Harbaugh throws his punter under the Bus.

[Bodizephax]

How you react when the chips are down says a lot about your character.

Harbaugh said the punter made a mistake and then made more mistakes and said his team deserved to win.

Harbaugh said the first mistake was that the punter dropped the ball then he said he should of fell on it. and then he said he shouldn't have tried to kick it.

He took none of the blame himself as Michigan State came through like Gangbusters virtually unblocked.
The big baby should of prepared his team better and should not have put more "hurt" on the 20 year old punter.

What ever happened to consoling your wounded troops?

Harbaugh is a hack !

 

[sshulk]

all true, don't thing Harbaugh could be directly blamed ... if the kid catches the snap its over, if he drops it and falls on it its over if he drops it and MSU falls on it, its over. The kid dropped it then basically pitched it to the MSU with a convoy of blockers in front of him. It was less probably than the miracle in the meadowlands or any Hail Mary play I've ever seen. Glad I watched it live ... no one from UM should be judged for what they say in the immediate aftermath of the shock and awe of that loss, against a big rival

 

[Bodizephax]

all true, don't thing Harbaugh could be directly blamed ... if the kid catches the snap its over, if he drops it and falls on it its over if he drops it and MSU falls on it, its over. The kid dropped it then basically pitched it to the MSU with a convoy of blockers in front of him. It was less probably than the miracle in the meadowlands or any Hail Mary play I've ever seen. Glad I watched it live ... no one from UM should be judged for what they say in the immediate aftermath of the shock and awe of that loss, against a big rival

That is exactly when you should console your player--right after it happens, especially in college. . Why all the Harbaugh apologists? He has never won anything and always mumbles like he is Bill Billichick but Bill B. has plenty of championship rings as a coach. Why all the love on this board for Harbaugh?

 

[sshulk]

Dude, I don't care that much about it, I don't like Michigan, Harbaugh is a weird dude, but the guy is a great coach and I think you are looking in the wrong place for a story. No matter what anyone says, that punter is going to blame himself, because quite frankly he is the reason his team lost.

 

[Bodizephax]

Dude, I don't care that much about it, I don't like Michigan, Harbaugh is a weird dude, but the guy is a great coach and I think you are looking in the wrong place for a story. No matter what anyone says, that punter is going to blame himself, because quite frankly he is the reason his team lost.

I understand what your saying. But this is college football not pro. In the pros they would fire the punter. You can't fire a college student. You can bench him. But my main point is that the kid is going to have to deal with that mistake for the rest of his life--- You would think the Head Coach would show some compassion- IMO

 

[sshulk]

Yes, you are right. Who knows what Harbaugh is saying to the kid in private which is probably what really matters but we can forget these are kids, especially punters and kickers, many are walkons. This guy is infamous for the rest of his life.

 

[Bodizephax]

Talking to someone in private and then talking crap about him in public makes Harbaugh sound like a two faced backstabber which is worse than what I was calling him out for.

 

[sshulk]

Talking to someone in private and then talking crap about him in public makes Harbaugh sound like a two faced backstabber which is worse than what I was calling him out for.

You do understand the words "Yes you are right" ???

Now your are just being naïve. There are two types of coaches in college football, 2-faced guys who can lie to a kids face and those that get fired. Even the morons on this board write the most awful sh*t about 19 year old kids playing football. You just hate Harbaugh, i'm sure he'll get over it. There's no story, nothing to see here folks, move along now

 

[Epictitus]

Harbaugh was exactly correct and no one would agree with him more than his punter!

 

[coolirish9]

all I know is that I jumped out of my chair in excitement when it happened and was laughing when seeing the faces of Michigan fans as they were in sheer shock. in my opinion this game was payback for irish fans for the 2011 game that Michigan took from our irish in the last seconds

 

[SwlaDukie]

Funny thing I was watching the game with a friend, and I told him I wouldn't punt it. Just had a hunch that something crazy was about to happen. It was the best possible outcome to the game anyway. It couldn't it have happen to a better guy.

