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All the pressure is on Jim Harbaugh to avoid a painful loss to Michigan State
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I wouldn’t want to be in Jim Harbaugh’s cleats on Saturday night.
That has nothing to do with the fact that he stomps his feet when he walks, or that he’s been known to kick a podium or two.
Being in Harbaugh’s cleats would mean that I’d be standing on the sidelines with all sorts of pressure on me. With Michigan State coming to Ann Arbor, there’s more pressure than usual for Harbaugh to take care of business.
If he doesn’t, he’ll have lost to the Spartans twice out of three times, both of which will have come in the Big House. That would drop Harbaugh’s record to 1-4 against the likes of Michigan State and Ohio State. Ten-win seasons feel hollow if two of those victories don’t come against MSU and OSU.
Those happen to be the only two programs who have won in Ann Arbor since Harbaugh arrived in 2015. Both of those losses stung Michigan in their own unique way.
If Harbaugh suffered another painful home loss at the hand of a rival, those Year 3 doubts would start creeping in.
Being in Mark Dantonio’s shoes on Saturday doesn’t sound like a bad gig.
He’s a much smoother walker than Harbaugh. I don’t know if Dantonio has ever banged a podium, much less kicked one. Besides, those Nike Cross Trainers he wears look much more comfortable than cleats.
Ok, I’ll stop.
After the Spartans’ 3-9 season, nobody is expecting them to stay in the B1G East race. Yet if the Spartans pull off the upset against their intrastate rivals, they’ll be sitting at 2-0 in the B1G with arguably their toughest game of the year behind them.
Lord knows having a 2-1 series advantage against Harbaugh would be quite the feather in Dantonio’s cap, whether he admits it or not. For an MSU program that’s eager to rid of its 2016 stench, a win Saturday would go a long way toward doing just that.
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I don’t want to call it a “nothing to lose” game for Dantonio because I don’t necessarily think that’s fair. If MSU loses, he misses out on a huge opportunity to thrust his program back to relevancy at 4-1 with a quality road win under his belt. Lose and the Spartans are 1-2 against Power 5 teams, just like they were to start 2016.
But from a national perspective, all eyes will be on Harbaugh. He won’t get a free pass just because Wilton Speight is out. Shoot, John O’Korn could easily play better than Speight has.
Youth won’t be an excuse for Harbaugh, either. Gone is the preseason narrative about his defense having one returning starter. Present is the midseason narrative that his young defense ranks No. 1 in FBS in yards allowed.
Nobody will deny that Michigan has more talent on its roster than Michigan State. That’s usually the case. Hence Mike Hart’s infamous “little brother” comment (get ready to see this again on Saturday, too).
But did Michigan’s talent advantage matter for Brady Hoke or Rich Rodriguez? If it did, they wouldn’t have gone a combined 1-6 against the Spartans.
Dantonio never has and never will buy into the notion that the most talented team should win a game. Nah. It’s all about who has the bigger chip on their shoulder. That’s why his team has a 7-2 series advantage since Hart’s comment.
You can bet he’s been reminding his team of that all week. Harbaugh doesn’t have the luxury of that built-in motivator, not that his team should need any extra juice to face the Spartans after what they did to Michigan in 2015.
The Wolverines will enter Saturday’s game at 4-0 with a legitimate top-10 ranking. So far, it’s been arguably Harbaugh’s most impressive work to date. Still, many will hesitate to crown Michigan until they see how it performs against the likes of MSU, Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State.
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Nobody is saying — or nobody should be saying — that Harbaugh is landing anywhere near a hot seat if he loses to MSU on Saturday. If they are, they’re as delusional as the people who suggest Harbaugh is itching for a return to the NFL.
But this is about backing up his big-time reputation and turning the corner on this rivalry. This is about recruiting. This is about a fanbase that believes embarrassing losses are a thing of the past with Harbaugh.
He cannot exceed expectations with a win on Saturday. He can merely meet them. This is the pressure that Harbaugh signed up for.
If Michigan wins on Saturday night, we’ll inevitably get video of Harbaugh in the postgame locker room shouting his famous “Who’s got it better than us?! Nobody!” catchphrase.
But if Michigan stumbles against MSU, a lot of people would have it better than Harbaugh.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.