3 record — to a perpetual
bottom that keeps falling out —
were laid in that 2017 recruiting
class. The stars from that group,
for the most part, are either gone,
or have failed to live up to their
potential, or both. And, after a
disappointing 8-5 2017 season,
the hype that fueled Harbaugh’s
recruiting fizzled out.
Michigan went from fifth to
22nd in the recruiting rankings,
per 247Sports’ composite score.
The Wolverines didn’t take a
defensive tackle in 2018 and took
just three defensive ends. Lo
and behold, on Saturday, with
both their starting ends out with
injury, Wisconsin made a living
off running jet sweeps and end-
arounds.
“We didn’t set an edge all
night in that,” Harbaugh said.
“And as I said, there’s things that
we weren’t containing.”
That cornerback group that
struggled in perpetuity against
Michigan State and Indiana? The
highest-rated recruit Harbaugh
managed to get at the position in
2018 was Myles Sims. He plays
for Georgia Tech now. The two
four-stars Harbaugh got in 2017
— Ambry Thomas and Benjamin
St-Juste — aren’t with the
program anymore.
As much as the misery of
Michigan football in 2020 comes
down to failures in coaching,
execution and togetherness right
now, this wasn’t especially hard
to see coming. If you don’t recruit
at a high level — and if you don’t
recruit depth — you’re going to
struggle. Simple as that.
And if the high-level talent you
do recruit either leaves or fails to
pan out (Aubrey Solomon, Drew
Singleton and Luiji Vilain were
three top-100 recruits in 2017, to
name a few), it’ll get even worse.
Not every recruit will pan out.
But this isn’t good enough.
The average upperclassman
the Wolverines started on
offense Saturday had a .8782
composite score on 247Sports
— firmly in three-star range.
On defense, it was .8923 — just
barely above the four-star
threshold.
Want to find where this
program’s struggles start? It’s
right there. You can trace a line
straight through to the late
hours of Saturday night, when
Harbaugh sat in front of a Zoom
camera and said, “Every part is
not close to where it should be.”
Some of that is out of
Harbaugh’s control. The
pandemic hastened departures
for Thomas and receiver Nico
Collins. Starting tackles Jalen
Mayfield and Ryan Hayes, and
starting defensive ends Kwity
Paye and Aidan Hutchinson,
missed Saturday’s game with
injuries. But the lack of ability
to withstand such losses falls on
Harbaugh’s shoulders.
So, too, for that matter, does
the bad body language — hung
heads and sullen looks — and
failure to react to adversity and
the complete, utter mess we’ve
seen for the last three weeks.
All of that is on Jim Harbaugh,
and $8 million a year should buy
Michigan more than this.
Here’s a challenge: Name
three good things about the
Michigan football team right
now.
There’s Ronnie Bell, who
continues to defy any reasonable
expectation. Then there’s … well,
punter Brad Robbins seems to be
doing a good job.
Five days earlier, Harbaugh
bristled when a reporter asked
about his lack of a contract
extension, and whether he wants
to be at Michigan over the long
term. Those questions will keep
coming now, in waves. But if
Michigan keeps playing like this,
the question can’t be whether he
wants to be at Michigan over the
long term.
It needs to be whether
Michigan wants him.
Sears can be reached at
searseth@umich.edu or on
Twitter @ethan_sears.
ETHAN
SEARS
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Coach Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines fell to Wisconsin by a score of 49-11 at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, falling to 1-3 on the season.