MICHIGAN'S KARMA PAYBACK

What is Karma?

A person's actions deciding their fate in the future. Cause and effect. A fate that ultimately balances success and failure.

UM's Karmic Debt

Even prior to the founding of the State Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the UM arrogance was in full force. When the Michigan Legislature moved UM (then Catholepistemiad, a Jesuit college) to Ann Arbor in the year Michigan became a state, the Legislature gave UM a charter that included agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, mechanics, and a host of other educational programs that would benefit the people of Michigan. UM ignored those common pursuits and, instead, robed itself in an arrogant, elitist attitude that it would be the "Harvard of the West." The reneging of the charter led to the founding of what is now Michigan State University. UM endeavored to keep MSU from being founded.

Ever since its founding in 1855, MSU has suffered the arrogance and nefarious actions by UM, including attempts to steal its Land Grant money, its forestry program, its engineering program, and repeated moves to keep MSU out of the B1G Ten Conference.

There is a lot more, but that will be an article for another day. This is about football.

Flashback to November 3, 2007, East Lansing. It's Coach Dantonio's first game versus UM. It's midway through the 4th period. Michigan State had rallied from a 0-14 halftime deficit to take a 24-14 lead. Chad Henne went down with a twisted ankle. Ryan Mallet came in, botched the snap which bounced once right into the hands of Mike Hart who eeked out an 18 yard 1st down.

Michigan came back to win 28-24. A lucky bounce put the ball into a Wolverine's hands. It could have gone differently, but it counts all the same.

On national TV, post game, Mark Hart (the beneficiary of the bounce) inferred that Michigan had just been playing with the Spartans like an older sibling might do.

“I thought it was funny. They got excited. It’s good. Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you’re playing basketball and you let him get the lead. Then you come back and take it from him.”

Watch Hart's shifty eyes. He knew at the time it was wrong, classless, unsportsmanlike, and arrogant.

• The school, the athletic department and the coaching staff all did and said nothing about it.
• Current and former players, some in the NFL, use it frequently with glee.
• The media embraced it.
• Going into the 2013 UM-MSU game, ABC announced the upcoming program as "Michigan versus Little Brother Michigan State."
• The expression popped up during the B1G Ten Championship game and again in the Rose Bowl by the commentators.

For 2911 days and counting, Spartans have daily suffered the Mike Hart Insult.

UM's Karmic Payback

• Coaching carousel.
• Lloyd Carr was ushered out.
• Rich Rodriguez was brought in and brought NCAA sanctions down on Michigan.
• Brady Hoke led the Ann Arbor squad to ever lower levels of success each year.
• During the first 6 years, UM scoring has dropped, reaching a 46 year low of 6 points in 2013.
• Lots of individual, team, and program records set -- all negative. -48 yards rushing is a UM school record.

2007: Coach Dantonio's response to Mike Hart's insult:

"It's not over. It'll never be over here. It's just starting."

Flash forward to October 17, 2015, Ann Arbor. It's Coach Harbaugh's first game versus MSU. There are 10 seconds on the clock. The score is 23-21. Michigan ball, 4th and 2 at the MSU 47. The punter fumbles the snap, gets it back and is hit. Jalen Watts-Jackson snags the airborne ball and rumbles 38 yards in for the score.

MSU came back to win 27-23. A lucky hit put the ball into a Spartan's hands. It could have gone differently, but it counts all the same. Jim Harbaugh, the "Messiah of Michigan Football," became the 7th UM coach (67 years) to lose his first game against MSU. Coach Dantonio went to 7-2 versus UM.

The day before the 2015 game, Mike Hart stated that making his comments was a mistake. Even with that, he tries to put the blame on MSU.

"There was something that week he had read several Michigan State players say — he can’t specifically recall what it was — but it stuck in his head."

Karma

2007 Michigan comeback win 28-24.

"Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you're playing basketball and you let him get the lead. Then you come back and take it from him."

2015 Michigan State comeback win 27-23.

"Sometimes you get your little brother excited when you're playing basketball and you let him get the lead. Then you come back and take it from him."

After the game, I copied a post written by a UM fan, "East Arbor," on the M-Live message boards (10/21/15).

"This is the Mike Hart curse at work. You would think that after years of annual bluster, unfounded arrogance, planting spikes, and repeated losses stretching over the better part of a decade, that the program and fan base would reflect on how foolish these sophomoric pregame antics are perceived by the prevailing opponent. But that's not likely to change - perhaps the theory is to keep it up and by the law of averages, at some point there will be a victory for the Champs of the World, at which point a decade's worth of blueballs bravado can finally be spurted into Sparty's face. But by that time, it will be nothing more than an aberration rather than some sort of kingly proclamation of elite status."

