Harbaugh again engineering big turnaround
To the surprise of almost nobody, Jim Harbaugh is restoring the winningest program in college football. In a hurry.
Those in the Bay Area have seen this movie before. At Stanford, Harbaugh turned a 1-11 team into a BCS bowl qualifier in four seasons, beat USC repeatedly and developed an All-Pro quarterback. He then took over a floundering 49ers franchise that had been playoff AWOL for nearly a decade and guided it to three straight NFC Championship Games and came within a hair of winning the Super Bowl.
The 49ers then decided to get rid of him, a move every Michigan fan greeted with a hearty “Hail!”
Just four games into the tenure at his alma mater, the quality of Harbaugh’s work is abundantly obvious. In Saturday’s 31-0 humilation of BYU, the Wolverines looked tough, relentless and disciplined — just as they did under Harbaugh’s mentor, Bo Schembechler. The high-powered Cougars were held under 100 total yards until the last series of the game and were shut out for the first time in 143 games, dating to 2003.
After the game, BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall was unequivocal in his praise.
“Michigan has a fine football team that is really well coached,” he said. “They dominated the game from beginning to end. That was the best team we’ve played to this point at this season, both from a physical standpoint and from an execution standpoint. They did everything we saw them do on film. They just executed it better.”
Mendenhall’s Cougars have played the toughest four-game schedule this season, having faced two ranked teams in UCLA and Boise State and beaten Nebraska. But a week after piling up nearly 500 yards at the Rose Bowl in a last-minute loss to the Bruins, the Cougars were manhandled.
Harbaugh’s scheme at Michigan is little different from what he deployed in his eight years in the Bay Area: multiple back and tight-end sets that emphasize power over finesse. Dominate the line of scrimmage. His players would rather run over you than run around you.
Michigan, at No. 22 ranked for the first time in the AP poll since November 2013, is by no means a finished product. Harbaugh still has much cleaning up to do after seven years of dysfunction under Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke. But the culture is already changing, and even Michigan’s lone loss to Utah now looks pretty darn impressive considering the hurt the Utes put on Oregon late Saturday (see below).
If Harbaugh’s past jousts with Pete Carroll are any indication, the upcoming duel with Urban Meyer’s Ohio State Buckeyes should approach something like the Schembechler-Woody Hayes “Ten-Year War” (1969-78). College football can thank the 49ers for the gift.
Pac-12 after dark
Remember all those wacky late-night Pac-10/12 games under the lights that you have come to love? Eh, not Saturday night. It was more like Pac-12 in the Dark Alley, with beatdowns so complete that there was no need to watch the second half.
In the three high-profile late games involving ranked Pac-12 teams, the final composite spread was 96 points. Utah, UCLA and USC all had their way with their hosts, jumping ahead early and simply not letting go. As a result, the rankings continue to be shaken with unbeaten UCLA (No. 7) and Utah (No. 10) in the top 10. No. 24 Cal is ranked for the first time since November 2009, joining No. 17 USC and No. 18 Stanford.
Game of the week
TCU 55, Texas Tech 52: There were 11 lead changes, 189 plays, 70 first downs and 1,357 combined yards gained. The game was decided on a fourthdown tipped pass that was caught by TCU running back Aaron Green, but it wasn’t truly over until Texas Tech’s last-gasp “The Play” imitation fell 10 yards short. Are you not entertained?
Player of the Week
Travis Wilson, Utah: Though TCU and Texas Tech players piled up a ton of stats, the honor here goes to the Utes’ quarterback who masterfully directed the 62-20 vivisection of the Ducks in Eugene. Wilson was 18-for-30 for 227 yards and four touchdowns in the air and added 100 yards and another TD on the ground. The 62 points were the most ever surrendered by Oregon at Autzen Stadium.