With Michigan’s football team set to kick off the 2021 season today, Kirk Herbstreit believes a fast start for the Wolverines is critical to silencing critics.
The ESPN college football analyst was a fan of the Jim Harbaugh hire in December 2014, and has openly defended the Wolverines’ head coach in past years. But like everyone else, he’s mystified at the lack of above-board success in Ann Arbor — no Big Ten championships, no trips to the College Football Playoff, and last year’s 2-4 season.
“I keep waiting for them to respond,” Herbstreit said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. “I think the schedule allows them to potentially get off to a good start.”
Michigan begins a more normal 12-game schedule Saturday against Western Michigan (noon, ESPN), a game the Wolverines are favored in by more than two touchdowns according to oddsmakers. A win today, Herbstreit believes, would do wonders for confidence heading into a prime-time showdown against PAC-12 contender Washington in Week 2.
Michigan also winnable games lined up against Northern Illinois (Sept. 18) and Rutgers (Sept. 25) to open the conference schedule, both in Ann Arbor, giving Harbaugh’s team a real chance to start the season 4-0.
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“I can’t wait to see how certain positions play out, most notably at quarterback,” Herbstreit said. “It’s one thing to think you have an idea of what’s going to happen — but it’s another thing to get into games and kind of see how it plays out. They made some changes on the defense side that I think everybody (is anticipating).”
Saturday’s game will be the first for new defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, who’s come in and totally flipped the script for what Michigan’s defense should look like. The Wolverines are expected to field more 3-4 looks and lean on an assortment of linebacker-fueled alignments, evident by the decision this offseason to move star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson into an edge-rushing role.
“For a while there, we were all fired up about Don Brown and what he was doing and how aggressive they were,” Herbstreit said. “And of course, it started to backfire in some games.”
Herbstreit confirmed what players on the Michigan team have said this offseason, that many of the coaching changes — a list that includes Steve Clinkscale as defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator, George Helow at linebackers and Ron Bellamy at safeties — were made to create “new, young energy.”
“We’ll see if it pays off,” Herbstreit said. “I think getting off to a big start against Western Michigan this Saturday is critical, obviously. Looking good and creating some momentum before they get ready for the dogs, the Washington Huskies, to come to town on a prime-time game. The table is set, I think, for them to get off to a good start.”
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On the offensive side, Michigan has named Cade McNamara its starting quarterback and returns its leading rusher (Hassan Haskins), receiver (Ronnie Bell) and four players with starting experience along the offensive line. The Wolverines will look to establish the run early on this season, but they won’t be afraid to throw the ball either with McNamara’s skillset and play-making ability.
“One way to kind of squash the noise and social media noise, or people kind of chirping about Jim Harbaugh and the program, is you go out and win,” Herbstreit said. “If you go out and get off to a good start on Saturday, that potentially leads you to another opportunity the next week. If you’re 2-0, then all of a sudden your players (gain confidence) and that kind of blocks that noise out and it’s kind of an ‘Us versus the world’ mentality.
“I keep looking at this team thinking, ‘Yes, it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen.’”
Then Herbstreit remembers the results. While Harbaugh is 49-22 in six seasons at Michigan — an average of 8.1 wins per season — with bowl appearances in five of them, the Wolverines remain winless against rival Ohio State, just 3-3 against rival Michigan State and without any titles to show for it.
“It is amazing to me that Jim Harbaugh is in his seventh season in Ann Arbor,” Herbstreit said. “I remember it like yesterday, his opening press conference, and here he is in his seventh year. I think the quarterback to me is big. How that position settles, I think, will be critical to the kind of year they end up having.”
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