Michigan Winless At Home For The First Time In Program History — Kind Of?
Michigan has been on the losing end of a lot of firsts in 2020 and with the cancellation of the Maryland game, it adds another to the list.
For the first time in Michigan's storied football history, it will finish the season without a win at home.
Granted, it's been a very weird, shortened year with fewer opportunities, but losses to a bad Michigan State team and a then-winless Penn State team, along with a near 40-point drubbing at the hands of Wisconsin, don't sit well with anyone. Those results have Michigan at 0-3 at home this year and it won't get a chance to pick up a W with the Maryland game now cancelled. Regardless of the length of the season, the losses to the Spartans and Nittany Lions will be filed under unacceptable and led to this program first.
People seem to have pretty different opinions on this. One is that the winless "record" shouldn't count. Michigan only had four home games on its schedule and none of them were against weaker, out of conference cupcakes that always result in a win at home. Another is that it doesn't matter how short the season is. Losing to Michigan State and Penn State giving the state of those two programs is inexcusable. Throw in the beatdown against Wisconsin, even though the Badgers are damn good, only adds fuel to the fire.
Where do we stand???
Christopher Breiler
It’s very, very hard for me to defend Jim Harbaugh at this point, but I feel (slightly) compelled to do so here. Up until yesterday, Harbaugh had one last shot at getting a home win during the 2020 season and avoiding such an unfavorable mark. As has often been the case in 2020, COVID had other plans. Along with the shortened season and the absence of a few home cupcakes early in the year, it’s hard for me to put too much importance on the “winless at home” thing. At the very least, that 0-3 record should carry an asterisk along with it.
Brandon Brown
I think the mark should count but I'm ok with an asterisk of some sort. The season was shortened and Michigan only had four (three after the cancellation of the Maryland game) home games, but still. I know Michigan only had those three chances to win at home, but striking out is not acceptable. Everyone is going to remember that 2020 was bananas, but the losses to Michigan State and Penn State are just bad.
The Spartans are lacking talent in a big way and have a first-year head coach in Mel Tucker trying to get his version of the program off the ground. Penn State hadn't won a game yet and was missing its two best players and top two running backs. Michigan just shouldn't be losing to those teams inside The Big House even if it is missing about 110,000 fans.
I've seen some argue that it simply can't count because Michigan didn't have out of conference games to play. So that's where Michigan football is...in need of out of conference cupcakes to win a home game. Man, what a state of affairs.
