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ESPN College Football Experts Receive Davis and Kirk herbstreit recently participated in a conference call to answer questions about hosting the Masters College GameDay this weekend, while discussing several other topics.
Much of the discussion inevitably ended around the Michigan Wolverines football program and head coach. Jim Harbaugh, and the disarray in which they find themselves. Davis and Herbstreit each tried to diagnose what was going on in Ann Arbor, the latter even being asked at one point if he still thought Harbaugh “should always be the guy” in charge.
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“I would like to think they can turn the tide and [Harbaugh] turns out to be the type we all think he could be when he first arrived, ”Herbstreit said. “Anyone who thinks they can’t train is crazy.
“They have to keep looking for elite players. When I think of Michigan at the height of Bo [Schembechler] and Gary [Moeller] and Lloyd [Carr], I am thinking of recruiting.
“I think about the state of Ohio and Michigan, and how 60% of them would go to Columbus, and the other 40% would go to Ann Arbor. I ask our guys this week to go back and look at the Michigan roster and their two depths back then.
“When these coaches were riding, they had players from Ohio. I’m looking at the list now and I see Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. I’m not saying they don’t play good football, but there is just a very different roster.
“I like to think it’s the guy [Harbaugh]. I would like to think they can turn the tide and I keep hoping. ”
Herbstreit has been a staunch Harbaugh supporter in recent years and has made it clear on numerous occasions how much he would love to see Michigan and the head coach succeed.
He repeated it once again on this week’s call, stressing that “no one wants to see him do better than me outside of the Michigan family.” Herbstreit also said he wanted Michigan and Ohio State to play with “whatever is at stake everywhere” again, calling the situation a “dream scenario.”
The analyst compared what is happening now with Harbaugh to his days at Ohio State under the guidance of the head coach John Cooper.
“Back then, every misstep was ‘Cooper fire’,” he recalls. “Didn’t you convert in third place?” We have a “Cooper fire”. The defense gave up a touchdown and we got an “all fire”.
“As a player you constantly hear the negativity surrounding your schedule, but I don’t know if that affects players today. At the time, it bothered us more than anything.
“I have no way of describing what’s going on [with Michigan]. Hopefully they’ll be inspired and ready to play against Wisconsin, but it’s been tough watching those last two games.
Davis had similar thoughts when he tried to diagnose Michigan and Harbaugh’s problems. He reminded everyone how high the expectations were when Harbaugh was hired in 2014, while also highlighting some of the impressive accomplishments they have made on the pitch over the past five years.
“The people who tell you Michigan wasn’t good are wrong,” Davis began. “They were good. The problem is, they brought Jim to the big boys and to the championships, and they’re not far from that level.
“I just don’t see their identity on the offensive. I don’t know if they’re not totally comfortable with what [coordinator] Josh [Gattis] trying to do and there is too much mix and match, or if it is inexperience in a quarterback.
“I would also say that I noticed on the telecast last week I think there was a quote from [defensive coordinator] Don brown – I didn’t hear Don say this directly, so I don’t want to be too critical in case I didn’t get the reference – but there was a reference to the fact that he didn’t want to become something that he did not believe in.
“And I think the discussion was about playing so many men. In my opinion, a coach’s job is to either get his players to play at the level they want in the pattern they want or correct the pattern so they can play at it.
“They haven’t been able to do that recently against elite teams or even against really good teams like Indiana and Michigan State. I’m not about to fire Jim Harbaugh or he needs to change.
“I think Jim Harbaugh is a very, very good coach, even though he didn’t live up to the expectations of winning championships. I think even him would say that. That doesn’t mean he’s not a good trainer and it doesn’t mean he can’t do it, but it does mean they have to make adjustments to figure out what’s wrong and how to do it. .
“They have to start doing it now.”
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