The case for hiring Kevin Wilson at Michigan

Regarding yesterday's installment of the annual embarrassment of the Ohio State game (in this case, a 56-27 loss), I present to you the case for hiring Kevin Wilson as head coach at Michigan. Change my mind.

1. You want to beat Ohio State, you hire Ohio State. It worked with some former OSU assistant named Schembechler. Besides, the Nuts hired away Mattison and Washington in the off-season. They already have Michigan's defensive playbook, so why not get their offensive playbook? You tend to have more success when you know their successful tendencies.

2. Get ahold of the 2000 Michigan at Northwestern football game and a bucket of popcorn. 54 points. 654 yards of total offense. Damien Anderson rushed 31 times for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns. Zak Kustok threw for 322 yards and 4 touchdowns on 27 of 40 passing. It was a work of art for a vastly under-talented Wildcat team.

3. Get coaching film of the 2008 Oklahoma Sooners. Two running backs ran for over 1,000 yards each. And a relatively unknown QB named Sam Bradford won the Heisman by throwing for 4,700 yards and 50 TDs.

4. Wilson (along with Ryan Day) are the architects of the current OSU offense. It's not a tempo thing or a spread thing. It's a READ thing. 75% of Michigan's offense you can see coming when they break the huddle—particularly that God-awful wildcat formation, which in crunch time has proven unable to gain a single yard. The Day/Wilson scheme, get the opponent to commit to their defensive personnel, step to the line, and THEN call the play, the play that best exploits what you see (and what you've studied). If you disguise it so the defense doesn't know what's coming, all the better. Now out-schemed, they are forced to out-execute you on every play--an unsustainable approach over 60 minutes given OSU's advantages at OL and skill positions, as evidenced by 62-39 and 56-27.

5. Die-hard Michigan fans are clinging to Harbaugh's consistency and recruiting advantages. So why not use that to your advantage as you take the next step? Put an effective and explosive offense on the field (under Gattis, with Wilson at the helm), and employ the players already on the team, and future recruits will follow the success. You're starting with the heritage of a perennial 10-win team that Harbaugh has built, and a roster that while thin in places, is pretty well stocked with NFL-caliber talent.

6. So, Wilson's not a "Michigan Man". Fuck that. Nobody really cares when it comes down to it. The thinking is, you care more about your team's success if it's your alma mater. Let's see. Lloyd Carr (who won Michigan's last NC) went to Missouri and Northern Michigan. Gary Moeller (who only lost to OSU once in 5 years) was an OSU grad. Schembechler went to Miami (and played under Wayne Woodrow Hayes). Hell, Fritz Crisler went to the University of Chicago and Fielding H Yost schooled at West Virginia and Lafayette. Think about it. Neither Yost or Crisler or Schembechler have Michigan pedigrees, yet all three have buildings named after them on campus. Think about THAT.

7. For those who insist on a lineage link to Wolverine coaching greats, Wilson played OL at UNC while Randy Walker was an offensive assistant. Walker moved on to coach Miami—the cradle of coaches, from whom Bo and Woody were born—and gave Wilson his first coaching opportunity. When Walker jumped to Northwestern (see point #2 above), he hired Wilson as his OC.

8. Wilson was fired at IU for what the AD cited as philosophical difference with administration. There were multiple allegations that he forced injured players to play. While irreprensible, it's far from irreparable. First, it's not difficult to understand the desperation of a coach trying to stay competitive with a thin roster of talent and a schedule that includes OSU, Michigan, PSU and MSU every season. If the allegations are accurate it's not acceptable, but it won't happen in Ann Arbor after Brady Hoke trotted a still-staggering Shane Morris onto the field just one play after suffering a concussion. The protocol is in place at Michigan to prevent any such thing from occurring again.

9. Lastly, the numbers. While coaching Indiana in 2015 (where he took Harbaugh to OT before losing 48-41) Wilson made $1.5M. The Nuts hired him and will pay him double his IU salary, $2.5M through 2021. AS A COORDINATOR. Michigan could double it yet again and still fall $2.5M short of what they're paying Harbaugh in base. I'm sure buyouts will be involved, but this isn't anything Michigan has shied away from before. They paid millions to Rich Rod and Hoke. Shit they just paid $4M to UCLA and Arkansas NOT to play them.

