Michigan Football: Should Wolverines change approach to Ohio State?

It was interesting to hear Ohio State coaches and players talk about their preparation for Michigan football and it makes you wonder if UM is doing enough?

Thursday was the first day of Big Ten Media Days, however, the quote that got the most attention in the Big Ten conference came from Michigan football‘s Jim Harbaugh and he wasn’t in Chicago.

Speaking to a podcast Thursday, Harbaugh, getting set for his fourth season as the head coach of Michigan football, took a shot at former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.

Harbaugh said something to the effect that while Urban Meyer has won a lot of games and has a great record, controversy has followed the former Ohio State and Florida coach and that’s what stirred things up.

Now to start, what Harbaugh said is absolutely correct. People tend to forget or want to forget that Meyer was suspended at the start of last season for a reason. The whole Zach Smith thing was ugly and he weaseled his way out of responsibility.

No coach or program is perfect but Meyer has a lot to answer for over the years. But in the end, it doesn’t change the fact that his record was impeccable. He owned the Wolverines during his seven-year run and there is no debate about that.

It seemed that Meyer made beating Michigan football an obsession. If you listened to new head coach Ryan Day and some of the Ohio State players talk Thursday, it sounds like the Wolverines were constantly on their minds. Here is what Day said via Wolverines Wire:

"“The thing I learned from Urban as soon as I got there is: you’ve got to work The Game every day. And the way to respect the rivalry is to work it every day — and we do. It’s a part of what we do, if it’s recruiting or it’s periods that we have in practice — we call it ‘the team up north’ drill — where we work it in practice. It’s something we live every day. It’s something we always have in the back of our minds.”"

Certainly, Michigan does a lot of the same things. I am sure it talks about Ohio State all the time. But I am not sure the level of obsession reaches that of Meyer, which has apparently passed that on to Day.

This isn’t the first time this has been suggested. Former Heisman winner Charles Woodson said something similar last offseason, saying Michigan needs to put more emphasis on The Game.

Then, after winning 10 straight games in the regular season and coming in as the favorite, the Wolverines were trounced in an embarrassing loss at Columbus. Meyer exited the stage and now is a golden opportunity to turn the tide.

Meyer was better than Harbaugh, but there is reason to believe that Harbaugh could get the best of Day. At this point, we just don’t know.

What we do know is that Ohio State is the program standing in the way of all the progress Harbaugh and the Wolverines want to achieve. He even said on the same show Thursday that outside of Ohio State, his team compared very well to every Big Ten team. Here’s the quote:

“I think you find right now that Ohio State is the only team that has a better record than us, has a better conference record than us and has a better overall head-to-head matchup with us.”

Again, Harbaugh is 100 percent right. The Wolverines record compares very well against other Big Ten teams during this time period and if Michigan could have beaten Ohio State, it likely would have been Big Ten champs in 2016 and 2018.

The only thing I know is that Harbaugh and Michigan can’t afford another loss to Ohio State in November. The tide could turn in this rivalry, but the Wolverines may need to alter their approach.

While every game should be treated as important, certain contests should be given extra weight. Ohio State isn’t every team. It’s The Game and it has to matter more. Here is what Woodson had to say last year:

"“You know what, to be quite honest, I really feel like in recent years there hasn’t been the emphasis I’m used to being put on that game. Every game has been put on the same level as that game. That’s not the way we were brought up. Not the way we were raised around here. We had no shame in saying (we were going to beat Ohio State). And every time I watch our teams in recent years, it’s ‘oh, it’s another game.’ It’s not.”"

Like Woodson says, at times, it has just felt like another game for this program and that can’t be the case. The focus 365 days a year has to be on beating the Buckeyes.

Ohio State is the one thing standing in the way of everything Michigan wants on the football field. So frankly, if talking about it more and putting a greater emphasis on it will help, it’s worth a shot.

You can’t walk away from the pressure that is The Game. There is no downplaying it and maybe that is what Harbaugh has tried to do. Maybe none of this matters and Ohio State has just been the better team.

Regardless, things have to change and even though Harbaugh already handed over the keys of his offense, another potential change might be emphasizing The Game even more. It seems to have worked in Columbus.