 

[Epictitus]

Now, if the Cubs can lose the World Series on an error in the seventh game life would be good!

 

[IrishBlessings]

Harbaugh threw his punter under the buss pretty bad. IMO - the punter did what 90% of all other punters would of done - tried to get it off after mishandling the snap. falling on it means the other team may be able to kick a long FG or try a hail mary. The kid did what he thought would be best for his team after miss handling the snap - get the kick off.

JH threw that kid under the bus hard. IF BK had reacted like that - many here would be up in arms about BK throwing his player under the bus.

I like JH because I love the way his teams play - but, he is an odd ball. Had a close friend on his staff at Stanford. Over time - he will wear out his welcome at Michigan -

 

[coolirish9]

coach Kelly said last night in his post game presser that you have to hold players accountable when they turn the ball over and that he did one on one with hunter on the bench but harbaugh went over the line a little with the way he did it with the media. I know the hunter turnover didn't cost the irish the game like the punter's turnover cost Michigan the game but I think harbaugh could've handled things a little better when talking to the media about it like Kelly did on hunter's big turnover at the endzone

 

[IrishBlessings]

agree cool. tough one on hunter turnover - players when getting close to the Endzone want to extend the ball out to get it over the goal line. heard john madden talking about this the other day - he said coaches probably need to start coaching kids - if they have a first down and the time on the clock is not a concern - then the players need to keep the ball in tight and dont try to extend it over the goal line. Defensive players have been coached pretty good now to go for the ball knock out - that the offensive players need to be better aware of that when close to the goal line. it looked like hunter was just starting to move the ball away from his body to try and extend it out over the goal line. sc player made a great play.

 

[SALittleGiant513]

BK has done similar things.

 

[Irish_inPSU]

He didn't throw his punter under the bus. He called it like it was. The kid dropped the ball, it happens, but then he proceeded in chucking it right at a defender, bonehead move.

I'm glad Harbaugh isn't one of those "everyone gets a trophy" coaches. If one of your players screws up that bad, then yes, he should be held accountable for it. This isn't junior varsity or HS ball, its big time college football where these "kids", many of them, will be moving on a year or two to the real world of pro football where they will be held accountable, they'll have to sit on a bench and there is also a very good chance they will get cut from the team and go home without a participation trophy.

 

[IrishBlessings]

actually many of them will not be moving on to pro football.

 

[ivan brunetti]

Acknowledging that mistakes were made is not throwing someone under the bus. The coaches made mistakes too. Other players made mistakes. Hell, if Michigan State had lost, they could have pointed to their receiver Kings who mistakenly dropped about four crucial passes that were right in his hands.

You win as a team and you lose as a team. The coaches and players are all part of the team.

 

[cgvr]

How you react when the chips are down says a lot about your character.

Harbaugh said the punter made a mistake and then made more mistakes and said his team deserved to win.

Harbaugh said the first mistake was that the punter dropped the ball then he said he should of fell on it. and then he said he shouldn't have tried to kick it.

He took none of the blame himself as Michigan State came through like Gangbusters virtually unblocked.
The big baby should of prepared his team better and should not have put more "hurt" on the 20 year old punter.

What ever happened to consoling your wounded troops?

Harbaugh is a hack !

This says more about you than Harbaugh. Below's what Harbaugh said and note the use of "we". He clarified the play for the reporters and stated what happened.

"They overcame so much and we messed up the play at the end. We have resolve, put steel in the spine and we move forward."

In addition, Harbaugh did something yesterday that kellly has never done. He accurately flat out blasted the officiating. He will be in hot water with the Big 10 for his remarks, but they are undeniably on target. Danny Kanell referred to the targeting penalty, which cost um one of if not their best defensive player, as among the worst calls of the season..... There's more and Harbaugh has a list.....