10. What you'd be buying in Wilson is The Next Step, a legitimate chance at going toe-to-toe with not only your arch rivals and the team who's owned you the last 8 years, but the current #1 team in the nation.

It's not a lost cause in Ann Arbor. It's the case of a storied program that's done everything in its power to get where they are right now, and while knowing a change must be made (and that losing to OSU every season simply cannot stand), is afraid to take that final step. This could well be that much-needed step.

Wolverines careful not to look past Irish as bowl-clinching opportunity at Maryland looms

As Jim Harbaugh gets his 5-2 Michigan squad ready to face #7 Notre Dame on Saturday night, you can bet the coach is making sure his team won't be looking ahead, with a chance to secure a sixth win and bowl eligibility waiting for them next week against the Maryland Terrapins.

"Playing over the holidays, in Florida or wherever, it's a great opportunity for our program no question," Harbaugh explained while drawing up offensive strategies for the Irish with offensive coordinator Josh Gattis. "But we have a game to play before that. If we continue to show improvement against a big rival this weekend, win or lose, I think we'll be in position to take care of business in College Park."

"Don't get me wrong, Notre Dame is a great team. Every game is important. But Maryland isn't going anywhere, and we'll be ready to focus on the Terrapins once the final seconds tick off the clock on Saturday."

Harbaugh knows that the Irish could be a trap game, given what awaits them in the weeks ahead against Maryland and the Indiana Hoosiers. Tempting as it may be for the Wolverines to take a peek at their upcoming schedule, the bright gold shiny objects on the heads of the Fighting Irish players will hopefully keep the maize and blue focused on that other team from Indiana who'll be lining up against them this weekend.

Hahaha. Ha. Ha. Ahem. No, this didn't happen. Yet for many Wolverine fans it very well could have, given the way their team rolls through the weakest opponents on its schedule yet can't seem to get up for the strongest ones. Obvious parody aside, the Wolverines faithful are left to wonder if the most favorable of scenarios will be enough to help Harbaugh break the "can't win the big games" curse this Saturday night, and give them something they've been craving for years: a win over a favored opponent.

In the third installment of "Michigan vs Notre Dame: Under the Lights", the Wolverines will be attempting a three-game sweep of the visiting Irish at the Big House. The first contest in 2011 saw the Domers blow a 17-point lead as the teams furiously traded touchdowns in the final minutes, and Michigan escape with the most improbable of wins. In the sequel two years later, Devin Gardner carved up the Notre Dame defense for 329 total yards and 5 touchdowns in the 41-30 Wolveirne win. There's something about this series when it's dark out. The home team has not lost a night game in this series. As in, never. With all the negative trending that's symbolized the Harbaugh regime, that is one bit of consistency fans of the maize and blue will gladly accept.

Unlike the build up for last week's matchup with #7 Penn State, this week they also have the hope of newfound offense. Quareterback Shea Patterson ran a fluent attack which dominated the Nittany Lions in the second half. Were it not for the 21-7 deficit they faced after 30 minutes, it may have been enough to lead Harbaugh to his first-ever road victory over a top-10 team while at Michigan. But two quarters do not a whole make. I've looked into the science and believe me, it checks out. Seven games in, Michigan is still searching for 60 minutes of quality effort. If they bottled the momentum they found late in Happy Valley, they may be able to pop it back open in the Big House.

The conditions call for a rain most of the afternoon and evening, so turnovers could be a major factor in the outcome. Yes, I know. But maybe the weather will force the Wolverines to double down on each and every carry, so things may naturally take care of themselves. Rain may also allow Michigan to actually succeed in establishing an effective rushing attack, led by freshman-turned-wrecking-ball Zach Charbonnet, as they face the nation's 65th best run defense. But the ground game needs to flourish by way of a consistently successful passing attack, something the Wolverines have lacked all season. QB Shea Patterson's brightest moments have come when he's flushed out of the pocket and encouraged to wing the ball downfield. He will need to be less defensive and frankly, less offensive with his offensive play.

Maybe the most favorable condition of all may be their mindset. The Wolverines have something to prove. To their fans and alums, to their season ticket holders, to the conference and to the nation. But mostly, to themselves. They've been laughed at and bad-mouthed in the media for not showing up in big games. They've lost two straight to the Irish, the first of which was a humbling 37-0 shutout and the last of which, a 24-17 defeat to open the 2018 season, wasn't as close as the score indicated and was the first in a pair of humiliating defeats that bookended what should have been a richly rewarding season.

