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If Aug. 11 was a dark day in the Big Ten, as it took the 2020 fall football season off the table, Sept. 16 was the opposite.
And no one was more ear-to-ear than Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh appeared on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday morning and shared how he felt when he got official word on Wednesday that the 2020 season was back after all.
“It was a good feeling,” Harbaugh said. “Tell you the truth, that was our best practice of the fall. Guys are excited about it. They want to play.”
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Michigan was one of a few schools in the Big Ten that practiced without interruption. Many others — Ohio State, MSU and Wisconsin — all have had pauses down the line due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Wolverines managed to limit the amount of positives, particularly on the football team. They’ve been practicing since arriving on campus in mid-June.
Harbaugh noted that taking advantage of the 12 hours-per-week that the conference allowed while the season was called off has helped the team get that much better amid a time of uncertainty.
“Just the idea of it’s better to be prepared and not have your opportunity come than to have your opportunity come and not be prepared,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys were doing the training and hoping. That faith paid off. We’d love to be playing today, but we’re very excited about a game coming up on Oct. 24.”
Though Michigan has undoubtedly done a good job, given the lack of positive tests, the Big Ten has instituted conference-wide protocols that will assuredly help the other programs reach a similar high standard.
Harbaugh was pleased to see the daily antigen testing, which all but eliminates the need for contact tracing, along with the different measures put in place by the conference to ensure a season can take place with nine games in nine weeks.
Still, the team will have to remain vigilant as to not end up having to take a 21 day break as required with a positive test.