"The snap was low just below the knees and he didn't field it cleanly," Harbaugh said. "He bobbled it again, kind of kicked it a little bit. Looked like he was trying to kick it when he was in traffic. You saw it, was that about the way you saw it? Very unfortunate."

"I talked to him and he said after he bobbled it he still thought he could get the ball kicked," Harbaugh said. "That was a mistake, a mistake was made. Mistakes were made. Mistakes were that he didn't field it cleanly and he bobbled it a few times, he should've just fell on it. Mistakes were made, very unfortunate."

"They played their guts out and played winning football," Harbaugh said. "They overcame so much and we messed up the play at the end. We have resolve, put steel in the spine and we move forward."

http://videos.mlive.com/mlive/2015/10/michigans_jim_harbaugh_we_mess.html

 

[Pazuzu]

all true, don't thing Harbaugh could be directly blamed ... if the kid catches the snap its over, if he drops it and falls on it its over if he drops it and MSU falls on it, its over. The kid dropped it then basically pitched it to the MSU with a convoy of blockers in front of him. It was less probably than the miracle in the meadowlands or any Hail Mary play I've ever seen. Glad I watched it live ... no one from UM should be judged for what they say in the immediate aftermath of the shock and awe of that loss, against a big rival

Thank you. Some people just don't understand the game. I thought Harbaugh was pretty calm and diplomatic about this.

 

[Pazuzu]

all I know is that I jumped out of my chair in excitement when it happened and was laughing when seeing the faces of Michigan fans as they were in sheer shock. in my opinion this game was payback for irish fans for the 2011 game that Michigan took from our irish in the last seconds

Unfortunate for us because Michigan winning would have bolstered our playoff hopes

 

[mokpra37]

Wrong. MSU is going to lose to OSU. THey may lose one more. Michigan is going to lose to OSU. They will also lose one more.

This was good for ND. It added to ND's lead in all time win percentage.

 

[Pazuzu]

Wrong. MSU is going to lose to OSU. THey may lose one more. Michigan is going to lose to OSU. They will also lose one more.

This was good for ND. It added to ND's lead in all time win percentage.

To state it is better for one team to have zero losses as being good for us makes no sense. It would be to our advantage to have each of them with one loss. I understand you like the fact that ND has a better winning % then Michigan all-time, but it is a myopic view that does not help us get to the playoffs now.

 

[Pazuzu]

Wrong. MSU is going to lose to OSU. THey may lose one more. Michigan is going to lose to OSU. They will also lose one more.

This was good for ND. It added to ND's lead in all time win percentage.

To state it is better for one team to have zero losses as being good for us makes no sense. It would be to our advantage to have each of them with one loss. I understand you like the fact that ND has a better winning % then Michigan all-time, but it is a myopic view that does not help us get to the playoffs now.

 

[Toby Smart]

The Hunter fumble turned the complexion of the game completely. Momentum was lost for a good part of the game after that play. Everybody felt that something bad was brewing after the Irish failed to make it 28-10 and USC came roaring back. It was a turning point event at the time. If this was a one time occurrence inside the five with one of our WRs, then no need to wonder, but it's not. It's happened three times in the past two seasons that I can remember. So, I can understand Harbaugh's frustration. You practice, practice some more, work on the different scenarios, practice those scenarios, and then it's not executed. With that said, it's probably better to say nothing in public than to call anyone out. But, you get what you get with Jim Harbaugh and believe me, Wolverine Nation is not upset with him.

 

[Bodizephax]

BK has done similar things.

But not anything like this. He holds his players accountable but that punter gaff was a once in a hundred year occurrence. It was so obvious and the kid is getting death threats from Michigan fans. There are times to hold your players accountable and there are times they need to be backed in front of the whole World. Harbaugh chose the cowardly route and blamed only the punter. He did not blame himself for not running the ball instead or else have his players ready for the all out block attempt.
He did not blame any of the blockers. He put it all on the punter and only the punter.
I think Kelly would have been more diplomatic like when he gave Corey Robinson a hug after he dropped a td pass and did not mention it in the press conference.
I get your point Sal but I really think Harbaugh could have handled it better. That O'neil kids name will be infamous forever for Michiagan fans.

