My first real memory of watching football on TV is a Cleveland Browns playoff loss in 1980.
In the intervening 38 years I've seen many upsets and thrillers, but nothing that has left me as genuinely flabbergasted as Ohio State's 62-39 humiliation of Michigan on Saturday.
This was Michigan's year to finally break out of a nightmarish era of losing to its arch-rival. This was Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh's best team in four seasons in Ann Arbor, thanks to a roster of players he recruited, a No. 1-ranked defense and a solidly efficient quarterback. And this was OSU's weakest team in awhile, and it nearly lost to Maryland the week prior.
Maryland! That No. 10 ranking for Ohio State seemed fraudulent.
Yet on Saturday the Buckeyes dismantled the Wolverines in shocking fashion at the Horseshoe, putting up the most points in a rivalry that dates to 1897, when William McKinley was president and some of the players likely were the sons of Civil War veterans.
The result got me thinking: Is Harbaugh a very good coach, but not a great one? Is he Michigan's very-well-paid version of John Cooper, the Buckeyes coach who was fired, in part, because of his 2-10-1 record against Michigan?
Harbaugh is now 0-4 against Ohio State, and has the dubious honor of being the first Michigan coach to lose his first four games against the Buckeyes.
The Cooper-Harbaugh comparison is only partially apt. Cooper spent 13 seasons in Columbus, and in that time he had five 10-wins-or-better seasons, but his Buckeyes also lost seven of the 10 bowl games. They also never won an outright Big Ten title. That witch's brew cost him his job despite a 111-43-4 record.
Harbaugh is 38-13 in four seasons and 1-2 in bowl games. He has a lot of rope left before fans, pundits, boosters, and regents are angry enough that he'd be fired. Harbaugh has plenty of time to correct course before the heat on the seat of his khakis burns.
In the meantime, OSU coach Urban Meyer is 81-9 in seven seasons, and his 54-4 conference record has won him seven Big Ten titles.
What will it take for Harbaugh to shed the enormous gorilla from his back by finally beating OSU? Many believe it will take Meyer retiring, which seems to be a possibility because of his medical issues. That's not exactly a vote of confidence in Harbaugh. That thinking suggests he is, to borrow from W. Somerset Maugham, in the "very first row of the second-raters."
Michigan has invested millions in Harbaugh and its football program. The expected return-on-investment is beating Ohio State, beating Michigan State, winning the Big Ten, and contending for a national championship.
The Wolverines won 10 games this season and were in the College Football Playoff hunt until Saturday. That's a step forward.
Saturday was an anomaly but exposed Michigan's weaknesses: Harbaugh's players lack the elite speed of perennial powerhouses Ohio State and Alabama, and his conservative coaching at times emulates his 1970s-80s role model Bo Schembechler. That sort of football doesn't work in the 21st century.
