Given the ridiculous amount of absurd hype that preceded the Jim Harbaugh era at Michigan, it’s pretty hard for anyone to live up to expectations. While a lot of the quirky things that Harbaugh does off the field and the extra-curricular activities he partakes in are actually great for the sport of college football, it only works when he takes care of business on the field, and he’s not doing that.
Michigan has two third place in the B1G east division finishes thus far in the Harbaugh era, and this year, it appears a fourth place finish could very likely be imminent.
They will now, as significant underdogs, host #8 Ohio State on Saturday to complete the regular season, and will do so having fallen out of the national rankings.
The loss at Wisconsin dropped Harbaugh to just 1-6 against top-10 teams. Jim Harbaugh has been an underdog five times at Michigan. He’s 0-5 in those games.
Also, since the beginning of the 2012 season, Michigan is 1-18 as an underdog. So really how much has changed since the Brady Hoke era? Jim Harbaugh is certainly worse against the Wolverines’ two biggest rivals, Ohio State and Michigan, than his predecessor was. It’s been well documented already.
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan can change big-game narrative next two weeks. https://t.co/2TpjX2GOiB pic.twitter.com/HHCnRwf9Pq
— Bill Bender (@BillBender92) November 15, 2017
Don’t get us wrong, it’s wonderful that Jim Harbaugh took a 5-7 team and immediately made them 10-3 his first year, and that he took his team to Rome last April, with a trip to Normandy and Paris planned for next year. It’s great that Harbaugh takes on the ultra-conservative and stuffed-shirt college football status quo too, it’s just that unless you’re doing all of that and winning, it can be labeled a distraction. Harbaugh was even asked about potential distractions, should he not get results, in the summer, and he totally dodged that question.
Being a well-rounded, interesting person, a life-long student of the world is much more important than football, but unfortunately, football is what he’s paid the big bucks to do. His Halloween costume/uniform will be considered cute and quirky if/when he wins the big games. In the meantime, it’s just another log to pile on the Jim Harbaugh is overrated fire.
It’s not his fault that every single thing he does is so over-saturated with media coverage, and even his banal minutia is ridiculously over-analyzed. Often times, documenting what he does can seem pointless, because it’s already been exceedingly documented.
He can’t control that. Yes, he seems to love the attention, but he doesn’t forcibly make people talk about him. For three years, people haven’t been able to shut up about Jim Harbaugh. On Saturday, he can finally show us why he’s worth talking about so damn much.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.