Michigan Football: Talent gap with Ohio State isn’t as big as we think

Yes, I know. As soon as people read the title, they think I’m crazy. But I truly stand by what I said:  The gap between Michigan football and Ohio State isn’t as large as people think it is. Oh, there is a talent gap and a coaching gap, but that is all fixable.

If you think about it, it doesn’t really make sense why Iowa, Penn State, and Michigan State were able to beat Ohio State in the last decade. Yeah, people might say that OSU was taking it easy, but still. We’ve seen OSU take it easy on the Rutgers, Nebraska’s, Maryland’s of the world and still destroy them. That’s not an excuse.

Michigan football has more talent than Iowa, Penn State, MSU, and Wisconsin. Much more talent actually. Michigan has had the second-best Big Ten recruiting class year in and year out for the last 6+ seasons. It doesn’t make sense why inferior opponents like Penn State, Iowa, and MSU were all able to beat OSU.

I truly believe the only thing standing in the way of Michigan beating Ohio State is the quarterback situation.

Coaching and QB play is the difference

That’s all on coaching. I don’t care about the talent. Forget the talent. Sometimes, talent is overrated. I mean, look at what Alabama did to Ohio State in the national championship last season. Ohio State got destroyed, and their team was made up of great players.

For a lot of that game, the Tide just looked like they were playing with their food, that food being OSU. Why can’t U-M ever be efficient like that? Not even just against OSU, but in general? The Wolverines truly do have the talent to be an elite offense, but it just never seems to happen.

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It all comes down to development. Michigan football doesn’t need a roster full of five-star players to beat OSU. Oh, that would definitely help (a ton) but they need players who take “The Game” seriously. They need a coach who knows how to develop his players and who puts them in the best positions to succeed. It all comes down to grit and wanting to win “The Game.”

This year is the perfect opportunity for U-M to sneak in a win over Ohio State.

OSU has an inexperienced QB (and that factor frankly hasn’t been discussed enough) who is starting for them this season. The Buckeyes lost a lot of their starters on defense, and some offensive pieces as well.

Yeah, Michigan’s defense got an overhaul this season, but that should only help the Wolverines against OSU. These opportunities don’t come around super often, and the last few new QBs to start against U-M killed Michigan (Haskins and Fields), but this time can be different.

It all starts now.

We can talk about the talent gap all we want, but the talent gap isn’t changing anytime soon. Michigan fans might as well get used to it.

As long as Ryan Day is at Ohio State, the Buckeyes will have top recruiting classes every year. At some point though, coaching has to win out. A good game plan can beat more talent any day of the week.

Just look at the 2018 Super Bowl for example. It was the Rams vs. the Patriots. To anyone that was watching throughout the year, the Rams were far and away the better team. But guess who won the game? The Patriots. Why? Because coach Bill Belichick studied film, created a great game plan to stop the Rams high-powered offense, and put his players in the best position to be successful. We’ve seen many great examples of coaching and planning winning over superior opposing talent. Now is the time for U-M to do the same.

Do I ultimately think U-M can beat OSU this season?

The words can and will are two very different terms. It all depends on coaching. Harbaugh needs to come up with a great game plan and the players have to really want it. However, I’m not going to just give Harbaugh a W right away. He needs to prove it first. Let’s see what Harbaugh can do this time around (try #7) on November 27th.