It may be time for Michigan fans to take a long, hard look at its football program.

The excitement of three years ago when Jim Harbaugh was hired to take over the struggling Wolverine program, at great expense I might add, has turned into a series of questions following a loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl Monday.

If you take an honest unbiased look at Michigan, you have to wonder why the Wolverines are not better.

The school shelled out millions of dollars to bring Harbaugh and a slew of assistant coaches to Ann Arbor to put the Wolverines back on the college football map.

As of Tuesday morning, Michigan is no closer to being at the top of the Big Ten Conference or the college football world.

Wolverine fans were chopping at the bit when Harbaugh was hired. No more losing to Michigan State and Ohio State, they all said. The fan base also believed that the Wolverines would be in the College Football Playoffs in no time flat and competing for a national championship.

None of that, of course, has happened.

Michigan is just 1-6 against the Spartans and Buckeyes. At Michigan, that is not acceptable.

Harbaugh returned to his alma mater with the reputation of being a quarterback whisperer.

After success in his first season with Jake Rudock, the Wolverines have struggled at the quarterback position.

Injuries and inconsistent play has hampered Michigan at that position, but you would think that Harbaugh would be able to get things straightened out by now. That just has not happened and Brandon Peters, the latest nominee for the savior of the offense looked anything but against a mediocre South Carolina squad Monday.

The Wolverines got off to a pretty good start against the Gamecocks and had a 16-point lead that is squandered.

South Carolina scored 23 unanswered points against a Don Brown defense that at one point was one of the top units in the country.

To his credit, Harbaugh took the blame for the implosion, but that might not be good enough anymore.

There seems to be a different mentality at Michigan now than when Brady Hoke was being run out of town.

Wolverine fans seem to have a wait-and-see attitude with Harbaugh that Rich Rodriquez and Hoke never got. They wanted wins and they wanted them now.

You only have to look a few miles south of here to see a different attitude about the success and failures of a college football team.

Notre Dame fans have been ready to string Brian Kelly up since he went 12-0 and played for a national championship in 2012.

The Fighting Irish went 9-4 and 8-5 the following two years and the rumblings began.

After a decent 10-3 record in 2015, Notre Dame was 4-8 last year and the full-court pressure to get rid of Kelly and go with another coach began.

There were times even this year that I heard the grumbling of the fans despite the fact that the Fighting Irish finished 10-3 and appear to be heading in the right direction.

I do not quite understand why Wolverine fans are ready to wait for Harbaugh to turn the program around and compete for championships, while Irish fans want to win and win now.

I believe that Harbaugh is a good coach and Michigan has spared no expense to give him the financial backing he needs to bring in top-flight assistants.

But at what point does the patience of the fans wear out? When do they start demanding wins over Michigan State and Ohio State every year and playing for national championships?

I have to believe that time is coming soon.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com.