Is Jim Harbaugh really taking over FSU and the rest of college football?

Florida State assistant coach Tim Brewster posted a tweet on April 28th that escalated more than anyone would have thought. His tweet exclaimed that even though Michigan had more draft picks selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, that it didn’t equate to wins, alluding to FSU’s Orange Bowl victory over the Wolverines.

Jim Harbaugh fired back with a tweet of his own, stating that, “We LOVE having our players picked, and our players love BEING picked.” Brewster, in the final tweet of the conversation, posted a picture of his 2017 Orange Bowl Championship ring.

Flash-forward to Friday — USA Today’s Nancy Armour released an article stating that Jim Harbaugh “won” the Twitter fight before he even replied, and that it was not wise for Brewster to engage it.

Before we get started, I want to preface the following by saying Jim Harbaugh has had an extremely successful first two seasons at Michigan and is no doubt bringing that program in the right direction. Both Harbaugh and Brewster are among the elite recruiters in all of college football. This article is purely arguing the points made in a one-sided article presented below.

Let’s dissect this article further.

Armour’s first argument:

The fight with Jim Harbaugh was lost the minute Tim Brewster tried to pick it.

The Florida State assistant tried to troll Harbaugh twice after the NFL draft, first with a reference to a meaningless bowl game win and then with a photo of the gaudy ring that came with it. But all Brewster did was made himself look silly.

First of all, I wouldn’t necessarily call a New Years Six Bowl a “meaningless” bowl game. This isn’t any other bowl game played at noon during a midweek game in late December, like the Citrus Bowl. (I wonder who played in that game in 2015? Hint: It was Michigan while FSU was in yet, another New Years Six bowl).

Armour then argues that,

If anything has become clear in the two years since Harbaugh returned to Michigan, it’s that he owns college football.

Ok, so lets break this down. Over the past two seasons, Florida State and Michigan have equal 20-6 records. However, Florida State has more top-10 wins (3) than UM (1) and more top-25 wins (5) than its counterpart (4).

The thing is, Armour isn’t arguing Harbaugh owns FSU, its that he owns ALL of college football — which would include Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State etc. Yeah, I don’t think so.

He just got back from taking Michigan to Rome for “practice,” a bigger spring break boondoggle than one of those all-inclusives in Cancun. He and the Wolverines saw the sights, gorged themselves on pizza and gelato, and played paintball (as one does in Rome, of course).

I’m not even going to go into what the approximate cost for this trip was and the money that was used that could have been instead used on the students of Michigan. And since it’s not during Spring Break, which Harbaugh confirmed, these students are missing out on classes and school work. Whatever.

Florida State’s players will stay back in Florida during the spring seasons, where they can make an impact on the local community such as Deondre Francois’ surprise visit to a child earlier this week.

He threw a Signing Day bash in 2016 with special guests Derek Jeter and Tom Brady.

Would you rather have Derek Jeter and Tom Brady at your National Signing Day bash, or have a higher rated class than Florida State according to 247 Composite Rankings? Apparently to Harbaugh, it’s the former.

Florida State’s 2016 recruiting class was second in the nation. Michigan came in at No. 6 despite having three more signings. In 2017, Michigan had the No. 5 overall class with a 293.79 score, Florida State came in at No. 6 with a 291.60. Problem is, Michigan achieved that with 30 signings —- Florida State had just 24.

It all has served to make Michigan one of the hottest destinations in college football. Which is why Brewster’s trolling attempts were so ill-advised.

See the former.

It’s true the Wolverines haven’t made the College Football Playoff yet under Harbaugh. It’s also true Michigan lost to Florida State in that Orange Bowl; the Wolverines were without their star, safety Jabrill Peppers, and then lost tight end Jake Butt in the first half.

Jabrill Peppers didn’t play in the Orange Bowl? Who knew? Florida State was playing without it’s top defender, and projected top-5 2018 NFL Draft pick, Derwin James.

You know who has made a College Football Playoff? Florida State with players recruited by Tim Brewster.

Yet two years later, Harbaugh has the Wolverines back among the country’s elite. Michigan has gone 10-3 in each of his first two years, and there was an argument to be made that the Wolverines should have been included in last season’s playoff.

You can’t use the argument that Michigan “should have been included” in the College Football Playoff. They weren’t included, end of story. Try winning your conference next time.

The Wolverines also had more players chosen in last week’s NFL draft (11) than any other school – the source of Brewster’s pettiness – and his blockbuster recruiting class in February means there will be more to come.

When you lose every starting defender except for one, and multiple offensive components, of course you’re going to have more draft picks. Another thing. If this article is all about Harbaugh “owning” college football, yes, Michigan had 11 NFL draft picks this past draft, but how many of those did Harbaugh recruit?

Brewster might have thought he was being clever, taunting Harbaugh with his Orange Bowl ring. But the college game is Harbaugh’s now and no one is playing it better.

Actually, there are plenty of teams playing it better. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Western Kentucky, Stanford, Houston, App State, San Diego State, Wisconsin, and Western Michigan all have better records than Michigan over the past two seasons, when Harbaugh arrived there.

You can come to your own conclusions about this article, I’m just stating the cold hard facts.