There is no "Revenge Tour". A division title defense is no longer in their control. This time, they're playing to see what they're made of. Harbaugh has been called out for his glaring weaknesses, and Saturday night is his best opportunity yet to silence the critics inside and outside of the program. This is why he turned down the extra millions to stay in the NFL, and return his alma mater to glory. This moment is his to seize.

One more embarrassing defeat with the nation watching, and he'll need a lot more than bowl eligibility to keep his job secure.

The Great Game Robbery

Take a number, New Orleans.

Saints fans were rightly angry after a no-call on clear pass interference changed the outcome of last January's NFC championship game in favor of the Los Angeles Rams. But truth be told, N'Awlins, you've got nothing on the Detroit Lions.

The Lions have also had a no-call on defensive interference that cost them a playoff game, against Dallas in 2015. (In the Lions' case, the refs actually threw a flag on the play and signaled pass interference before picking it up without explanation.) They've also had a call go against them that was so egregious, it not only nullified a game-winning touchdown catch costing them a win in Chicago. It led to the NFL redefining what a catch actually is, something now referred to as the Calvin Johnson Rule. Being jobbed by NFL referees is such a common occurrence in Detroit that it's acceptable to refer to it simply as being "Lioned". But what happened this past Monday night in Green Bay transcended mere bad officiating. For football fans everywhere, it bordered on criminal behavior.

Yes, the Lions kicked five field goals in their 23-22 defeat, three of which were drives that stalled inside the red zone (twice inside the Packer 10). So reaching the end zone on any of those may have made the outcome beyond reach of even the most corrupt of officiating crews. Yes, they turned a Green Bay field goal into a touchdown by having 12 men on the field during Mason Crosby's 30-yard attempt halfway through the second quarter, giving the Packers a first down and new life. But that drive would have ended long before that, were it not for the first in a string of horrific penalties against the Honolulu blue and silver. Each on its own could be dismissed as an instance of the referees just getting one wrong. Collectively, however, they suggest something darker, deeper and more sinister within the league.

On that note, let's take a look at the calls made by Clete Blakeman's officiating crew—calls that began as the Lions took a 13-0 lead, and conspired to effectively steal victory from a surprisingly up-and-coming and impressive team of Lions in a key NFC Central division contest.

THE GREAT GAME ROBBERY OF OCTOBER 14, 2019 - LAMBEAU FIELD, GREEN BAY WI:

2nd Quarter, 10:06 remaining – On third down and 5 at the Detroit 33, Aaron Rogers’ pass toward the right sideline fell incomplete. Lions CB Tracy Walker is flagged for defensive holding on the other side of the field. Replays showed no contact beyond 5 yards and the receiver actually slipping and falling on his own. Instead of a 50+ yard FG attempt, Green Bay now had a first down on the Lions’ 28 and ended up scoring its first touchdown to close Detroit’s lead to 13-7.

3rd Quarter, 14:54 remaining – On the first play of the second half, Walker is flagged for a personal foul of unnecessary roughness on a pass to WR Geronimo Allison. Replays showed the two players playing the ball with Allison diving toward Walker. Walker was attempting to intercept it as they made contact. The resulting penalty moved the Packers from their 22-yard line to the 37, on an eventual field-goal drive that tied the score at 13-13. The call didn't escape the outrage of impartial football analyst Warren Sharp or Lions Insider, who re-tweeted his post.

3rd Quarter, 7:27 remaining – On their own 7-yard line and facing third down and 12, the Packers committed a clear delay of game penalty as the play clock ran itself down and sat at :00 before QB Aaron Rogers even raised his hands to accept the shotgun snap. No call was made. Green Bay didn't convert the third down, yet the lack of a penalty moving the ball back half the distance to their goal line kept punter JK Scott from standing at the very back of the end zone for his kick, and allowed him to push the Lions back to their own 33-yard line.

4th Quarter 12:26 remaining – A third-down pass from Matt Stafford to Kerryon Johnson was ruled on the field as a completion and subsequent fumble for a Lions first down at the Packer 25. Replays showed Johnson taking three steps with possession of the ball prior to the fumble, steps the ESPN crew literally counted out during the replay review. Yet the officials overturned the call, ruling the pass incomplete. Instead of a first down in the red zone, the Lions settled for a fifth field goal from Matt Prader and a 22-13 lead.

