I am hopeful that I will finally recover from this traumatic experience, but I have a creeping suspicion that we are in for a lot more pain if we don't change course.

Jim Harbaugh has built this team with the sole purpose of defeating OSU. During the third game of 2021, Michigan defeated Northern Illinois (UNI) 63-10. Right after the game, this is what UNI's coach, Thomas Hammock, said:

"I think they built their team to beat Ohio State," Hammock said. "What I see on tape, they built their team to beat Ohio State. You're not gonna out-athlete Ohio State, so what they said is we're gonna get dirty. Credit to them, because they stay committed to that." Link to the full story here.

At that time, I found Hammock's comments interesting but odd. Folks, Jim Harbaugh is building something that we are not prepared for. In this era of offenses that are pass-happy and defenses that are hyper-tuned to stop elite passing attacks, Jim Harbaugh is running the same run-first offense that he ran at Stanford or what Wisconsin has run for decades. The difference is that Michigan has superior athletes than Stanford or Wisconsin had.

Overnight, Harbaugh has gone from a laughing stock to someone that we are not ready for, but we have to deal with every year. Moving forward, running the ball and stopping the run should be our top priority, even if it comes at the cost of a slightly compromised passing attack. Losing to Michigan is one of the worst feelings ever.