Michigan Football: It’s time to move on from DC Don Brown

Another year, another loss for Michigan football against their biggest rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  Even with Urban Meyer not on the OSU sideline, Jim Harbaugh still fails to find a way to pull off a victory.

Jim Harbaugh is now 0-5 against the Buckeyes during his time as the Michigan Wolverines head coach.  Although it had been a slow start for Michigan football to begin the season, they seemed to peak at the perfect time, setting up a great game against OSU.

Michigan exchanged body punches with the Buckeyes right out of the gate.  Ohio State regularly marched down the football field against Don Brown‘s defense with ease.  Shea Patterson was able to answer early but he and the entire offense fizzled out as the game wore on.

Entering the game, many of us understood the Wolverines would need to play a flawless football game to slay the dragon.  Ohio State entered the day as the top team in the country, and that wouldn’t change after a convincing 56-27 victory Saturday over Michigan.

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Ohio State turned a street fight in the first quarter to a track meet for the remainder of the football game scoring 14 points in each quarter.  Michigan started with 13 in quarter one and failed to find double digits again in each of the remaining three quarters.

Jim Harbaugh has failed to live up to his expectations as the Wolverines head coach.  He hasn’t been able to find a way to beat Ohio State.  It’s hard to call this one-sided affair a rivalry when it’s so one-sided.  Michigan is 1-15 over the last 16 contests between the two, with OSU winning the previous eight straight games.  It was Brady Hoke, who last beat OSU.

Don’t forget Hoke nearly beat them twice.  He had an opportunity to kick an extra point that would send the game to overtime or go for two and the victory.  The Wolverines who were large dogs in the game went for two but came up short.

Ohio State under the direction of first-year head coach Ryan Day has a tremendous opportunity to win the National Championship behind their sensational quarterback Justin Fields and bell-cow running back J.K. Dobbins.  It’s a defense that can be quite leaky at times, especially defending the pass, but their offense can almost score at will.

Shea Patterson started the football game with 14 completions in just 19 passing attempts totaling 250 yards in the first half.  After the halftime adjustments were made, the Buckeyes limited him to only 55 second-half passing yards.

It was Don Brown’s defense that couldn’t stop anyone all day long.  Fields tossed 302 yards, and 4 touchdowns and Dobbins galloped for a whopping 211 yards and 4 touchdowns himself.  The pair of Heisman hopefuls accounted for 8 touchdowns.

The Wolverines weren’t able to get any production on the ground from freshman Zach Charbonnet who recorded a mere 7 yards on 4 carries.  Hassan Haskins carried it 12 times for 78 yards and a score.  He’s all but solidified himself as the team’s top back heading into Michigan football’s bowl season.

I wouldn’t consider firing Jim Harbaugh at this moment after showing progress down the stretch beating Notre Dame, and Michigan State, but Don Brown needs to be replaced.  I don’t understand how Don Brown is even in consideration to win the countries top assistant coach award this season.  When the Wolverines defense needed to show up on the biggest stage, against their arch-rival, at home, they fell flat on their face.

It’s time to move on from Don Brown and bring in some new blood to potentially spark the Wolverines defense.  Josh Gattis will enter next season with a full year under his belt as a play-caller on offense with a full offseason to re-evaluate and better himself.