Coach Harbaugh
Michael James of The Tribe Sports has spent more than 20 years in sports journalism at The Detroit News, New York Daily News and ESPN. This column is republished with permission.
By Michael James
Jim Harbaugh
From the moment Jim Harbaugh took the money and left the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers in 2014 to return to his alma mater at Michigan, comparisons began to be made between he and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer.
Could Harbaugh duplicate Meyer’s Ohio State success?
Could Harbaugh supplant Meyer as the Big Ten’s preeminent head coach?
Would Harbaugh and Meyer return the conference to The Big Two and Everybody Else?
You get the picture.
From the beginning, what was immediately clear is that Meyer would be the measuring stick for Harbaugh’s future success, and that their two paths would be inextricably linked for all time.
Well, it has played out exactly that way. Each and every year since Harbaugh’s been back in Ann Arbor has ended with him discovering that for all his hard work, he just didn’t quite have what it took to unseat Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes.
Which is really the only thing that matters in the historic rivalry between these two schools.
Rep at stake
Going into our latest incarnation of The Game – the fourth meeting between Meyer’s Buckeyes and Harbaugh’s Wolverines – more than anything else, Harbaugh’s reputation is on the line.
Simply put, a Michigan victory validates this season and keeps the Wolverines on course for a Big Ten championship in the conference title game next week against Northwestern and a possible berth in the college football playoff.
A loss, well, that would be the worst possible scenario for Harbaugh and the Wolverines, who would still lay claim to a successful season, but it would be a bitter disappointment.
The fact is, however, when you look at Harbaugh’s 0-3 record thus far against Urban Meyer, the difference has been coaching.
Urban Meyer coaches with an almost violent disposition and a fire seldom seen on sidelines anywhere. It’s almost painful to watch Meyer, who has had health scares in the past related to the intensity with which he coaches, including recurrences in several games this season.
That intensity translates to his team, who definitely understand the importance of a game against the University of Michigan. The Wolverines, under Harbaugh, have talked a good game, but wavered in the biggest moments once the games were actually being played.
Back in 2015, 12-ranked Michigan thought it was ready for the No. 8 Buckeyes, but were blown out, 42-13, after trailing by just four points at halftime.
Overtime win
In 2016, Michigan led 17-7 in the third quarter before an ill-timed interception by Wilton Speight turned the game around. It ended in a 30-27 double-overtime win for the Buckeyes.
Michigan fans will always remember a suspiciously poor spot by officials on a fourth-down run by OSU’s JT Barrett in the second OT as the moment that snatched victory away in that game. But one couldn’t ignore the fiery Meyer’s role in willing his team to fight its way back against its greatest rival.
Last season was another one that got away from the Wolverines as they fell, 31-20, despite having numerous chances to win the game. Both teams were without their starting quarterbacks as Barrett re-aggravated a knee injury during pregame and Michigan’s Brandon Peters, who’d replaced Speight (cracked vertebrae), was out with a concussion.
UM’s replacement quarterback, John O’Korn, struggled all day and threw a horrible interception directly to an Ohio State defensive back with two minutes left and the Wolverines trailing, 24-20. The Buckeyes sealed the victory with a touchdown less than 30 seconds later.
So, we are here – once again – with Harbaugh trying to prove his worth against Meyer in one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.
The entire world, it seems, will be watching, as it has watched all those incarnations of The Game, that have come before.
Go for it without hesitation
A piece of advice if Harbaugh wants to finally beat Urban Meyer: To beat Ohio State, Jim Harbaugh must coach like Urban Meyer.
A look back at Harbaugh’s last three exercises in futility against Meyer will reveal that Meyer coaches against Michigan as if his life depends upon it. He throws caution to the wind. He takes chances. If it’s close, he’s going for it – without hesitation. And OSU teams have responded to this approach by their fearless leader.
Harbaugh, by contrast, has often been as cautious as his khakis and Woody Hayes-style spectacles suggest. He plays the percentages, clock watches, and is predictable and safe with play-calling – which won’t get the job done in this game. To beat the Buckeyes, Harbaugh will have to do it the way Meyer does it.
For all the comparisons being made about these two men – the fact that they were both born in Toledo, in the same hospital, no less, little more than a half-year apart – the outcome of this game can go a long way toward determining whether we should continue to compare them at all.
In the end, if he’s going to be compared to Urban Meyer, shouldn’t Jim Harbaugh be required to actually beat Urban Meyer?
