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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Despite the consternation, viral comments and strange indulgences, Jim Harbaugh's tenure in Michigan remains the annual $ 7 million tease of college football. During its four years of existence, a distinct pattern has been established: optimism, followed by empirical evidence inspired by hope, then persistent failure when games matter most. All the thunder and no delivery for Jim Harbaugh in Michigan, all chirping and no championships.
For the fourth year in a row, Michigan fell to Ohio State under Harbaugh. And this one is doing the worst, as the Michigan Football Playoff hope, Big Ten aspirations and the program's self-esteem have all disappeared by force. The final – Ohio State 62, Michigan 39 – is a result that will plunge deep into the soul of Michigan fans. This is the largest number of points ceded by Michigan in regulating the history of the program, less than the 58 points assigned to Cornell in 1891.
And if no one will say that Harbaugh is a total failure considering the modesty of his predecessors, it's fair to wonder if he could not bring Michigan to the top of this awful Big Ten rendition – against this vulnerable and shaken Ohio State – when will he lead Michigan to his first Big Ten title since 2004? Where will he stay to keep trying? His journey is to use his hospitality and to go to the next destination, which must look much more attractive after today.
In the lexicon of Ohio State's definition of Harbaugh's losses, it was a disaster of a magnitude different from that of Michigan two years ago, to which it was charged two extra hours, a senseless penalty . On Harbaugh's harrowing defeats tasting menu, it will be remembered as the Great Surrender, the worst defensive performance against Ohio State in the 115 meetings between the schools.
Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh lost his player card in the team's loss to the Ohio Buckeyes on Saturday. (Getty)
Harbaugh grew up in this rivalry, played it and found himself in the business world for four consecutive seasons. Michigan finishes 10-2, very close to the relevance that Wolverine fans are looking for so desperately, but which still seems miles away from the rarest air of college football.
Michigan did not lose to Ohio Stadium on Saturday. After all, the Wolverines are used to losing to Ohio State, a series that has seven straight wins over Buckeye and 14 of the last 15 games. It's just the distinct feeling that Michigan has scarcely fought – while the state of Ohio has left them behind, full of crossovers, full of melee lines and generally resembling a MAC school invited to participate a flogging of $ 1.3 million in September.
This facial implant from Michigan will be remembered as a global and systemic failure, a debacle in all three phases. Favored by four points after an alleged Revenge Tour to eliminate ghosts, Michigan will be haunted by this defeat for a long time. The final score surely indicates domination. But that does not take into account the overall content, which was actually much worse. The entire fourth quarter has turned into an evening dance of the Ohio State, a cathartic celebration of a place in the Big Ten title game and the 11-1 season the more unlikely in the history of college football. (They will face North West Saturday in Indianapolis and this match will become a referendum on whether a dominant performance can erase an erratic season in the eyes of the college football playoff committee.)
Michigan's best pass defense was reduced to 318 by Dwayne Haskins, while Ohio State swept the field safely for 567 total yards. Michigan has allowed seven touchdowns all season and has given five to Haskins today. The Michigan defense has left crowds of callos in the press who are trying to understand the intensity of their historical ineptitude. But they also fought powerfully in the other phases.
The most important game was played by a Michigan special teams disaster, while Chris Olave, the hero of the day in Ohio, blocked in the middle of the field to block a punt that had returned 33 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
The Michigan offense proved to be a mess of lost passes, call without play and quarterback Shea Patterson who was under pressure in the same way he had done during his brief and disappointing mandate at Ole Miss. (He left the match with a second-half injury.)
This match will be judged through the prism of the poor quality of the state of Ohio this season. That's how they ended up with a four point outsider. Ohio State has not done anything easy this year, until today. They whistled beyond the wastelands and jetsam of Big Ten – Indiana, Minnesota and Nebraska. Purdue, 49-20, hammered the game. This match did not seem so tight. And they needed a lot of miracles to beat a Maryland team at College Park in overtime last week.
Head Coach Urban Meyer of the Ohio Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh shake hands after the match that took place at Ohio Stadium's November 24, 2018. (Getty)
But one way or another, facing his best opponent of the season, the Ohio State turned around, overtook and usually eviscerated Michigan. It could have been a lot worse, as Ohio State gave Michigan a touchdown on a Demario McCall special team at the end of the second quarter and arranged twice to score goals on the pitch in the second half. the five-yard line experiencing quarterback Tate Martell. They also committed 12 penalties for 150 yards.
The Ohio State defense did not change on Saturday, but it limited the big games and provided just enough resistance to allow the Buckeyes offense to continue scoring. A second of the wicked linebacker Malik Harrison on the first goal – a three-and-one – set the tone. And a defense on track to be the worst in the school's history has found a way to impose turnovers, slow down halfback Karan Higdon and keep Michigan at just four yards per average run. At the end of a physical match, Michigan was without linebacker Devin Bush, who had left with what appeared to be a serious injury.
Ohio State was leading 24-19 at halftime, a cushion that should have been much larger if it was from the furious final 3:18 which totaled 24 points. Michigan led 21-6 with three minutes to go in the half and the gray specter of fate on the stadium provided a metaphor for reflecting Michigan's sidelines.
The Wolverines were burned all half, although they took part in the first defense against the pass of the country. It did not bother quarterback Haskins and co-ordinator Ryan Day, who came up with an aggressive game plan that disregarded Michigan's dominance of high school. Haskins finished the first half with a 222-yard pass, almost 100 yards more than Michigan per game.
Day knows Michigan coordinator Don Brown, who played against him as a quarterback at UNH, worked with him as a coordinator at Boston College and met him at least half a dozen years ago. other times.
Day called for a consistent mob of early crossover models to soften Michigan defense, hitting the Ohio State's stalled receivers – Parris Campbell, K.J. Hill – for the first cuts. This prepared the surprise hero of the game – first year catcher Olave, who took part in the game with five catches and caught two catches in the first period. The first came on a crossover model – what else? – This smoky senior corner Brandon Watson. The second came with Olave dusting Watson, but it was more of a flyer.
In the end, Watson's misfires became a footnote in what will be remembered as a total systemic Michigan failure. Michigan, which had the perfect opportunity to reverse the situation against its arrivals, sent several people in the thesaurus looking for synonyms for failure. And the Harbaugh era was so prevalent in the big games that fans in the state of Ohio began to consider him a non-rival. In the fourth quarter, a sign appeared in the stands begging him never to leave Ann Arbor – "Jim Harbaugh Forever!" – the ultimate indignity on a busy day.
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