There are a few Wolverines that get it. Maybe when a tens of thousands get it Karma will get back in balance. Until then...

It's just starting.

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DANTONIO OUT-COACHED HARBAUGH

Rangers: Mission 4:10

10 seconds on the clock. Michigan with the ball on the Spartan 47, 4th and 2.

Time outs were called. The situation was discussed.

First, Cook in the 4th was 4 of 14 with 2 sacks in the 4th. Not good.

Second, neither team had much success running the ball. For the game, UM: 1.9 yds/carry. MSU: 1.8 yds/carry.

Then there was that 74 yard pass from Cook to Pendleton that might have weighed on Harbaugh's psyche.

To hear Harbaugh speak after the game, he was also concerned about possible penalties. Is it possible he recognized the number of times Lewis committed PIs on Burbridge that were not called? Maybe. Maybe not.

Fumbles could not have been a concern. Up to 59:50, UM had just one fumble on a kick-off return.

Harbaugh also would not have been concerned about an MSU field goal. After all, Coach Dantonio twice chose to go for it on 4th down rather than try the field goal. Message to Harbaugh, the Spartan kicking is not clicking. One has to wonder how much of that was deception.The failed 4th downs were at the UM 28 (1Q)  and at the UM 32 (4Q).

Last factor: O'Neill had made that 80 yard punt. It was a bit over 40 yards in the air and rolled the rest of the way. His other punts were 30, 32, 41, 37, 44, and 48.

Decision time.

Harbaugh's choices:

[1] Throw the ball.
Maybe pick up the 1st down, maybe not. The UM passing game was not doing very well, but in the 4th, Rudock was 4 of 9 with 1 sack. Incomplete and MSU gets the ball at the 47 with maybe 7 seconds left. Interception? Who knows.
Remember, time management. Remember, incomplete passes stop the clock.
Net result Hail Mary with very little time left, but the clock does not start until the snap.
It seems Harbaugh had little faith in the UM offense, especially Rudock, who was really in his first high-stakes, big-time game.

[2] Run the ball.
Either (A) to burn time or (B) to try to get the 1st down.
The running game both ways was non-existent, so the burning the clock approach would have been better than going for the 1st down. Remember, time management. Remember, only out of bounds stops the clock. Keep it in-bounds and the clock stops long enough to set the chains, then it starts again.
It seems Harbaugh had little faith in the UM offense, especially Smith, who was only 2.4 yards/carry with a long of 8 yards.

[3] Punt.
This was his choice. Punt. He set gunners. Why? He was trying to back MSU up to the goal line hoping for a 1st and 99 situation. Harbaugh did not seem to notice there was no return man for MSU. If he did, he thought it was to his benefit in pinning the Spartans at the 1, or at least inside the 10.

Time outs were called. The situation was discussed.

On 2 prior UM punts, the snap was not good and O'Neill had to take an extra half second to recover to make the punt.
On 1 prior UM punt, there was a gap coverage let down.
O'Neill was from Australian football and his punt takes a second or 2 longer than the standard US punt. This was his first high-stakes, big-time game.

Decision time.

Dantonio made his decision without deliberation. Rangers: Mission 4:10, otherwise known as Block 11. The Spartans lined up with a blitzkrieg rush planned.

Cook was on the sideline bemoaning his failure to Coach Salem. Coach Salem turned to him and said, "They will block the punt." Good call.

ESPN gave MSU a 0.2% chance of winning at that point. I gave the Spartans a 80% chance of blocking the punt.

Rangers: Mission 4:10

Ball snapped. Snap was bad. O'Neill dropped the ball and roughing the kicker rules were no longer in effect. O'Neill picked it up.

UM ended up blocking 11 rushers with 6 people. The UM gunners ran down field away from the play.

The Spartans hit O-Neill, the ball came loose, and Jalen Watts-Jackson was immortalized and hospitalized.

Some of the media (CBS, ESPN) call this "Gift 6." NFL.com called it "Quick 6." A Spartan fan called it "Jalen Break." All too much we hear it as the "Bobble in the Big House" or the "Miracle at Michigan."

Funny thing, it was the 2nd such TD on a blown punt of the day. Rutgers got one first.

Rangers: Mission 4:10 was not a miracle.

It was not a gift.
It was not luck.
It was an excellent coaching call.
It was a well executed punt block.
It was Coach Dantonio out coaching Harbaugh.

Just like he did the whole game, but that is the subject of another write-up.

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