4th Quarter 10:16 remaining – A hands-to-the-face call on Tracy Flowers occurred after an 11-yard sack of Rogers on third down and 10 at the Detroit 46. The call turned a punting situation into an automatic first down for Green Bay at the Lions’ 31, and continued a drive that would end with the Packers' second touchdown to cut the Lions’ lead to 22-20. Replays conclusively showed Flowers’ hand on the front of Packer offensive tackle David Bakhtiari's shoulder pad and not his face. Replays also showed the ref waiting until Rogers was sacked before deciding to throw his flag.

4th Quarter 9:03 remaining – On the Packer touchdown, a 35-yard pass from Rogers to Allen Lazard, end-zone pylon video showed Lazard's knee clearly on the ground with the ball on the 1-yard line as he caught the pass (as this photo tweeted by Lions Insider indicates). There was no official review of the scoring play and the call on the field stood as a touchdown.

4th Quarter 7:08 remaining – On second down and 6 on his 41, Stafford threw a deep ball to the Green Bay 22 that wide receiver Marvin Jones could not pull down. Replays showed clear interference on the part of Packer safety Will Redmond, who made contact with Jones and prevented him from making the catch before the ball arrived. The ESPN crew was waiting for a penalty that was never called; the play-by-play announcer started to say “Flag on the field” but changed it to “Flag… nowhere to be found." So instead of a spot foul and first down at the Green Bay 22, easily within range to add a field goal and grow their lead to five points, the Lions ended up punting. They would not possess the ball again.

4th Quarter, 1:45 remaining – On third down and 4 at the Detroit 17, Rogers scrambled around in the pocket before throwing an incompletion in the end zone. After the play Flowers was flagged for his second illegal hands to the face penalty. Replays again showed conclusively that Flowers’ hand was on the shoulder pad of the Packer lineman and did not touch his face. Instead of a fourth-down field goal attempt and, if successful, 1:30 remaining on the clock and the Lions only trailing by two points, the penalty gave Green Bay an automatic first down, allowing the Packers to run the clock down for a last-second, game-winning kick and escape with a 23-22 win.

The Great Game Robbery was a success.

As is its protocol, the league responded by entering Detroit and Green Bay into the appropriate variable fields of its stnadard apology template and hitting send, acknowledging "an officiating error" the following day. NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent called out only one of the calls, the second hands-to-the-face penalty against Flowers, as being incorrect. Or in Vincent's words, "non-existent".

“There was one that was clear that we support,” Vincent said at an NFL owners’ meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “And there was another that when you look at it, when you review the play, it’s not something that you want to see called, in particular on the pass rush... the foul wasn’t there.”

Vincent felt that the first of the two hands-to-the-face calls made by Blakeman's umpire Jeff Rice, in which Flowers came no closer to the lineman's face than the second, was somehow worthy of the penalty. But he of all people should know what a hands-to-the-face call looks like. If he needed to have his memory refreshed, he could just refer to an actual hands-to-the-face violation committed by Bakhtiari against Flowers earlier in the game (see photo) that didn't get so much as a glance from Rice or any of the officials much less a flag.

Blakeman told a reporter after the game that Rice saw prolonged contact to the head or neck of Bakhtiari by Flowers. Twice. When neither time such contact existed. This deserves more than a form-letter apology. If the NFL wants to be seen as having more integrity than its World Wrestling Entertainment counterparts, these officials responsible for changing the outcome of the game if not the 2019 season should be fined and/or suspended. And the league should open an investigation into the reasons for what happened on the field in Green Bay.

The credibility of a legitimate professional sport is a serious issue, one that deserves more than thoughts and prayers from the front office. Quoting Jeff Risdon on USA Today's LionsWire, "Blakeman’s officiating crew flat-out made up calls against the Detroit Lions to gift the Green Bay Packers a win. Even Packers fans were embarrassed by the completely biased officiating and the Lions getting absolutely shafted. The NFL decided the Packers were to win, and their officials made it happen." To help echo the city's displeasure, vseverybody.com, the company behind the popular "Detroit vs Everybody" brand, released a limited-edition line of football gear with "Detroit vs The Refs" screened across the front (see photo at top of article). Needless to say, it should be a hot seller.

