Michigan Football: Grading Harbaugh and the Wolverines 2018 season

Michigan football saw its season end in disappointment but after going 10-3 what grades do Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines deserve?

When it comes to the 2018 Michigan football season, there are a lot of mixed feelings. In some ways, the Wolverines took big steps forward and in other ways, they offered the same old results.

Michigan did a lot of great things in 2018. At one point, it won three straight games over ranked teams and knocked off some recent Big Ten powers in Michigan State, Wisconsin and Penn State.

However, the Wolverines also lost their three biggest games of the year and the games against Flordia and Notre Dame were winnable. Michigan football lost to Florida by 26, but trailed by three and was in Gators territory looking to tie or take the lead in the middle of the third quarter.

Things snowballed — kind of like they did at the end of the season. That’s why finishing strong matters. Even if fans were disappointed by the Peach Bowl berth, had Michigan football dominated the game, the program would have a much different feel heading into the offseason and 2019.

Now, Michigan is surrounded by many of the same questions as it was at the end of last season such as can UM win the big game? Can the Wolverines beat Ohio State? Can Jim Harbaugh ever win a championship?

Michigan did win some big games. You can’t tell me that the Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State games weren’t big. I get those teams (except Penn State) didn’t end up being as good as we thought, but those three programs were ahead of Michigan in the Big Ten pecking order the past few years and now UM has established that it’s the second-best team in the league.

Now the goal becomes reaching the top and knocking off Ohio State. In order for that to happen, some things need to change. That much is obvious, yet before looking ahead, let’s take a look back and hand out grades for the offense, defense, special teams and coach Harbaugh.