Michigan Football: What went wrong in playoff throttling

Michigan football was outmatched and physically dominated by Georgia in the College Football Semi-Finals losing 34-11. This is Harbaugh’s 5th straight Bowl Loss in an embarrassing show of effort by the Wolverines. 

Before I begin this article, massive credit to Kirby Smart and Georgia for the game they played. Right off the bat, they were the more explosive and dominant team in what was predicted to be a close and physical game both ways.

Unfortunately, Michigan football ends a magical and historic season on the wrong foot, but there is a lot to look forward to next season. J.J. McCarthy provided a real spark and the young bucks Andel Anthony and Donovan Edwards looked spectacular in the backend of the game.

That being said, that might be the only thing that went right for the Wolverines. Michigan’s award-winning offensive line was absolutely manhandled and abused all game giving Cade McNamara no time in the pocket. The true difference-maker was the trenches which we predicted, but nobody expected Michigan to be so severely outmatched.

So what exactly went wrong? Well, almost everything for the Wolverines. No getting around how poor Michigan performed, so let’s highlight some of the bigger difference makers in this routing of Michigan.

What went wrong for Michigan football?

No getting around that Kirby Smart outcoached Jim Harbaugh. While there were plenty of errors induced by the players that were out of Harbaugh’s control, you cannot deny that Harbaugh really let the game get away with poor decision-making.

Kirby came out firing offensively, and Michigan responded by being dominated on a 4th and 4 which resulted in Georgia starting at the 50 and getting more points on the board early. That was the true difference-maker in this game and any momentum would be depleted for the rest of the game for the Wolverines.

Michigan was outmatched everywhere, no point in addressing each individually because we know how the story goes, and it’d be redundant.

But as a quick flash-notes esque rundown, Michigan was manhandled on the line offensively and defensively, the Wolverines were shut down running the ball becoming one-dimensional and seemed allergic to forcing turnovers, instead hand wrapping mindless turnovers to Georgia.

This will be a long, dreadful offseason but fortunately, there is a lot to look forward to. There is also some controversy to keep an eye on, most specifically at quarterback. It’ll be interesting to see how Michigan recovers defensively with some major players pursuing the NFL Draft.

All in all, though, let’s be thankful that the Wolverines provided such a wonderful season which resulted in beating Ohio State and winning a Big Ten Championship.

Let’s also thank the juniors and seniors who worked their tail off to get Michigan into a position to compete for a National Championship. Have a fantastic New Year, and hopefully Michigan can ride some momentum going into next season.