Sunday Fun Day: The Fall

 

There is a law that governs all things across the universe which is that their is a beginning, and with that, an end. This story lives on infinitely throughout time. The Big Bang will be followed up by an end to all existance.  The Roman Empire eventually fell. The year 2020 began and will come to an end. All of these are undeniable truths to which no mortal man has the power to shift. Not even Jim Harbaugh. The man who still stands as the gold standard for Michigan quarterback play, the prototype "Michigan Man", has lost his team and Michigan has lost its way. The Rome analogy holds up pretty well to Harbaugh's journey in Ann Arbor. Like Caesar Augustus, who said "I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble." Jim Harbaugh found a Michigan program that for 7 years had been pulled in so many directions and styles of play, it had shattered to pieces. Within a year, the Maize and Blue winged helmets gleamed with the intimidation and nostalgia they once held long ago. Michigan was back and they were here to stay... so we thought. Harbaugh and the wolverines were 19-3 through his first 22 games. Where did it all begin to go awry? There is always that singular moment which marks the beginning of the eventual end. Let me take you to the height of Harbaugh's powers, a cold night on November 11th, 2016. Michigan was 9-0 and had a date with the Iowa Hawkeyes at 7pm in Iowa City. A win would push the Wolverines to 10-0 with only Indiana left on the schedule before a showdown with Ohio State to determine the Big Ten East Champion and most likely the conferences representative in the College Football Playoff. The Wolverines had smashed everybody who dared to stand in their way up until that point. A Hawkeye team who had just been plastered by a Penn State team that Michigan destroyed 49-10 early in the season was seemingly the next victim in Harbaugh's team's way. And then this happened.

I mention this game not as an Iowa fan rubbing salt into an old wound, but rather as a person who once feared the block "M" and who now looks right past it. Watch the players leave the field in the video. They are shocked. Stunned that somebody stood up to them. Julius Peppers slowly walking to the tunnel, head down, says it all. This program had for a year regained the perception of being nearly unbeatable. And with one kick, that perception faded.

To further prove that the Iowa game was the turning point for Harbaugh, Michigan barely beat a bad Indiana team the next week. A team that was legitimately equal to any team with championship hopes in 2016 no longer felt invincible. The next week proved to be the nail in the coffin on Michigan's season. A controversial ending in "The Game" eliminated the Wolverines from a Big Ten Championship birth and a shot at the playoffs. After a bid to the Orange Bowl, several players opted out to pursue pro careers. Michigan would lose 33-32 to Florida State as a result. So after a 9-0 start, the Wolverines dropped three of the last four and ended the season 10-3.

Since that game in Iowa City, Harbaugh is 30-19 at Michigan with a win percentage of 61.2%, good for 5th place in the Big Ten during that time. In Big Ten play Harbaugh is 22-14 since the 2016 Iowa game for a win percentage of 61.1%. The truth behind the numbers lies in these statistics. (Thank you Luke).

From ESPN.

Since 2015:

• vs. Ohio State: 0-5
• vs. Michigan State: 3-3
• vs. Ranked Teams: 11-16
• vs. Top 10 Teams: 2-12
• Big Ten Championships: 0

I had always given Harbaugh the benefit of the doubt, but those statistics are staggering. Yes, you do not expect be whalloping Ohio State every year but you're Michigan! Going 0-5 is unacceptable. Teams like Purdue and Iowa have had games where they laid the wood to the Buckeyes in the same time frame. Michigan should be able to beat them or at least stay in the games. The combined score of those five games against the Buckeyes is 126-221! That's almost a 20 point per game margin. They haven't even played this year yet either and those numbers will only get worse. That is not tolerable. 

With a locker room that is rife with turmoil (rumor has it Joe Milton told the staff he was leaving and would make Michigan pay down the road) there is no turning this program around. Jim Harbaugh's ora is gone. And once that happens to a coach, things that were once looked over come to light. His son who is on the staff is not deserving of a position. Placing his dad on the university payroll is odd to say the least. And Jim's antics are now no longer quirks, but annoyances to a once proud fan base. The run is over, Rome has fallen, but unlike Rome, the Colosseum (The Big House) still stands. It's the end for Jim Harbaugh, but not for Michigan.

