Saturday night I watched the Penn State-Michigan game because I watch every Michigan game. I'm a lifelong super fan as you all know by now. College football season is my favorite sports time of the year, and it gets no better than watching Michigan football for me. They are not always the best team, but they are my team and I will follow them to the ends of the world.

With that being said, Saturday night was rough. I knew Michigan's offense was bad, but this was, quite possibly, one of the worst performances I have seen from their defense. I was leaning on that defense to keep this game within reach. That didn't happen. They just could not stop anything Penn State did. Penn State ran and passed at will. It was tough, and I was frustrated after the game. John O'Korn played a better than he has since the Purdue game, but it still wasn't good enough. Their run game in the second half was non existent. Their O line could not block. And the defense, as I have already said, got shredded.

With all of this being said, and watching Michigan get trashed, people who claim to be "true" Michigan fans need to chill out with the skepticism of Jim Harbaugh and his coaching staff. I just do not get these people attacking him on a daily basis now. I was one of the very few people that did not want Michigan to go after Harbaugh, for fear that he would leave after 3 or 4 years, which he still may do. But, he has, for the exception of 2 games, has this team ready to compete and play every Saturday. This team is up almost all the time. Harbaugh inherited a team that was so poorly coached by Brady Hoke that I expected them to win maybe 6 games in his first year. He won 10, counting their bowl game. They would have won 11 if not for a muffed punt against Michigan State, who was a playoff team that year. His second year there, still with mostly Hoke recruits, he had them in the playoff conversation all year. Even after they blew that game at Iowa, they still had a shot. Sure, they got screwed at the University of Ohio State, but they still played in a New Years Six bowl, and would have won if Jabrill Peppers had played. Harbaugh and his staff also turned Peppers into a Heisman finalist. They also turned Wilton Speight into a legit Big Ten QB. They made Jake Butt an even better tight end. Jehu Chesson and Amara Darboh both became NFL draft picks after 2 years under Harbaugh and his staff. The defense only got better, even after DJ Durkin left to coach Maryland. I loved the hiring of Don Brown, and even after Saturday's performance, I am still a big Don Brown fan. So the backlash, the hate, the scorn, the questioning from all kinds of places need to stop.

David Pollack was one of the first people to call him out after this year's Michigan State game, saying he was very bad against rivals. This is the same David Pollack that thinks women shouldn't be allowed to be football broadcasters and play by play callers. So whatever he says, I brush it aside because he is a chauvinist pig. Screw him.

Paul Finebaum has been Harbaugh's biggest critic for three years now, but he is a total douchebag moron, so who in the hell cares what he says. He is always making some hot take, or claiming he is going to leave for the pros because he "can't hack it in the college game". I ask Paul Finebaum though, how many college football teams have you coached? Even better, how much football have you played in your life? Also, how is your alma mater, Tennessee, doing at football right now? You happy with Butch Jones? At least Michigan is relevant. How relevant is Tennessee now? So whatever Finebaum says, just brush it aside. He is ESPN's newer version of Skip Bayless, who is a racist moron.

Then I saw an article this morning saying that, over the past 11 games, Butch Jones and Jim Harbaugh have the same record. So the hell what? That has absolutely nothing to do with their coaching abilities. They just happen to have the same record, over 11 games, but I would venture a guess that Michigan has played much, much better teams. Also, Michigan, with 2 exceptions, does not get blown out or make bone headed, late game decisions like a Butch Jones coached team does. Again, that "stat" is nonsense.

To bring it all home though, for these idiots calling out Harbaugh and his staff, do you really want to go back to the days of Rich Rod or Brady Hoke or even, end of his career Lloyd Carr? First, Lloyd Carr was an amazing Michigan coach. He won a national title and was always ranked and always won, at least, 8 games a year. But, near the end, the college game, what with the spread offense and utilizing speed over size, had passed him by. His time was up, and he walked away. But Rich Rod and Hoke turned this program into a very mediocre program. Rich Rod came in, tried to change the whole culture, into a spread option team, and it was a disaster from day one. Big time players transferred and we were left with undersized guys that were ill fit at their positions. Remember Steven Threet and Nick Sheridan? How about Tate Forcier? Those Michigan teams were horrendous. They were disgusting to watch on offense, and they couldn't really stop anyone on defense. In Rich Rod's first year he went 3-9. He followed that up with a 5-7, then a 7-6. Then, he was fired, with just cause. His record in three years was 15-22. He also had a horrific Big Ten record. The team was in the tank, and they went out, after trying very hard to get Harbaugh and Les Miles, who both turned them down, brought back a former D line coach, Brady Hoke. In his first year he seemed like the perfect fit. Michigan went 11-2 and won the Sugar Bowl. Denard Robinson was great. Their defense was much better. Then, in Hoke's second year, Robinson got hurt and they had to turn to Devin Gardner. Gardner was fine, the defense was getting even better, but they stumbled to an 8-5 finish. They couldn't close out games, and the defense spent way too much time on the field. In Hoke's third year Gardner fell apart, got hurt, Hoke left a concussed Shane Morris in a game, the offense was completely stagnant and they limped to a 5-7 finish. I saw their last win that year live, at Northwestern, and that game should have been the last that Hoke coached. That game was atrocious, and they won. Hoke was fired, due to a decline in wins every year, and the Shane Morris incident, and his record after 3 full seasons was 24-14. He had a decent record, but the team was regressing and getting worse every year. He clearly did not have what it takes to be the coach of a big time program. Also, that Shane Morris incident will stay with me forever. That was a horrific thing to watch.

