The Outback Bowl Showed Us Who Michigan Was this Year. It was Not Good

I have some stuff I want to write about this week, but it all takes a backseat to the abysmal performance I watched from my beloved Wolverines yesterday. Now, before I go on, I'm going to shit on them, but not for the whole piece. You'll see what I'm talking about when I get there. But, I will be shitting on them, their coaching staff, their execution and their overall play this past season for the brunt of my piece.

Here we go.

The Wolverines were matched up against South Carolina in the Outback Bowl yesterday. I went on our podcast, I told my friends and family, basically anyone that would let me talk about the game, how much better Michigan was at every single level compared to South Carolina. They have better players, better athletes, better coaches. This game should have been a cinch. I figured, as far as the Big Ten was concerned at least, this was their lone homerun. They had the Outback Bowl in the bag before the game was played. 

For 2 and a half quarters, that looked to be the case. Now, do not get me wrong, Michigan looked absolutely horrendous on offense all game long. They couldn't block. When they did block, the running backs were missing holes and getting taken down by the first tackler. The receivers got ZERO separation. But, the biggest problem, and this plagued Michigan all year long, was the horrendous play out of the quarterback. I like Brandon Peters, but he was AWFUL yesterday. The week leading up to this game, all the talk from people at Michigan was that Peters was super confident going into the game. Everyone asked him about the Shea Patterson transfer, and he said things like, "I don't care", "This is my job", "I feel like people don't even think I have a chance to start next year", all the typical stuff you'd expect a 19-20 year old QB to say.

Well, if yesterday was an open audition for him to grab hold of the job for next season, he failed miserably. He was not on target at all throughout the entirety of the game. He missed open receivers consistently. He stared down the guy he wanted to throw to repeatedly. He took far too many sacks. He held onto the ball way, way too long. He even struggled with the exchange to the running backs. It was as bad as you could play when you are basically playing for your job. He completed 20 of 44 passes for under 200 yards, 2 crucial interceptions and 0 touchdowns. That is a rough stat line. I know Harbaugh and his offensive coaching staff took the brunt of the blame, but there has to be a point where the player is held accountable. Yes, Harbaugh and Tim Drevno came up with a predictable, and awful game plan. But, Peters still needs to take the blame for those missed guys and dumb sacks he took. I mean, even John O'Korn took the blame after his atrocious play in the final regular season game. I haven't read much, I'm still very frustrated, but from what I've read, Peters just keeps saying he is looking forward to next year.

What really makes me angriest about the game, as I stated earlier, Michigan was in full control of this game midway through the third quarter. They had a 19-3 lead and were driving to go ahead by, at the very least, 19 points. I'm pretty sure that would have buried South Carolina. But Karan Higdon fumbled on the five yard line going in for a score. Everything changed after that, and the defense began to crumble. They had not really crumbled all year, save for the Penn State game. They were the unit that I could count on. They came up big almost all the time. After the Higdon fumble I thought, okay, the defense will stop them, get the ball back and just grind it out. Well, USC scored 3 touchdowns in their next 7 plays. Not drives, PLAYS. The defense was missing assignments all over the secondary. South Carolina started to look like one of the top offenses in the country all of the sudden. Michigan's defense had zero containment to the outside. They kept blitzing, which I love, but the players that were supposed to be outside, they were not there. They were lost. They missed assignments. They made the mistakes. It was a nightmare to watch.

Seeing those three scores in 7 plays was a microcosm of this team this year. They could never, ever put anyone away. They struggled with teams like Cincinnati, Air Force and, for a quarter at least, Rutgers. They never stepped on a team's throat when they had a lead. They had that chance yesterday, and they blew it. Sure, there were the 4 turnovers in the second half, but they should have still won that game easily.

While I have heaped a good amount of blame on the players, the coaches deserve it too. I already slammed Drevno's offensive strategy going into the game. He was so god damn predictable all year, so I don't know why I thought that would change yesterday. It was always a run up the middle or a 4 yard out pattern to a receiver. I love Don Brown's attacking style, but his lack of adjustment after South Carolina scored that first TD was appalling to me. He is usually so good at telling his guys what to do, but not yesterday. And Jim Harbaugh. This was as bad as I have seen him coach a game. I honestly don't think he took South Carolina seriously. I think it is fine for a fan like me to think that, but he is the head coach and he should never look beyond an opponent. Hell, he preaches that very mantra. The fact that he is coveted by so many pro teams is truly baffling to me after watching his porous decision making in the game. His disregard for adjustments, the players he chose to put out there, the players he stuck with, the fourth down stuff, the lack of having his players ready, the dumb penalties, that all falls on him. Harbaugh and his staff got outcoached by Will Muschamp yesterday. Let that sink in.

Now, with all this being said, I still am optimistic about next year. I heard that a reporter asked Harbaugh after the game if he had coached his last game at Michigan, and he said "No" immediately. Hopefully this stops all the dumbass talk of him to the NFL. He now has his kids in this program. He has his players. He has a very, very good, and very fast defense, where he only loses 2, maybe 3 starters. He has the makings of a good offense next year, if Patterson is as good as people say he is. QB is what this team lacks, and maybe this Patterson kid is the answer. Maybe Dylan McCaffery will shine in spring ball. Hell, maybe even Brandon Peters will get his shit together and figure it out, he is only 20 after all. Also, this team was incredibly young this year, and they gained a ton of very quality in game experience. Their defensive line is going to be ferocious next year. They have some solid linebackers. Keep your eyes out for Khaleke Hudson. He is so good. On offense, if they get a QB, guys like Nico Collins, Donovan Peoples Jones, Zack Gentry and Tarik Black are all back next year with a season under their belts, save for Black(injury). They have a stable of running backs too. Karan Higdon, Chris Evans, maybe Kareem Walker, some recruits that they snagged, they have a good amount of guys that can carry the ball. The offensive line should be much improved too. They damn well better be.

So, while I was/still am very pissed off about this team and this past season, yesterday was a perfect shit end to a perfect shit year. But, it was everything that plagued them all year. Hopefully they got it out of their system is what I'm trying to say. I do have faith that the players that come back and Harbaugh and his staff will be so pissed off about all the noise and nonsense that they hear this entire offseason that they will want to come out and prove that this past season was an aberration. I hope they come out with their heads on fire ready to destroy anyone in their way. They have a great opportunity to re announce themselves to the college football world when they open at Notre Dame September 1st. 2018 will be the deciding year for Harbaugh at Michigan. This will be the make or break season for him. If this team underachieves, then he deserves all the criticism he will undoubtedly get. I don't think he wants to deal with that crap, and I think he wants his alma mater to matter again in football. Lets hope the latter is what happens next year.

While I'm frustrated now, I still have hope because this is my team and I believe that Jim Harbaugh has too much pride to let this team go 8-5 again. Now I have to wait until September to see how this team comes out. They damn well better come out strong and fired up. That is what I expect.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has recovered from his late 2017 illness. Unfortunately, Michigan Football made Ty start 2018 by throwing up all over the place. 

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