Michigan Wolverines: It’s Time for Jim Harbaugh to do Something Bold

We’ve seen this same film before.  The Michigan Wolverines lose a game they need to win to secure the hype surrounding them and follow it up against a much weaker opponent by beating them handily.

Now, I have no idea which Michigan Wolverines team will decide to show up today, but maybe they won’t beat Rutgers ‘handily’ as I just mentioned.  I have a feeling I know how this will go. We’ve seen this in the past from the Wolverines.

Last week the Michigan Wolverines decided to lay an absolute egg.  In a game that was so highly anticipated as the week wore on, suddenly became a major disappointment.  The Michigan Wolverines found themselves behind by five touchdowns.  The Don Brown defense couldn’t stop a plastic bag blowing in the wind.

I think we all expected Jonathan Taylor to have a nice day–he is indeed the best back in the country. He was on pace to enjoy a 400-yard day but ended up being sidelined with an injury after the first quarter.  He would later return to the game, but in all honesty, it didn’t matter who carried the ball, Michigan couldn’t stop a pee wee back last Saturday.

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Josh Gattis didn’t fare much better running the Michigan offense.  The Wolverines couldn’t get anything going until late in the game when they scored the final two touchdowns of the game in garbage time.

The Wolverines run game was abysmal. Shea Patterson is a turnover machine.  This Michigan offense is supposed to fit Patterson’s skill-set perfectly.  He looks like an average college quarterback at best. The Gattis offense is very similar to the spread, run-option offense Patterson operated at Ole Miss.  Patterson was benched at the end of the first half after having absolutely no success.  Dylan McCaffery entered the game, but it was short-lived.  He had to exit after suffering a concussion. Instead of going to Milton, Jim decided to throw Patterson back out there because he seemingly hasn’t seen enough yet from his senior QB.

Today the Wolverines play Rutgers, and they will likely have an offensive performance for the ages. It’s all for not, a blow-out against Rutgers shouldn’t make any Michigan Wolverines fans feel any better about what transpired last week.

I feel like McCaffery deserves the opportunity to be the starting quarterback for the Michigan Wolverines.  Shea Patterson is in his senior year, and he’s looked awful. He completed a mere 44% of his pass attempts last week. In fact, for a head coach in Jim Harbaugh considered to be a quarterback guru Patterson has drastically regressed.

McCaffery is likely to get the first opportunity next year to be the starter.  So why not allow him to start here on out when he returns to the lineup fully healthy and see if he is, in fact, the guy they want under center next season?

McCaffery won’t be available today, but instead of just rolling with Patterson, Harbaugh should try starting Sophmore Joe Milton.  He’s a dual-threat quarterback with a cannon for an arm.  At this point just playing Patterson because it’s convenient is a very conservative play.  It’s time for Jim to do something bold before he’s run out of town. He should start by putting his senior quarterback on the bench and keep him there.