Michigan Football: Response to MSU Loss Will Show Extent of Harbaugh Effect

The Michigan football team endured a crushing last-second loss to their rival last week, but how the Wolverines bounce back will provide more insight into the extent of the Jim Harbaugh Effect.

Falling to Michigan State after never trailing until the clock read triple zeros must have been gut-wrenching. If there's any particular type of loss that would be easy to let linger, that's the one.

"It just sucks, there's no other way to phrase it, no better way to put it," quarterback Jake Rudock said, per Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press.

Nevertheless, like every coach would, Harbaugh already has his players saying the right things and appearing determined to move on from the unfortunate finish.

"I'm still not over it, it's still in my mind that we lost," cornerback Jourdan Lewis said, per Nick Baumgardner of MLive.com. "But we've got to move on. We have to take that loss as a lesson."

Baumgardner notes running back De'Veon Smith said, "Anything can happen. (Anything can happen) to any team we play. Our dreams are still alive. Winning the Big Ten championship (is still possible). That's our main focus."

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

But dreams are just that when not followed up with actions.

Michigan was an absolute force heading into the matchup against Michigan State, limiting opponents to 14 points over a five-game stretch. The offense racked up 1,988 yards and surrendered just 751.

Although the hope to continue exerting that level of dominance over the Spartans was unrealistic, Harbaugh's team put itself in position to beat a College Football Playoff contender. That's not helping the Wolverines sleep at night, but it's still the truth.

The next few opponents on the schedule, however, are not championship contenders.

Date	Opponent	Location	OPP Record
Oct. 31	Minnesota	Minneapolis	4-3
Nov. 7	Rutgers	Ann Arbor, Mich.	3-3
Nov. 14	Indiana	Bloomington, Ind.	4-3
Nov. 21	Penn State	University Park, Pa.	5-2
Nov. 28	Ohio State	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7-0

Minnesota lost 27-0 to Northwestern, which fell to Michigan by 38 points. Putting stake in the transitive property can be dangerous, but it's not a useless comparison because the Golden Gophers offense is one of the Football Bowl Subdivision's least threatening units.

Rutgers wideout Leonte Carroo, who has a trio of three-touchdown outings in 2015, will challenge Lewis and the Wolverines secondary. The defense, though? It's ranked 106th in the nation.

While Indiana played Ohio State tightly, if it wasn't for Zander Diamont's 79-yard touchdown run on a defensive breakdown, the Hoosiers would have managed just 97 yards on 54 carries. Making Indiana one-dimensional shouldn't be a problem for Michigan.

Penn State has a strong defense, but consistently poor offensive line play combined with a lack of pass-catching options has flat-out broken Christian Hackenberg, who is more inaccurate than ever. Though the Nittany Lions have a budding star in freshman running back Saquon Barkley, Michigan's strength is stopping the run.

"They're so fundamentally sound and they run like crazy to the ball," Big Ten Network analyst Gerry DiNardo told Snyder about the Wolverines. "Not markedly different, but in places there's probably better players—and they're older."

Now, this isn't to say the Wolverines should be expected to rip off a four-game stretch that concludes with three more shutouts and twice as much yardage.

Going back to the overlying focus of the season, these are the games the Michigan program is supposed to win every season. Considering the Wolverines' performances so far, however, these are the matchups they are capable of dominating.

It only took two months for Harbaugh to change the mentality of the team. The Harbaugh Effect is real, and it will only become more evident in future seasons.

But avoiding a setback—or multiple setbacks—after a crushing loss is the next step to the Wolverines continuing their ascent toward perennial relevance once again.

All recruiting information via 247Sports. Stats from cfbstats.com. Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.