 

[Bodizephax]

You do understand the words "Yes you are right" ???

Now your are just being naïve. There are two types of coaches in college football, 2-faced guys who can lie to a kids face and those that get fired. Even the morons on this board write the most awful sh*t about 19 year old kids playing football. You just hate Harbaugh, i'm sure he'll get over it. There's no story, nothing to see here folks, move along now

Sorry, I didn't mean to get you upset-- I thought we were having an interesting discussion.
And you are right I don't like Harbaugh at all---because of the way he deals with people like with the poor punter on Saturday. In my opinion, anyway. Go Irish !

 

[basketlax41]

Dude, I don't care that much about it, I don't like Michigan, Harbaugh is a weird dude, but the guy is a great coach and I think you are looking in the wrong place for a story. No matter what anyone says, that punter is going to blame himself, because quite frankly he is the reason his team lost.

Snapper is not sleeping well either.

 

[IntransigentMind]

First, I heard Harbaugh and he didn't say it in a manner some are claiming, I bet a number haven't even seen the video. He was calm and simply answered the questions and what went wrong on the play. Is that any different then when he was talking about his QB needing to clean things up and go through his progressions properly?

Harbaugh is an eccentric fella but he is a great coach. The clowns saying what has he won haven't watched a damn thing. He took a bad Stanford team and turned them into a winner and BCS bowl winner. He took a poor to average SF team to the SB and 3 straight NFC championship games. Average coaches or losers don't do that. If Harbaugh was ND'S next coach you all would be slobbering over the hire, just like if Urban took the ND job. You don't have to like him but he is a legit coach.

Last, stop calling them kids. They are young men. I had nephews serving in Iraq, and Afghanistan at 18 and 19. By the time I was 20 I was already in the state police academy, 21 I was a Trooper. I think they can handle it, you want to play under the bright lights, you have to be ready for the good, bad, and ugly.

IM

 

[cgvr]

But not anything like this. He holds his players accountable but that punter gaff was a once in a hundred year occurrence. It was so obvious and the kid is getting death threats from Michigan fans. There are times to hold your players accountable and there are times they need to be backed in front of the whole World. Harbaugh chose the cowardly route and blamed only the punter. He did not blame himself for not running the ball instead or else have his players ready for the all out block attempt.
He did not blame any of the blockers. He put it all on the punter and only the punter.
I think Kelly would have been more diplomatic like when he gave Corey Robinson a hug after he dropped a td pass and did not mention it in the press conference.
I get your point Sal but I really think Harbaugh could have handled it better. That O'neil kids name will be infamous forever for Michiagan fans.

Kelly threw Brindza under the bus in the post LSU game victory interview... He has done it plenty of times to others and has referred to the team as "they" not "we". He also tossed Manti and others under the bus and had to apologize to the team. I could go on and on, but you should really stop your nonsense. Harbaugh pointed his guns directly at the Big 10 official crew and he was spot on perfect in how he did it. He used "we" to describe yesteday's collapse and gave an accurate account on the final play in response to a question. kelly's a born liar.....ask his kids from cinci.....review his Saturday pre 'bama transcript where he denounces the NFL knowing he has an interview set up with the Eagles for Tuesday..... When ND needed him most, post 'bama loss, he immediately ditched the team and went dark for days.... There's tons more "stuff". Many alum others don't care for him and that's on him.... Deal with reality. Or, continue to fabricate b.s. to suit your ill willed and inaccurate agenda.

 

[deadirishpoet]

First, I heard Harbaugh and he didn't say it in a manner some are claiming, I bet a number haven't even seen the video. He was calm and simply answered the questions and what went wrong on the play. Is that any different then when he was talking about his QB needing to clean things up and go through his progressions properly?

