Michigan made strides in 2015, but still has ground to cover

0 Shares print Monday marks a full year since Michigan decided its football program was headed in the wrong direction under former coach Brady Hoke. There is no doubt the Wolverines have reversed course since then, but how much catching up is left to do? There are two lenses through which to view Michigan’s 2015 regular season, its first with coach Jim Harbaugh. Half-full: The team won nine games (four more than a year ago) and remained a realistic competitor in the conference championship hunt heading into the final week of the season. Half-empty: The team faded in November and failed twice on its own turf to beat its rivals, who remain the standard-bearers of the Big Ten. Harbaugh offered his own terse summation of the program’s progress shortly after his team was clearly bested by Ohio State, 42-13, on Saturday. “Closed quite a bit of ground,” he said. “Still more ground to close on.” Jim Harbaugh on the sideline during the fourth quarter of the loss to Ohio State. AP Photo/Tony DingMichigan State and Ohio State have set a historically high bar, and they are still in the process of pushing it higher. No new Wolverines coach has ever had as much ground to make up on both rivals at the same time. On Saturday, it wasn’t mental gaffes or recurring mistakes that sank Michigan, as they have in past years. Defensive players said they knew what to expect from the backfield combination of J.T…

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