"Erroneous!" says Jim Harbaugh, like Vince Vaughn in 'Wedding Crashers.' (Erroneous on both counts!) Michigan was not bored of the competition by the end of its cushy non-conference schedule, which may or may not have contributed to the team's lackluster performance last week.
The Wolverines are unblemished entering Big Ten play, but failed to cover the spread in any of their first three games against noted juggernauts East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green. They sure looked bored last Saturday in their 31-6 win over the Falcons, a game in which they were 40.5-point favorites.
"We were not," Harbaugh said Tuesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show. "No, that’s erroneous. We’re not bored. And I can see that. It came through in practice all week, it came though in watching the game. Amped high, and maybe a little too much for that ballgame. You could make that argument, but definitely weren't bored. That word does not resonate at all."
Michigan was so amped to play Bowling Green that it turned the ball over four times, including three interceptions by J.J. McCarthy who had been nearly perfect through two games, and only led 14-6 at the half. The Wolverines didn't put things away until the third quarter.
Regardless, the non-conference schedule is behind them and Harbaugh will be back Saturday against Rutgers after serving Michigan's self-imposed three-game suspension for various NCAA violations. He's returning to the sideline with new perspective after watching his team on TV the past three weeks.
"Always try to make a positive out of the negative," Harbaugh said. "I’ve never been in this situation, as a player or a coach, watching my own team on TV, so I wanted to find what the positive was. A few came out of it and going to implement them, excited to implement them, because I saw it from a different vantage point."
After watching the Bowling Green game, Harbaugh said "the outcomes are so much better when you play confident and damn the torpedos, because it’s way better than playing scared. But you can’t be completely risk-averse."
"Those are some of the things that is the learning coming out of this game," he said.
Harbaugh also noticed the Wolverines' resurgent running game, which put up 169 yards on 31 carries (5.5 average). The backbone of their offense, they'll need it when the competition picks up in the Big Ten.
"There were quite a plays where, wow, there it is, that's Michigan football. There’s that six-yard gain, the eight-yard gain, all 11 (players) are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do and how they’re supposed to be doing it, in unison," Harbaugh said. "Now it’s just, more, more, more. You get greedy once you’ve seen it, then you start expecting it, so you see that coming."