Harbaugh is an eccentric fella but he is a great coach. The clowns saying what has he won haven't watched a damn thing. He took a bad Stanford team and turned them into a winner and BCS bowl winner. He took a poor to average SF team to the SB and 3 straight NFC championship games. Average coaches or losers don't do that. If Harbaugh was ND'S next coach you all would be slobbering over the hire, just like if Urban took the ND job. You don't have to like him but he is a legit coach.

Last, stop calling them kids. They are young men. I had nephews serving in Iraq, and Afghanistan at 18 and 19. By the time I was 20 I was already in the state police academy, 21 I was a Trooper. I think they can handle it, you want to play under the bright lights, you have to be ready for the good, bad, and ugly.

IM

I have been saying that about the "kids" comment for years. By the time my son was 23 he had two tours of Iraq, one in Afghanistan under his belt, and a purple heart under his belt. There were other awards as well.

 

[JWtruthsquad]

I guess it is better for him to try to blame a player instead of his own stupidity in calling for a punt in the first place. Seems to me the call would be max protection with one wr. The qb is in shotgun and the wr runs a 40 yard out. the qb runs around for 3-4 seconds, gets outside the tackle box then he heaves the ball towards the wr. he throws it as high and far as he can with the intention of the ball landing in about row 30. By the time the ball comes down the clock runs out and game over. If there are still a couple of seconds left they have to kick a 55 yard FG to win. if he gets sacked they have to kick a 50 yard fg to win. That seems to be the call to me. So was it really the punters fault?

 

[cgvr]

I guess it is better for him to try to blame a player instead of his own stupidity in calling for a punt in the first place. Seems to me the call would be max protection with one wr. The qb is in shotgun and the wr runs a 40 yard out. the qb runs around for 3-4 seconds, gets outside the tackle box then he heaves the ball towards the wr. he throws it as high and far as he can with the intention of the ball landing in about row 30. By the time the ball comes down the clock runs out and game over. If there are still a couple of seconds left they have to kick a 55 yard FG to win. if he gets sacked they have to kick a 50 yard fg to win. That seems to be the call to me. So was it really the punters fault?

Interesting... How about a QB pooch punt based on what he sees?

 

[Pazuzu]

I guess it is better for him to try to blame a player instead of his own stupidity in calling for a punt in the first place. Seems to me the call would be max protection with one wr. The qb is in shotgun and the wr runs a 40 yard out. the qb runs around for 3-4 seconds, gets outside the tackle box then he heaves the ball towards the wr. he throws it as high and far as he can with the intention of the ball landing in about row 30. By the time the ball comes down the clock runs out and game over. If there are still a couple of seconds left they have to kick a 55 yard FG to win. if he gets sacked they have to kick a 50 yard fg to win. That seems to be the call to me. So was it really the punters fault?

Wow. And what are the chances of something going wrong in that scenario? The right call was a punt.

 

[cgvr]

I guess it is better for him to try to blame a player instead of his own stupidity in calling for a punt in the first place. Seems to me the call would be max protection with one wr. The qb is in shotgun and the wr runs a 40 yard out. the qb runs around for 3-4 seconds, gets outside the tackle box then he heaves the ball towards the wr. he throws it as high and far as he can with the intention of the ball landing in about row 30. By the time the ball comes down the clock runs out and game over. If there are still a couple of seconds left they have to kick a 55 yard FG to win. if he gets sacked they have to kick a 50 yard fg to win. That seems to be the call to me. So was it really the punters fault?

Watch the play again and tell me what happens to the long snapper? There should have been flags thrown....

 

[Telx1]

I had no problems with the answer Harbaugh gave and the calm factual way he stated it. I have more problem with what he didn't say. Should have referenced the breakdown that allowed that much penetration which eliminated any margin for error; and the 80 yard punt earlier in the game that pinned MSU on their 2 yd line. He always has his players backs, and I expect he has since stood up for his punter and thrown some verbal bombs at some of the crap the fans have written.