After Hoke was gone, Michigan, with an new AD, went out and did everything they could to get their man, Jim Harbaugh. And, after a few weeks of speculation, Harbaugh took the job. As I said, I was a skeptic, but I was also a bit excited. Hoke did not leave the cupboard bare, especially on defense, and with Harbaugh's reputation as a motivator, I was curious to see how he was going to do with these players. He has also been given carte blanche to basically do whatever he wants, within the NCAA rules. They opened his first year at Utah, and even while taking a loss, I was optimistic that this team could be decent. They ended up finishing the regular season at 9-3, with the only losses being to a very good Utah team, the muffed punt game and getting blown out by a very good University of Ohio State team. They then hammered Florida in their bowl game to finish up at 10-3. That was much more than I expected. Than we had last year. They jumped out to 9-0, blew a very close and ugly game to Iowa, then Speight got hurt, and then they got screwed by the refs at the University of Ohio State. They finished the regular season at 10-2, and made the Sugar Bowl. Speight played that game hurt, Jake Butt tore his ACL in the first quarter and Jabrill Peppers didn't play. They still had a chance to beat FSU, but they couldn't finish them off. They ended that season with an identical record to Harbaugh's first year, 10-3. It was a "frustrating" year, but I was happy to be back to expecting great things from Michigan football.

Coming into this year, losing 17 starters total, I was very interested to see how they would play. They opened by hammering Florida, but they did not look good on offense. They actually had 2 defensive touchdowns in that game. The defense looked great. In fact, the defense has looked really good all the way up until last Saturday. They have shut down everyone, even Michigan State, except for Penn State, who is really good by the way.

But, after getting blown out, people are all up in arms, and they are taking aim at Harbaugh and staff. Where we sit today, they are outside the top 25, as they should be, and they are 5-2. So, through 2 and a half seasons, Harbaugh's record at Michigan right now is 25-8. He has surpassed Hoke midway through his third season. He surpassed Rich Rod's win total midway through his second year. And this year, this team is so very, very young. The critics want to come at Harbaugh because he is a big personality, but why aren't these same people, the Paul Finebaum's or David Pollack's of the world, coming at Jimbo Fisher or Ed Orgeron or Dabo Swinney or even, Butch Jones. FSU was preseason number 3 and they are 2-4 right now. They say, "they are down to their second team QB and they have played a hard schedule". Michigan is on their second string QB, and they too have played a hard schedule, including 4 road games. Ed Orgeron may have turned LSU around lately, but they barely beat Syracuse and got beat at home by Troy. Why aren't these "experts" calling for his head. Dabo Swinney won the title last year, but his team got beat at Syracuse in their last game. They say, "well, he lost his star QB", but so has Michigan. Butch Jones has become a joke, but I never ever hear Paul Finebaum truly bad mouth him the way he attacks Harbaugh. Finebaum is so in the bag for ESPN and the SEC, it is disturbing. What about Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma? His team started out hot, but the same week Harbaugh was getting trashed  for getting beat by MSU in a rain storm, Oklahoma got beat by Iowa State, who was a 30 plus point underdog. The game was in Norman too. Also, Oklahoma hasn't looked great the past 2 weeks against Texas and Kansas State. Where is the Lincoln Riley scorn? How about Tom Hermann at Texas? All these guys give him a pass because it is his first year, but Texas is 3-4 and they are as abysmal as Michigan is on offense. What about USC's head coach. They got beat by more than Michigan did, yet all the talk on ESPN, Bleacher Report, whatever sports program or magazine or website you read has only Michigan getting crushed stories. USC has been just as inconsistent as Michigan has been, but they don't get the hate that Michigan does.

I know that Harbaugh is a big personality, as I have already said, and is a big name, but Michigan fans, and the media, need to chill out. He is doing very good things with this team, and I think, maybe even next year, this team will be back to being contenders, as long as this staff sticks around. And as far as the media goes, all they do now is hot takes. We are talking about people who continue to allow Lavar Ball on TV. These are the same people that suspend Jemel Hill when all she was doing was using free speech. These are the same people that just want clicks on their websites. I'm still fully on board with Harbaugh, and remember, I was one of the very few who did not want Michigan to hire him. The rest of the season is going to be frustrating. Hell, Rutgers is coming to Ann Arbor on a 2 game win streak, Minnesota has a good defense, Illinois always plays them tough, they have to play Wisconsin in Camp Randall and there is always the University of Ohio State to end up the year. But, hang in there. Hopefully Harbaugh sticks around, goes either 7-5 or 8-4 this year, then comes in next year with a team that should be back to winning double digit games.

This is just my long winded way of saying chill out. Things will be just fine in Ann Arbor, and Jim Harbaugh is the right man for the job.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He recently saw the power of Michigan's offense live. It was dreadful.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.