Back around the turn of the century I jumped onto the bandwagon of Chris Webber and the Sacramento Kings. It was the most successful period in franchise history, and at their zenith the Kings were pushing the defending World Champion Los Angeles Lakers to the brink in the 2002 Western Conference Finals. Leading the series 3-2 and taking control of Game 6 at LA's Staples Center, with the chance to close out the team that would become a dynasty, the Kings were the victim of a barrage one-sided calls throughout the game, in particular a call on a key foul call that flat out didn't happen, allowing the Lakers to escape. Los Angeles ended up winning Games 6 and 7 on its way to a second straight NBA Championship.

Not blind to the difference between Los Angeles and Sacramento markets, it would have been easy to conclude, as the Saints fans had done in January, that the fix was in and the NBA felt it was necessary to do whatever needed to be done to ensure that Shaq and Kobe were in the Finals, driving ratings, revenue and merch sales. But I saw Game 6 myself, and the calls felt carefully crafted, like the fix really was in. Former referee Tim Donaghy revealed a few years later that the two of the three referees officiating Game 6 had deliberately impacted the outcome in the Lakers' favor to force a Game 7. A stunning and unprecedented admission to be sure, yet for those who watched live, it all made perfect sense.

Had the officials from Monday night, or worse yet, people within the NFL front office, conspired to deliberately impact the outcome of the game in favor of Green Bay over Detroit, would the execution of that plan look any different than what we actually saw?

A likely scenario sure to make Harbaugh haters cringe

The Michigan football program is in a state of high alert. After a sloppy 40-21 win over Conference USA juggernaught Middle Tennessee, a lackluster yet unnerving double-overtime win over Army and a disemboweling blowout loss to Wisconsin in Madison that questioned the very Wolverine brand, the fan base has officially turned on its high-profile head coach. Jim Harbaugh, they insist, doesn't have what it takes to put a championship-caliber team together, and it's time for a change. #FireHarbaugh has been trending all week.

It's s frustrating as it is baffling. The coaches, the players, everything about this team should indicate a different product than what we've seen in the first quarter of the 2019 season. That's why I just don't buy the idea that this is a .500 football team, and that four or five losses are in store before the annual season-ending drubbing by the team from Columbus.

Why? Because it's just too convenient for those in favor of bringing a fresh new face onto the Western sidelines of Michigan Stadium. And because it doesn't make sense. Now I'm not talking about a rebound and a run at a conference title much less a CFP berth. I'm talking about a team that begins playing as it's supposed to play, and takes its place alongside similar good-to-very-good-but-not-great seasons in recent Michigan football history.

So, what follows is a likely scenario for the rest of this season.

Before we begin, the following points need to be made.

1. Nothing challenges a team to rise up to their potential like adversity. Every player on this team has been personally called out. They have something to prove not only to themselves, but to the college football world as well.

2. Outside of possibly Ohio State, the two most powerful running teams on Michigan’s schedule are Wisconsin and Army. The key weakness of the Wolverines heading into the 2019 season was run defense, and these two teams exposed it for all to see. Don Brown’s defense is better suited for the teams he’ll face this side of Thanksgiving.

3. Teams are never as good or as bad as they may appear. The Wolverines clearly aren’t a top-5 team—Coach Gattis’s offense is still in a onesie and making ridiculous mistakes—but once they achieve a coherence, they’ll turn out to be much stronger than people think they are now.

4. Harbaugh’s mentor, Bo Schembechler, faced similar fan backlash multiple times in his coaching career at Michigan:

a. In 1975, he opened the season with consecutive ties at home to Stanford and Baylor, two vastly inferior teams, and fans called for his head. “To hell with them!” he fired back at a press conference. The following week his 0-0-2 Wolverines spanked #7 Missouri, 31-7, the first of eight straight wins.

b. In 1980, one of his very best teams started out 1-2 with losses to Notre Dame and South Carolina. Bo had lost 5 of his last 6 games and he was on the hot seat before going on a roll, winning 7 straight B1G games including a 9-3 win in Columbus, and his first-ever Rose Bowl win.

c. After a loss in South Bend, Bo’s 1988 team blew a 16-point lead and lost to the Miami Hurricanes. After a 5-3 B1G season the year before, alums and fans thought Bo was past his prime and voiced their displeasure. Another angry coaching outburst followed, and the Wolverines wouldn’t lose again, going 8-0-1 for the B1G title and beating #4 USC for his only other win in Pasadena.