 

[cgvr]

Sorry, I didn't mean to get you upset-- I thought we were having an interesting discussion.
And you are right I don't like Harbaugh at all---because of the way he deals with people like with the poor punter on Saturday. In my opinion, anyway. Go Irish !

Have fun with the video in this article and get back to me.... Also, it's obvious that Golson, Zaire, now Kizer and others decide/d to simply walk away from kelly when he's unglued....

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/should-notre-dames-coach-be-fired-for-cursing

 

[pmur6215]

This says more about you than Harbaugh. Below's what Harbaugh said and note the use of "we". He clarified the play for the reporters and stated what happened.

"They overcame so much and we messed up the play at the end. We have resolve, put steel in the spine and we move forward."

In addition, Harbaugh did something yesterday that kellly has never done. He accurately flat out blasted the officiating. He will be in hot water with the Big 10 for his remarks, but they are undeniably on target. Danny Kanell referred to the targeting penalty, which cost um one of if not their best defensive player, as among the worst calls of the season..... There's more and Harbaugh has a list.....

"The snap was low just below the knees and he didn't field it cleanly," Harbaugh said. "He bobbled it again, kind of kicked it a little bit. Looked like he was trying to kick it when he was in traffic. You saw it, was that about the way you saw it? Very unfortunate."

"I talked to him and he said after he bobbled it he still thought he could get the ball kicked," Harbaugh said. "That was a mistake, a mistake was made. Mistakes were made. Mistakes were that he didn't field it cleanly and he bobbled it a few times, he should've just fell on it. Mistakes were made, very unfortunate."

"They played their guts out and played winning football," Harbaugh said. "They overcame so much and we messed up the play at the end. We have resolve, put steel in the spine and we move forward."

http://videos.mlive.com/mlive/2015/10/michigans_jim_harbaugh_we_mess.html

that's about as benign a recap of what happened as I can fathom. I mean, what in god's name was the guy supposed to say?

"why did you lose the game coach? "
" well, we didn't score enough points."

it was the final play of the game, not some miscue that happened in the second quarter, where you obviously can't point the finger at the reasons for the loss (because a butterfly flaps its wings in China and you know the rest)..

the punter blew it. that simple.

 

[pmur6215]

I guess it is better for him to try to blame a player instead of his own stupidity in calling for a punt in the first place. Seems to me the call would be max protection with one wr. The qb is in shotgun and the wr runs a 40 yard out. the qb runs around for 3-4 seconds, gets outside the tackle box then he heaves the ball towards the wr. he throws it as high and far as he can with the intention of the ball landing in about row 30. By the time the ball comes down the clock runs out and game over. If there are still a couple of seconds left they have to kick a 55 yard FG to win. if he gets sacked they have to kick a 50 yard fg to win. That seems to be the call to me. So was it really the punters fault?

MSU will have 11 guys on the line. so instead,
- does the QB simply throw to the wide-open receiver? if he does, the guy will surely drop it. result: Harbaugh a goat, why the hell didn't you just pooch punt it?
- w/ the 11 man rush, the QB throws the ball away pre-maturely, before he gets out of the tackle box. penalty called against UM. what happens then? MSU get one play, UM have to replay 4th down? Oh, and you don't have 15 seconds to think through this, because the clock is running. quick quick quick!!
- while running around eating time, the QB fumbles the ball (a la Golson). ohmy ohmy ohmy....
- you think they practiced this play this week? this month? my guess is no, so you really want to draw that up for the QB with 10 seconds left?

look, most coaches would have done what harbaugh did. it was a reasonable decision. no right-minded critic is blaming him. a punter will properly field 99 out of 100 snaps in those conditions. those are odds any coach would take.

and in this instance, will pay... and so he has.