Jim Harbaugh And Josh Gattis Look Back On Shea Patterson And The Offense
Michigan is sitting at 9-3 with a chance to get its tenth win against Alabama next Wednesday, which doesn't sound too bad. Of course, one of those losses came against Ohio State, again, and the other two were against the second and third best teams on U-M's schedule in Penn State and Wisconsin. Ten wins is a fine year, but Michigan is still not quite where the fans or the coaches want to be. Jim Harbaugh was asked about his season in a nutshell and laid it out pretty well.
"I see a team that has competed well, they’ve been like warriors," Harbaugh said. "There’s been a lot guys that have played through some injuries. They’ve just been tough. They’ve taken it on the chin a few times and always found a way to battle back.
"We had some great thrills of victory against some really good teams and taken it on the chin a couple times, but it’s a team that competes and fights and I really like coaching them."
One guy who took it on the chin, essentially on his first play of the season, was quarterback Shea Patterson. He scrambled on the first offensive play of the year, took a big hit, lost the football and injured his oblique in the process. Harbaugh acknowledged that it wasn't a perfect season for Patterson but loves where his quarterback is right now.
"He’s done great [developing the offense, accepting a new offense and as a leader]," Harbaugh said. "He’s really thrown the ball extremely well. His passing numbers and contribution has been phenomenal. Really it’s been five games in a row just at the highest level.
"Leadership has been outstanding. He’s a guy, early in the season was working through an injury and toughed it out; played through it. He has the personality of humility with a competitive edge. When I say that he’s got humility, it’s in the real sense. It’s not the bull crap sense of how some guys give it to you but…With his competitive edge — they don’t come any better.
"He is really ascending in all ways in terms of knowing the offense and putting the offense on his back at times. He’s gotten the ball to so many different receivers and playmakers. He’s really doing an outstanding job at playing quarterback."
Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis has seen it too. He remembered back to when U-M, and Patterson specifically, was fumbling way too often and is really glad the offense continued to grind it out because it looked pretty good down the stretch of the regular season.
"We had some growing pains during the year, obviously faced a lot of adversity with some of the turnovers that we were creating that were big drive killers and momentum killers," Gattis explained. "Our guys really took ownership and really wanted to improve on the things and the mistakes that they were making, which ultimately led to them having success and putting together some really good games."
Now Michigan fans hope it's gone up another level as the Wolverines prepare to face Alabama in a little over a week. Gattis is ready to face his old team and certainly seems to think that the offense is in the best place it's been in all season.
"The biggest thing for us was the consistency part," he said. "We had some really good flashes early on. There were a lot of positive plays against Middle Tennessee as well as Army, but the thing that negates those positive plays are the turnovers. Those are the things you can’t really take your eye off of. I think for us, it was building that consistency. One play we’d run really well and the next time we run the play it was a total disaster. We had to make sure that we eliminated the negative plays, first and foremost, so we could continue to hang our hat on the positive plays."
Michigan is going to need a lot of positive plays in order to beat an Alabama team that's favored by 7.5 points despite losing its star quarterback and a few players to NFL draft preparation. No one is going to feel sorry for Alabama after the success they've had and Michigan isn't going to take them lightly just because they're at less than full strength. Getting win No. 10 against Bama wouldn't actually mean much, but it would certainly be better than a loss.
