First-year Florida coach Jim McElwain and first-year Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh have brought life to their respective programs. The Gators are 6-1, ranked No. 13 in the country and on top of the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division. The Wolverines are 5-2 and ranked No. 16 in the country despite losses to two top-10 opponents. Both programs seem revitalized and their devoted fan bases are optimistic the teams will contend for a spot in the college football playoffs. AlligatorSports editor Graham Hall and managing/online editor Jordan McPherson debate which Jim has had the best start to the year considering the programs each coach took over.
Hall: What Jim McElwain has done for Florida’s program in his first year has been nothing short of transcendent. To say the Gators struggled last year on offense is an understatement, and the loss of defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. signaled a drop off for one of the best defenses in the nation. However, Florida looks improved on both ends of the ball under McElwain. The offense, despite losing starting quarterback Will Grier for a year due to suspension, has been a breath of fresh air in Gainesville.
The Gators have been able to score consistently on formidable SEC opponents — 38 against Ole Miss and 28 against both LSU and Tennessee. McElwain got freshman receiver Antonio Callaway to commit on signing day, and the Miami native has shown signs of being a star in the making. McElwain has the Gators optimistic they can run the table and hang with the best teams in the SEC.
Former coach Will Muschamp may have recruited most of these players, but they’re McElwain’s players now. And UF’s defense has proven they don’t need Muschamp to play at a high level. I know the season is early, but early indications indicate McElwain will lead the Gators back to competing on the national level.
McPherson: I’m not discrediting anything McElwain has done — he’s turned this Gators football team around faster than anyone expected was possible.
However, what Jim Harbaugh has done in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is nothing short of spectacular.
The 2014 Michigan team was arguably the worst since Rich Rodriguez’s first two years leading the program in 2008 and 2009, when the Wolverines went 3-9 and 5-7.
But Harbaugh and his get-it-done attitude has lifted this team back to national talks, even with a 5-2 record (which was a horrible last-second punting mistake away from being 6-1).
The defense is arguably the best in the nation. The Wolverines posted three straight shutouts this season — the first team to do so since 1995. And they didn’t do it against cupcakes. Michigan held then-No. 22 BYU, Maryland and then-No. 13 Northwestern to zero points (It’s incredible what D.J. Durkin is able to do when he has freedom to call the shots).
Florida’s defense — while still highly touted — hasn’t done that yet despite having an overall more talented group.
While Michigan’s offense has been a middle-of-the-road group at best, it finds ways to make the plays when needed.
Hall: Michigan has admittedly been impressive defensively, but they’ve yet to win a game against an opponent that they shouldn’t have. Their best victory is against an overhyped Northwestern team that found itself decimated by Iowa on Saturday. The point remains that Michigan hasn’t won many big games under Harbaugh yet. McElwain and the Gators crushed then-No. 3 Ole Miss by 28 points, and followed it up with a dominant 21-3 beatdown of Missouri on the road. Sure, shut outs are impressive, but this is where the SEC bias comes into play.
The team had multiple opportunities to win statement games under Harbaugh already, but they didn’t and therefore I can’t rank Harbaugh’s early season performance ahead of McElwain’s.
Although, I must say that you’re right about D.J. Durkin’s revitalization of that defense. Maybe Florida’s defense was great because of Durkin rather than Muschamp.
McPherson: Yes, Michigan lost two potential "statement" games — its 24-17 season-opening loss against Utah and last weekend’s debacle against Michigan State. But you can’t dismiss the Wolverines’ ranked wins against BYU and Northwestern. Both came with the Wolverines being the underdogs. Yes, they’re lesser opponents than the two losses, but they’re still ranked wins.
And Harbaugh has turned the little bit of talent he had into a formidable group. Just look at the talent discrepancy between the two teams. The Gators have four five-star recruits leading the defense. Michigan’s top players? Linebacker Desmond Morgan, safety Jeremy Clark and defensive tackle Willie Henry — all three-star recruits.
McElwain had two of the top-three dual threat quarterbacks from the 2013 recruiting class in Grier and Harris to play quarterback in addition to running back Kelvin Taylor, tight end Jake McGee and receivers Demarcus Robinson and Antonio Callaway.
The Wolverines are using Iowa transfer Jake Rudock — a career 60-percent completion passer — as their signal caller, a four-headed monster at running back and don’t have a receiver with more than 28 catches.
Yet somehow, the Wolverines are still averaging 28.6 points per game, a mere three points less than the Gators.
But three points won’t make a difference if the Gators are the ones needing the field goal.
Hall: You can’t mention what Jim Harbaugh has done with less talent while ignoring what McElwain and offensive line coach Mike Summers have done with UF’s protection.
Florida’s offensive line came into the season with very little experience — redshirt senior Trip Thurman started 10 games last season, the most of any offensive lineman on the team — but McElwain and Summers have the unit holding their own against some of the SEC’s premier defensive ends.
Where it stands, the Gators are still in the conversation to win the SEC. I don’t think Michigan, who’s fourth in the East, can say the same in the Big Ten, unless Michigan State and Ohio State somehow lose more than one game.
If McElwain gets the Gators to Atlanta to play in the SEC Championship game, he’s clearly had a better season than Harbaugh.
McPherson: McElwain probably will get the Gators to the SEC Championship, especially if they win against Georgia next week in Jacksonville.
But with the SEC East basically falling apart this season, it’s not all McElwain’s doing if Florida makes it to Atlanta.
Frontrunner Georgia lost Heisman candidate Nick Chubb and two games; an "improved" Tennessee team is 1-2 in the conference; Hell, Kentucky is still in the mix halfway through the conference slate. If that doesn’t tell you something about the state of the SEC East, I don’t know what does.
Harbaugh and Michigan might not win the Big Ten this year, but if the cards play out, the Michigan-Ohio State game to close out the season might change that.
Regardless, Harbaugh has shown this year that he knows how to coach a ball game and made the Wolverines a force to be reckoned with again.
Who do you think won? Vote online at alligator.org/sports. Results will be in Monday’s edition of the paper.
UF football coach Jim McElwain walks out of the visitor's tunnel prior to Florida's 14-9 win against Kentucky on Sept. 19, 2015, at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is enjoying a relatively successful season in his first year as head coach.
