Wolverines: We ‘d ‘run through wall’ for Harbaugh

• Tom VanHaaren, ESPN Staff WriterNov 20, 2023, 03:00 PM ET

  Close

  • ESPN staff author
  • Joined ESPN in 2011
  • Finished from Central Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.– When Michigan plays Ohio State on Saturday, both teams will be playing for an area in the Big Ten championship game and a potential berth in the College Football Playoff.But the Wolverines will be doing it without head coach Jim Harbaugh on the sideline.For the 6th game this season, Harbaugh will be serving a suspension that will avoid him from training the third-ranked Wolverines. This, however, is the greatest game of the season with the most at stake, as unbeaten Michigan hosts second-ranked Ohio State.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Harbaugh’s lack hasn’t

impacted the self-confidence from Michigan’s players and coaches, though.” A lot of us would go through a wall for [

Harbaugh], so it’s certainly been tough, and entering into the game without him, this is kind of just like including fuel to the fire, “Wolverines running back Blake Corum stated Monday.” We’re going to play– not that we weren’t going to play hard at all, but might play a little more difficult for him and ensure at the end of the game, we give a game ball to him. And you provide a game ball to somebody, you state you’re going to offer a game ball to someone, you must win; so we’ll ensure we do that for Coach.”Harbaugh is serving what will be the third game in his three-game suspension from the Huge Ten Conference in the middle of allegations that previous staffer Connor Stalions manned an in-person searching plan to steal play signals and calls.Harbaugh likewise missed the very first 3 games of the season from a self-imposed suspension stemming from an unassociated NCAA examination that has yet to finish.Rather than viewing Harbaugh’s lack as an unfavorable, the Wolverines are using it as a chip on their shoulder and welcoming a” Michigan vs. Everybody”mentality.Corum wore those words on a sweatshirt during his Monday news conference and said Michigan has actually been encouraged by what has gone on this season off the field. Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy echoed that sentiment and said it has actually brought the team better as a unit.Despite this being a historic competition that indicates so much this season to both schools, McCarthy thinks the Wolverines have gone through enough without Harbaugh to be able to stand up to any additional pressure or unique circumstances that might arise versus Ohio State.” Simply the entire procedure and throughout the day of just not having him there,”McCarthy stated.”It was different initially. And recently with that experience and knowing how it works and how the coaches react to particular things and how they set about training

the game, it’s going to be tremendous for us this Saturday, due to the fact that it’s one of the bigger games. “Harbaugh called his team battle-tested and discussed empowering his coaches to handle this situation without him. He compared the outside sound to a high-pitched siren that he has had the ability to learn how to endure.”

I return to the’Ted Lasso’program,”Harbaugh said.” ‘Believe.’What comes out of that is think, and I’m so proud, so pleased with our group. Despite that noise, our locker space remains in one piece. And like Ted, for me, a locker room is a lot

like my mommy’s swimsuit– I like to see them in one piece. “Michigan offensive planner Sherrone Moore, who will act as the head coach for the fourth time this season, acknowledged that this game suggests more, but he doesn’t expect it altering how the players work or prepare during the week.”

All of us know what it means, it’s’The Game, ‘”Moore stated. “It’s the one you practice and play for, you work for all year. So we all know the stakes, and that’ll offer us an opportunity to go repeat on the Big Ten title. The words, the preparation,

that’ll come out a bit more later on down the week, we try to keep it on a low boil today, because it can get pretty high actually quickly. “The kids are as prepared mentally and physically as they’ll ever be to prepare yourself for this week.”