Now, as for what’s going to happen in the coming months, here’s what I feel we’re likely to see, based on the fact that this is Michigan we’re talking about. As I stated in the above rule, they’re ever as good or as bad as they may appear.

First, Rutgers—yes Michigan is a 27-point favorite, but it doesn’t erase the fact that this is the mother of all must-win games. The Scarlet Knights may capitalize early on the struggles the Wolverines are still going through, but Harbaugh will iron them out and the outcome will never be in doubt. Shea Patterson will reclaim his status as the team’s starting quarterback, while his challenger Dylan McCaffrey stands on the sidelines, a helpless victim of concussion protocol.

Then, homecoming a week later. A formidable top-15 opponent who just crushed the same Middle Tennessee team that the Wolverines struggled with in Week 1. Strong but not Wisconsin-strong. Disciplined but not Army-disciplined. This game will be a treat for the college football fan—far closer than anyone considered in August, when the perceived gap between the teams was more pronounced. The Wolverines, playing for their post-season lives on this first weekend of October, create good fortune in the form of a turnover or key special-teams play, and pull off a wild last-minute victory.

Michigan travels to Champaign-Urbana and roll the Illini, and all is well with the world once again. The 4-1 Wolverines have clawed within striking distance of the top 10, and feel good once again heading into Happy Valley, PA. Penn State enacts revenge on Michigan as Wisconsin had done, taking the lead early and holding off a furious Wolverine rally.

We see a return of what we’ve seen this week, with calls for Harbaugh to be sacked or step away, and #FireHaubaugh is trending once again. The Wolverines can’t possibly beat the top 10 Fighting Irish, as Jimmy never wins the big ones. Boom. Michigan plays its best game of the season. Shea looks surprisingly good until his injury (the offense has kept its starting quarterback from getting hurt just twice this decade so it’s going to happen, the only question is when; I’m saying it happens here). Enter Dylan McCaffrey, who runs, scrambles, leaps and passes the Wolverines’ way past Notre Dame in the schools’ last-ever meeting.

A hard-working defense and resilient offense become the identity of this team. Maryland presents a challenge, but misses the consistency and skill players to hold on in the second half. Michigan State pays a visit to the Big House, where they’ve lost just once since 2006. The Spartan defense frustrates Michigan, stopping the running game cold. However, MSU coach Mark Dantonio’s offense, which has struggled mightily all season, can’t put enough points on the board to stay in the game.

Another trip to Bloomington, IN, another contest that is much closer than anyone thought. Severe weather and plunging temperatures keep the turnovers high and the score low. Michigan’s defense force a key turnover late and win on a short Quinn Nordin field goal as the clock hits all zeroes.

So heading into The Game, Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines ended up overcoming the adversity, the loud verbal and social chants of “Fire Harbaugh!” from the maize and blue faithful, and the learning curve of adapting to a new offense, turning a nightmarish start into 9-2. Even a loss to Fighting Irish or the Spartans still means an 8-3 record and, once the Buckeyes turn him back for his fifth defeat in as many seasons, a decent bowl game, facing a very good SEC or ACC opponent, with at best a chance at its fourth 10-win season in five tries.

The result will be good enough for Michigan AD Warde Manuel to sign his boy Harbaugh to a hefty extension. And despite the exasperations of the Wolverine alumni and fan base, good enough means business as usual in Ann Arbor once again, now and for the foreseeable future. Not great, but very good. Good enough for a program who has lost less than three games in a season just twice since its 12-0 national championship in 1997—22 years ago.

Hail, to the good enough heroes.

Just can't get enough of that sweet stuff: TT 63, U-M 44

Wolverine fans may not like to hear it much less come to grips with it, but 2018-19 was a disappointing season for Michigan basketball.

What started with 17 straight wins and the nation’s #2 ranking ends with no Final Four. No tournament championship. No regular season championship. Only frustration, humiliation, and ultimately elimination.

Yes, 30 wins is a significant achievement, just like a 10-win football campaign. But ask Coach Harbaugh if he’d trade in his football team's double-digit victory total last year for a win over his most hated rival, a berth in the B1G championship game and a chance to play for a CFP berth. You don’t need to; I can answer for him.

Entering the season as defending NCAA national runner-up brought so much promise, even with the loss of key components such as Mo Wagner, Duncan Robinson and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. Impressive early-season wins over eventual B1G champion Purdue and perennial power North Carolina, plus and a throttling of last year's national champ Villanova on their own court, stamped John Beilein's squad as legitimate contenders for a return to the Final Four. A stingy, smothering defense among the very best in the NCAA became the team's staple as they drove through the conference schedule.

