Michigan Football: Harbaugh to blame for Big House blunder?

Like many on Monday, I’m still trying to make sense of the play that sent the state of Michigan into a frenzy over the weekend.

Some of the extremists threw death threats and over-the-top reactions directly toward Michigan football punter Blake O’Neill via social media, which I find sickening and flat out embarrassing. Others are living in the realm of denial, trying to cope with the devastation by considering it a moral victory that if not for a one-in-a-million play, the talk today would be of the Wolverines’ potential for a playoff appearance.

Could the blame potentially lie with coach Jim Harbaugh? Yes. Now, I can’t recall a more well-liked coaching hire by a fan base of any team in recent history, so I can’t imagine this criticism is going to go over well with readers but let’s look at the facts. If Brady Hoke’s team lost Saturday’s game…if Rich Rodriguez’s team lost Saturday’s game…maybe even if Lloyd Carr’s team lost Saturday’s game in that fashion, the ol’ ball coach would be public enemy number one.

The criticism wouldn’t be about how an Australian-born punter bobbled a snap or how he failed to fall on a loose ball but instead how the coach didn’t have his players prepared for such an event, despite coming out of a timeout for the game’s most pivotal play.

Live Feed

Bolt Beat

Harbaugh mentioned many other scenarios in his post-game press conference but never discussed the potential of a botched snap with his punter in the huddle pre-play. That’s quite the oversight. The punting unit was clearly not in max protection despite the Spartans showing a

heavy

punt block. And even if MSU

wasn’t

coming after the punt, why wouldn’t the Wolverines

already

be in max protect with 10 seconds left in the game and the ball at midfield??

I’ve always believed that a good coach will win you seven-out-of-10 close games regardless of the sport. Managing the game, keeping your players mindful of situations, play calling, etc.; a good coach can determine the outcome of most one-score games. Maybe Saturday’s loss is part of the 30 percent that “gets away” from Harbaugh, but if you look at the game-deciding play and analyze what went wrong, the coach didn’t put his players in the best situation to be successful.

I believe Harbaugh is the right guy for the job and I believe he has already exceeded many people’s expectations — including mine — for success after the first six weeks of his first season. I also think he will go on to do great things at the University of Michigan in the coming years. However, we as a fan base cannot commend Harbaugh for his successes and then completely neglect his shortcomings. If you’re still looking for someone to blame for Saturday’s 27-23 blunder in the Big House, look no further than the man in the khakis.