I'm not saying they're literally the same thing, but this isn't an armored and well trained knight I'm trying to fight, it is a rat. If you can't kill a rat with a dagger, something has to be seriously, physically wrong with you. We know that isn't the case because my character is strong enough to use a bow with a draw weight capable of killing things. It doesn't make physical sense for him to have trouble giving a rat a good stab.
In Skyrim and Oblivion skill is determined by the player. In Morrowind, the players skill has nothing to do with the equation. Whether or not you got something is pure chance. Morrowind had a bad system that modern games no longer use and for good reason.