The basketball team’s parallels to its football counterparts were uncanny. In particular, zero wins against their biggest rival in each sport, and soul-crushing defeats in the games that mattered most. Among Michigan’s three losses to Sparty were a pair of stinging setbacks costing them B1G regular season and tournament banners. Then on Thursday night, facing their first single-digit seed in the NCAA tournament, the Wolverines turned in an absolutely brain-scratching 1-for-19 three-point shooting performance in a 63-44 Sweet Sixteen blowout loss to Texas Tech, setting an NCAA record for fewest points ever by a #2 seed. They also broke Michigan's 71-year record for scoring futility.

The stat lines were stunning. Floor general Xavier Simpson (below), who earlier this season notched the sixth triple-double in school history: 0 points, 1 assist and 1 rebound. John Teske (above), cornerstone of the Wolverines' play in the paint on both ends: 4 points on 1-of-6 shooting and 4 boards. Ignas Brazdeikis led Michigan with 17 points, while the rest of the team connected on just 9 field goals the entire night.

When reserve guard C.J. Baird hit a meaningless three-pointer with less than a half minute remaining, it wasn't just the Wolverines' first make behind the arc all evening. It was the first points from the bench all evening. Had they simply matched the Red Riders' not-so-hot 6-for-19 three-point total, it would have been a four-point contest instead of a 19-point massacre.

It was billed as a match where points would be at a premium, with two of the nation's most unforgiving defenses facing off. Texas Tech forced themselves inside offensively and pushed Michigan outside defensively. As it turned out, one of the Wolverines' strengths throughout the season—their insistence on running their half-court offense down to the final seconds of the shot clock and shortening every game—proved to be their downfall. The Red Raider defense was allowing if not encouraging fast-break opportunities, knowing full well Michigan would refuse to run transition. The Wolverines unwittingly obliged.

Holding the ball deep into each offensive possession is effective when your players are providing points on offense. As the misses mounted Thursday, so did the pressure to create opportunities in the waning seconds of the shot clock. The Wolverines committed an un-Wolverine-like 14 turnovers against Texas Tech, nearly doubling their season average. Without a bonafide scorer to bail them out, they had no hot hand to fall back on. And when Simpson failed repeatedly to bank in his money shot, the running can't miss floating hook, the game was effectively over.

It will be hard for Michigan supporters to get their pom-pons out and celebrate a successful season. This time around, there was no success to look back on. I’m sure the players feel the same way. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Beilein looked at this team as his biggest disappointment at Michigan. This may sound like unnecessary criticism; rather, it speaks a lot about what the Wolverines have become in terms of expectations.

Beilein arrived in Ann Arbor after Tommy Amaker's six-year run as coach—a run that couldn't produce so much as a single at-large berth in the NCAA tournament. Back then success meant avoiding NCAA violations, and to his credit Amaker faihfully fulfilled the filthy task of lifting a program up from rock bottom. Standards are a full order of magnitude higher now. Beilein’s been to the brink of the promised land. He’s won two B1G titles and back-to-back conference tournaments. He’s cut down the nets at two regionals and won Final Four semifinal games twice, reaching college basketball's final. He has stood on the court as the tickertape fell watching Louisville and Villanova celebrate national championships that were so very nearly his.

He knows what we all know, that this latest team of his was better than how it performed when things really mattered.

So it's another bitter dose of medicine for Michigan athletics. In basketball as in football, the cold hard fact is that while very strong on a national level, they are both a distant second to the one rival they hate most, the one who keeps them up at night, the one they just can't overcome. Next year looks very promising for both Beilein and Harbaugh, and both may have even stronger teams to work with. But tell that to the Wolverine faithful, who are certain they felt really good many times throughout each team's season, only to be dealt the anguish of being embarrassed for all to see when each season ended. Just as it was difficult for them to remain optimistic about the football team while watching the Buckeyes win the Rose Bowl three months ago, it may be just as hard to find comfort in their basketball future when Michigan State sits just two wins away from their eighth Final Four under coach Tom Izzo.

Even if the the Spartans fall short, their dominance has made it clear that for now, the Wolverines can't even claim to be the best in their own state.