Michigan holds Big Ten protest, Jim Harbaugh says he ‘wants to play as soon as possible’

While taking part in Michigan football’s Big Ten parent protest Saturday, coach Jim Harbaugh said his team wants to play and is ready.

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I case you’ve gotten sucked into the Ohio State bubble here as of late, let this serve as a reminder that other schools are trying to fight the good fight on the Big Ten football postponement. In fact, there was a scheduled football parent rally and peaceful protest in Ann Arbor today.

And since we’re all about keeping tabs on arch-rivals, we checked in on how things went up in That State Up North. By the looks of it, there was more than a modest amount of fans, parents, and even coaches that showed up.

On that note, our sister site Wolverines Wire found head coach Jim Harbaugh taking part in the protest and was able to corner him for some feedback on what his desires are for the Big Ten’s immediate future. It’s a good revelation because we haven’t really heard about many things wrinkling those khakis since he supported his players’ readiness just after the decision to postpone the fall season came down like a ton of bricks.

When asked about where he stands, Harbaugh didn’t hesitate.

“Free the Big Ten like my brother John Harbaugh said. I mean, that says it all,” Harbaugh said. “We want to be free to play.”

Later on, when Wolverines Wire asked Harbaugh if he had heard anything from President Marck Schlissel, and what the message has been, the Wolverine head man reiterated that his team is ready to go — and wants to go.

“Our position to the Big Ten — to everybody — has been, we want to play as soon as we possibly can,” continued Harbaugh. “And we’re ready to play. We could be ready to play a game in two weeks … that’s our position, we’re ready to play just as soon as we possibly can.”

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You have to give credit to the Michigan program too. After the latest round of testing produced absolutely no positives in the program, it’s now almost 1,000 COVID-19 tests that have come back negative in a row.

Despite it all though, Harbaugh seemed visibly frustrated that he hasn’t heard much back from Schlissel. He has reportedly sent text messages with desires to play this fall and hasn’t heard anything back from the Michigan president, who — according to reports — may be holding up the Big Ten’s move forward to potentially play in October.

Either way you look at it though, it’s maybe one time when Ohio State and Michigan fans can all agree on something. It’s time to play football in the Big Ten, especially with high schools, most other colleges, and even youth doing so with much fewer resources available to successfully adhere to safety protocols.

It’s not surprising fans feel the same from both schools. Not in this case. What is surprising is that Harbaugh’s mask wasn’t a khaki one.

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