Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh had plenty of reasons to smile after coaching his Wolverines to a hard-fought victory over Penn State on Saturday in Week 11, but he was more than willing to heap praise on a few individual Nittany Lions on Monday. Harbaugh served up some high regard for Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford and defensive linemen Arnold Ebiketie and Jesse Luketa during his regular Monday media availability.
“I’ve gotta say Sean Clifford really was impressive in the football game,” Harbaugh said of Penn State’s starting quarterback, according to our friends at Wolverines Wire. After sharing some comments on his quarterback, Cade McNamara, and how both defenses were knocking people down all afternoon, Harbaugh turned to the other side to commend Clifford for the way he battled.
“The amount of times we knocked him down, it was multiple,” Harbaugh recalled. Michigan sacked Clifford a total of seven times in the game. “Had some really tough, aggressive hits — for him to bounce back the way he did, for him to come back and make some of the throws that he made, that was really impressive.”
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Despite a rough afternoon behind a Penn State offensive line with few answers for Michigan’s defensive front, Clifford managed to lead Penn State to a lead on the Wolverines midway through the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for Penn State, the defense was unable to protect the lead in the fourth quarter and Clifford was unable to come up with the heroics needed with one final offensive opportunity.
Harbaugh also had some good things to say about two of Penn State’s top players up front on defense, Jesse Luketa and Arnold Ebiketie.
“We have really talented pass rushers, well-documented — David Ojabo and Aidan Hutchinson — and they had tremendous games,” Harbaugh said of his two top defensive players before once again turning to praise Penn State’s defensive contributors. “And also Penn State’s outside backers, defensive ends — 40 and 17 — they were really good, too. It was a real battle out there. Both sides really battled in this game. Both teams I thought were a credit to football.”
This has been a particularly tough second half of the season for Penn State, but it is clear they are battling and winning the respect of their opponents even in defeat.
Helmet sticker to Isaiah Hole of Wolverines Wire for sending along the transcription of Harbaugh’s media availability to us for use in this post.
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