Column: Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan debut is spoiled, but he sees promise

Jim Harbaugh’s coaching debut at Michigan produced the largest crowd in the history of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

It also produced the game you’d expected from a blue-collar coach still trying to get a read on college football’s truest-blue program.

The result hovered somewhere between brutish and boring.

Harbaugh played it close-to-the-khakis with a team he inherited, but does not yet fully know.

He took few chances, mostly played for field position but did offer Michigan fans a glimpse of better days to come.

Better would not come Thursday, however, on the road, against a Utah team that is further down the development road.

Utah defeated Michigan last year in Ann Arbor, helping to usher out Brady Hoke, the previous coach.

The Utes were no kinder to Harbaugh in ruining his debut by the final score of 24-17.

Michigan players, desperate to make a first impression, seemed to take the loss harder than Harbaugh.

Tight end Jake Butt lamented the costly mistakes.

“I just think we left so much out there,” he said.

Harbaugh took the longer view, hardly changing expression during his first postgame interview as Michigan’s coach.

“I think they’re being too hard on themselves,” Harbaugh said of his players.

Harbaugh knew exactly what Michigan was going to get in Salt Lake City.

“It’s good, real football,” he said.

Utah is coming off a nine-win season and expects to contend this year in the rugged Pac-12 South. The Utes did not play their best, either, as normally reliable kicker, Andy Phillips, missed two-field goal attempts that could have salted it in Salt Lake.

Utah let Michigan hang around long enough to earn possession in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie the game.

Any thoughts of a dramatic comeback seemed doomed, though, when Utah defensive back Justin Thomas intercepted a Jake Rudock pass and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown.

Harbaugh isn’t the only new face in the program. He handed Thursday’s starting quarterback job to Rudock, a senior transfer from Iowa, instead of returner Shane Morris.

Rudock was intercepted three times, including the pick-six to Utah’s Thomas.

You could almost see Harbaugh’s mind processing and assessing a team he doesn’t trust yet, at any position.

“You don’t know, you just don’t know,” Harbaugh said of his team. “But I was impressed.”

Instead of berating Rudock for the three interceptions, he praised his resiliency in leading a late touchdown drive that cut the deficit to seven points.

“He was seeing the field extremely well,” Harbaugh said of Rudock.

Michigan’s last-ditch attempt at an on-side kick, though, went out of bounds and allowed Utah to run out the clock.

There was none of the head-butt braggadocio Harbaugh brought to other jobs at Stanford and San Francisco.

That will come once Harbaugh gets Michigan figured out.

Harbaugh’s first game at Stanford, on Sept. 1, 2007, was a 45-17 loss to UCLA. Stanford lost three of its first four games before scoring an epic upset over USC at the Coliseum.

That victory gave Harbaugh something to build on.

No one knows yet when his first Michigan moment might come, but Harbaugh probably knew in advance it wasn’t going to be Thursday.

Upcoming home games against Oregon State, Nevada Las Vegas and Brigham Young give Harbaugh a realistic chance to get to 3-1 before Big Ten play begins at Maryland.

For now, Harbaugh is poking and prodding to learn more about the team he took over.

“Lot of positives, good things to build on, things to grow from,” he said.

When Rudock tossed his third interception, Harbaugh went over to console his quarterback.

He said he told Rudock that Utah’s Thomas just made a good play.

Rudock responded with a late touchdown pass to Amara Darboh.

“You throw an interception for a touchdown and then you come back and lead a touchdown drive, I thought that was outstanding,” Harbaugh said.

Michigan already looks bigger and tougher than last year’s 5-7 team. The Wolverines looked better in the second half than they did in the first, doubling their total yardage output.

Harbaugh’s debut always stood the chance of being more anticipated than it was thrilling.

Still, though, you knew it was the beginning of something, maybe something big.

Utah sports information director Liz Abel crammed more than 90 media members into a relatively small press box, with a dozen spillovers moved into an auxiliary section of the stands.

The crowd of 47,825, a record, exceeded stadium capacity of 45,807. It surpassed the crowd of 47,619 last year against USC.

Thursday’s result may not have pleased all Michigan tweeters, but the night offered what they wanted most: promise.

Urban Meyer, of course, once coached at Rice-Eccles, leading Utah to an undefeated season in 2004 before leaving to win national titles at Florida and, last season, Ohio State.

Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham was Meyer’s defensive coordinator before succeeding him when he left for Florida.

Utah’s schemes aren’t that much different from the schemes Meyer runs at Ohio State.

Harbaugh isn’t ready to take on that rivalry monster, yet. Thursday was just the first step in a process.

“Everything that happens from here on in is what matters the most,” Harbaugh said.