Meanwhile, Harbaugh's possible predecessor Matt Campbell led his Cyclones into Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns with a possible Big 12 Championship game birth on the line. Big Cock Brock Purdy led the Clones to a win in the most Iowa State way possible, a made field goal by Connor "Ass"alley and a missed field goal by Cameron "Dick"er was the ultimate difference. Thank God for college football and giving us that matchup.

Iowa City hosted the Hero's game (which is still the stupidest, most irrelevant name for a rivalry game) between Iowa and the fighting Scott Frosties of Nebraska. An absolute dump of a football game ended with a Chauncey Gholston sack fumble of Adrian Martinez which Zach VanValkenburg (most Iowa name ever) plucked out of the air to seal a 26-20 win. Iowa kicker and best Nebraska tea bagger Keith Duncan had this to say after the game after it came out that the Corn Huskers grew mustaches for the game...

“They like talking a little bit, I think they’re too worried about growing their mustaches [rather] than playing football. That’s the difference between Iowa and Nebraska."

Thank you Keith Duncan for hating Nebraska even more than I do. The craziest part was that the mustache fiasco wasn't even the most non sensical thing Nebraska did on Saturday! Let me introduce you to "Clapgate". To fill the readers in, Nebraska center Cameron Jurgens snapped the ball over Nebraska quarterback heads three times and into the ground twice. When asked about this after the game Scott Frost had this to say...

“There was clapping going on on (Iowa’s) sideline,” Frost said. “Cam heard that clap and thought it was the quarterback clapping. We discussed it with officials and it didn’t happen in the second half.”

Scott..... let me hit you with a Monday Night Football "C'mon Man!"

Seriously though, there are usually 80,000 people in the damn stadium and you say Iowa coaches clapping caused your center (who has been benched for bad snaps in the past) to miss snap the ball 5 TIMES!?!? Frostys antics fired up old Captain Kirk who is becoming increasingly anal towards the young coaches in this league. Here's what the old ball coach had to say.

Hey Scott, meet Kelso.... Again!

That's six in row for the Hawkeyes over the Huskers and I feel great. Now onto the league standings.

Lets first point out that there is a new leader in the clubhouse! Tyler's consistency has been rewarded after six weeks with a spot in first place after a nice week. I slipped out of first for the first time this year but I rebounded with a solid week of 5-5 and 33 points. Brent has validated his place in the league with a huge week that saw him go 7-3 and gain 46 points! If not for sending in his picks backwards the last 4 weeks (a very Brent thing to do) he would be in second. The league vetoed his plea for all of the previous points to be rewarded. Blake had a bounce back week of 6-4 ending his 3 week fall while Luke, Teddy, and Buddy stayed consistent and remained within striking distance of the top. I would also like to congratulate Dalton on a nice week that saw him grab 32 points. 

And then there is Ben...

I have been waiting for Ben to breakout and make a run at first place all season long. The dude knows his sports! He continues to make picks however that make absolutely no sense. The perfect example is a text I received last week from Ben after Clemson vs Pitt was added to the schedule.

Ben locked 8 points on Pitt vs Clemson last week...

It's not even the fact that he misses these high point games, it's that Ben is so confident and doubles down on most of them! At this point he still has an outside chance to win, I heard Vegas has him at +2500 to win the league. I honestly want to see if he can maintain this run of never scoring over 26 points in a week. Ben I think you can do it bud👍.

Here are the lines.

The Lines this week present an unbelievable challenge and should be the trickiest week we have had thus far. I had to make seven matchup changes and honestly if something else changes before Saturday Im throwing in the towel. I was happy to see however that I will be spared of another Michigan line that saw the Wolverines as a favorite. The league in general has been duped by Jim Harbaugh all year long. Honestly I think Borimir best puts my thoughts into words...

Truer words have never been uttered and with that I'll  close this addition of... hold on a sec... Ben just texted me he's a lock to win the league at +2500. We'll see what happens! Good luck this week.✌