Michigan football: Others starting to see what Jim Harbaugh saw with this year's team
So, Michigan football hasn’t played a ranked team. That's a data point. The Wolverines’ schedule isn’t going to give them one anytime soon.
At least not before U-M travels to Penn State. That isn’t until November. But to say we can’t figure out some things about this team before then?
Wait, didn’t I recently write that there was little to learn until the Wolverines play a team with similar talent? I did, after the Nebraska game; U-M's best performance of the season, by the way, to that point.
Then U-M followed that game with their dominant win over Minnesota on Saturday night in Minneapolis.
“Best football team I’ve seen in 11 years of being a head coach,” said P.J. Fleck, the Golden Gophers’ head coach. I’ve never seen a football team like that — that deep.”
Hyperbole?
Maybe. Or maybe he’s got his reasons. One thing is for certain: his praise was unsolicited. He’s also not the first coach to say such lofty things about these Wolverines this season.
Jim Harbaugh was asked about Fleck’s assessment Monday.
“Good,” he responded. “Thank you?”
Not that he isn’t grateful. He just wasn’t sure what to do with the information, and the “thank-you” rolled out as kind of a question.
As he often does, Harbaugh quickly deflected after his initial response.
“I have a lot of respect for Minnesota,” he said. “I think they're a heckuva good team. We were really on our game.”
Sorry, but no. Minnesota is not a heckuva good team. They are a middling team, and that’s generous. But what else was Harbaugh to say?
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You might make the same argument about Fleck’s words. That he had to credit U-M for the 52-10 pummeling. And he did; graciousness is the general currency between coaches.
Yet he didn’t have to go so far. Then again, he hadn’t lost like that in his six previous seasons at Minnesota. The closest came the first year he took over the program, when Northwestern and Wisconsin shut his team out in consecutive weeks to end the season.
Those teams, though, didn’t have a quarterback like J.J. McCarthy, or the depth on the defensive line, or similar overall speed. So maybe Fleck was simply speaking from his view on the sideline without agenda.
What is certain is that his view, along with the view of a few other coaches who’ve lost to U-M this season, is more nuanced and studied. If folks like me and folks like national pundits — even former players and coaches — can't get a full handle on who these Wolverines are, at least the coaches have spent a week studying film and game-planning and then competing up close.
And what’s on film from a coach's perspective is usually a better gauge of a team, or at least a team’s potential. Speaking of a coach’s perspective, Harbaugh told us at the start of this season that his roster was the most talented he’s had at U-M.
Yes, he can say some eccentric things. And, yes, he likes to build up his players during his media sessions as times. But he often stays away from making statements that might be construed as a dig at a former team.
Yet he said this year’s group was the most gifted anyway. He took that chance. I’m guessing because he believes it.
Again, it’s not easy to beat a team 52-10, even a Minnesota in a down year. Nor is it easy to knock off a proud Nebraska team at its own place 45-7.
Only the best teams in the country can win like this. Like Ohio State has in the past. Or Alabama has. Or Georgia.
What makes the dominant road wins more impressive is that the Wolverines weren’t winning like this at home against less talented teams before the Big Ten season started. In other words, it feels like they are just getting started.
Harbaugh wouldn’t say that Monday. But he did agree to this:
“(We are getting) better each week. See that in practice. Feel like we can keep on that trajectory.”
The last part of that quote is key here. It’s an admission, of sorts. Words that let us know that Harbaugh and his team think what just unfolded in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Minneapolis was nice, sure, but not anywhere near their ceiling.
That's the thing about a trajectory, right?
For U-M, the last two performances make the case that trajectory is steep. Fleck likened the Wolverines to a boa constrictor, that once in the game, it gets harder and harder to breathe.
Yeah, it would be nice if U-M had played a team with at least similar talent, or even a ranked team. Not that Harbaugh is worried about it or concerned about the national college football analysts who say they aren’t sure what to make of his team.
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“Whatever is being said, all that kind of thing, we’re just trying to get good at football,” said Harbaugh. “Don't really pay too much attention to what’s being said good, what’s being said bad.”
And why should he?
It won’t change the schedule. Which means for now, the best data we have to figure out these Wolverines remains on film.
Because film is truth, not to mention a refuge for coaches … and scouts, who see well more than a dozen likely NFL draft picks on this team — for next year’s draft. And that doesn’t include some underclassmen who could end up as higher draft picks than anyone who’ll get drafted next spring.
Harbaugh, for what it’s worth, told reporters in the summer that he thought his roster could produce 20 picks for the next draft, and break Georgia’s record of 15. Whether U-M does or not won’t decide the national title. Or who gets to the College Football Playoff.
No team has won the CFP, however, without a bevy of Sunday players. That’s the baseline. U-M is most certainly at that baseline. Fleck got a good view of it last week.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
Next up: Hoosiers
Matchup: No. 2 Michigan (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) vs. Indiana (3-2, 1-1).
Kickoff: Noon Saturday; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
TV/radio: Fox; WXYT-FM (97.1), WTKA-AM (1050).
Line: Wolverines by 33½.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Others seeing what Jim Harbaugh saw with this Michigan football team
