Jim Harbaugh previews Michigan's Outback Bowl game against South Carolina. Nick Baumgardner/Detroit Free Press
U-M didn't make up ground this year, so it's "consequence" is a tepid bowl while others fought for more
TAMPA, Fla. — At the highest level of college football, there are no shades of gray. You either do it or you don't. You get the job done, or you don't.
For Michigan, none of this applied in 2017. The Wolverines didn't get the job done. They weren't good enough.
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As the calendar turns to 2018 on Monday, there will be no songs of redemption for Michigan at the Outback Bowl. Instead, it's an opportunity to enter what will be an incredibly long nine months with a bit of pep in their step. Rather than another "what happened" moment.
"We're clinging to something, we want something to really hang our hats on," defensive end Chase Winovich said this week. "This is an important game for the future of the program in terms of direction. We lose this one and we've lost three in a row.
"Not a good look."
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This game feels like an odd way to end an odd year for Michigan, Jim Harbaugh's third with the program. A season that began with lofty, perhaps unrealistic, expectations and is ending with a bit of a whimper.
In the weeks that followed Michigan's 8-4 run through the regular season, Harbaugh's admitted his group wasn't good enough this year. Eight wins isn't enough when you're trying to win championships. They have to be better, they have to get stronger, he says.
But he's also quick to point toward the frustrated part of his fan base that closed the regular season with plenty of anger. The sky is not falling, things are going to be better, he says.
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Michigan entered 2017 with a slew of new faces inside every position group. It was one of the youngest teams in college football competing inside one of the sport's most challenging divisions. When I picked U-M at 9-3 before the start of the season, the part of the fan base that's outraged right now told me they'd feel empty if my projection rang close to true.
Others thought that projection was fair. Wins over Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State seemed like a tall order for this group, with two of those being on the road and the third coming against one of the most consistent programs in America. Few would've been thrilled with a 9-3 record, but plenty would've taken it and moved on.
But the Michigan State loss sits as the stain this team and this fan base cannot wash. U-M was not supposed to lose that game this season. The Spartans were a much improved football team, no question. But Michigan held MSU to 66 yards and one first down after halftime, at home, and still lost. They turned the ball over a whopping five times, and still only lost by four.
That game, more than anything else, is sticking in Michigan's craw right now. If the result on that rainy Ann Arbor evening was flipped, I wonder how different folks would feel about the 2017 season right now.
But this is where things are.
And for Michigan, there are bigger issues to worry about. As was the case at the end of last season, 2017 was another year where U-M failed to gain ground on Ohio State
All the stats about Harbaugh's three-year rivalry record no doubt rack up hot takes on sports talk radio lines day after day, but they're only part of a larger picture.
Michigan's football program is not running at a championship level. And every passing year where that remains true only makes Harbaugh's path more difficult.
Every year he finishes behind Urban Meyer and Ohio State is one more year where the gap between the two grows. Penn State polished off another fine season with a Cotton Bowl win on Saturday. And after being pasted and out-recruited by the Wolverines in 2016, the Nittany Lions are suddenly a problem U-M has to deal with every day.
MSU turned around a 3-9 dumpster fire of a season and went 10-3 this season. The Spartans didn't fall off the map. They're still a thorn in Michigan's side, every day, whether you'd like to admit it or not.
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Earlier this season, I suggested Harbaugh had to start winning these red-letter games at a more consistent pace. That suggestion was met with a slew of angry "or else what?" comments from Michigan fans and readers.
This is the "or else." You're living it.
Michigan is in a tepid Outback Bowl looking up at Ohio State and Penn State's New Year's Six bowl victories and top five recruiting classes.
The "or else" is falling behind. Michigan fell behind this year. The Outback Bowl isn't going to repair that.
Contact Nick Baumgardner: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @NickBaumgardner. Download our Wolverines Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!