Tag: Harbaugh

Penn State DE mocks Michigan with sign stealing celebration

Dani Dennis-Sutton trolled the Wolverines sidelines with this celebration.

In case you haven’t heard, University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh is in some hot water right now. He’s currently suspended and wrapped up in a sign-stealing controversy. Something Penn State defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton decided to have some fun with and troll the Wolverines sideline on Saturday.

Dennis-Sutton decided to go with a celebration that included mimicking looking through binoculars and writing something down to troll Michigan over its current predicament. Too much or just right? This is one of those celebrations that definitely walks the line but was too much not to share.

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Michigan sign stealing scandal: Social media reacts

Did Harbaugh know?

The biggest story in college football this week is the sign stealing controversy at Michigan.  As the days have gone on we’ve learned that the depths Michigan went to get opponents signs ahead of games is quite thorough.

This from our colleagues at Wolverines Wire:

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Connor Stalions — the NCAA’s person of interest — has reportedly purchased tickets to more than 30 games of Michigan football’s opponents over the past three years, and he did so in his own name, per the report. Thamel says that ESPN has extensive evidence also of the paper trail and that 11 Big Ten schools have provided proof of the claims.

Woof.  Where there is smoke there is usually fire is all I’ll say for now.

In regards to Notre Dame and why it matters to Fighting Irish Wire:  despite Michigan not being on the schedule annually anymore, they’re still as big of rival that the Irish have outside of USC.  Anything that happens with Michigan is relevant to Notre Dame in terms of recruiting and program building.

With that in mind, here is how social media has reacted in the wake of the cheating scandal in Ann Arbor.

Should Notre Dame be worried about Michigan flipping Midwest wide receiver commitment?

Don’t take our word for it…

Welcome to the end of the regular season, Notre Dame fans.  If you don’t remember what it’s like here let me quickly remind you the early signing period for the 2023 recruiting class is a few short weeks away and the rumors and fears of commitments being flipped will only grow.

That’s not just for the 2023 class but 2024 as well. For instance, Notre Dame landed a commitment from wide receiver Cam Williams of Glenbard South in Illinois in the summer. Williams hadn’t played his junior year at that point, but, surprising nobody, he thrived this fall.

Williams chose Notre Dame despite holding offers from more than 20 other programs. Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Wisconsin and Vanderbilt were just a few. So after Michigan’s massive win in the Horseshoe this weekend and Notre Dame’s fourth loss of the year,  should Marcus Freeman and company be worried about Williams flipping to the Wolverines?

Don’t ask us. Ask the young man himself:

Asked and answered.

In a social media world that gets harder to look at by the day (old man yells at cloud – and get off my lawn!), let me just say this is the content we crave!

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What Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said about Georgia, Orange Bowl

What Harbaugh had to say about Georgia…

It will be the Georgia Bulldogs and Michigan Wolverines in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 31.

The winner of the game will advance to the national championship to take on the winner of the Cotton Bowl: Alabama vs. Cincinnati.

Michigan enters the game as the No. 2 seed after defeating Iowa and winning the Big Ten championship. Georgia is the No. 3 team after a loss to Alabama in the SEC championship.

After the playoff rankings and pairings were announced, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh met with the media to discuss the season so far and his early thoughts on the Bulldogs.

Kirk Herbstreit releases his new college football rankings

How do your top six compare to Herbstreit’s?

After a wild rivalry weekend of college football that shook up the top 25 and made a major impact on the College Football Playoff, we now start sorting out the pieces.

Notre Dame is in the clubhouse with an 11-1 record but will Wisconsin’s loss hurt the Irish chances at making the CFP?

Will Michigan pass Alabama in the rankings?

And how far will Oklahoma State move up after winning a thriller over Oklahoma?

Kirk Herbstreit offered his new college football rankings on Sunday morning as he normally does and it went as follows:

Does Michigan’s huge win over Ohio State impact Notre Dame?

The party is on in Ann Arbor…

Michigan wasn’t given much of a chance by the nation Saturday as they went into their Saturday date with No. 2 Ohio State ranked fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings but hadn’t beaten their rival since 2011.

10-years later that streak has finally ended for the Wolverines as they upset Ohio State to secure their first ever trip to the Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis.  A win there over Iowa or Wisconsin will then mean Michigan will make their first trip to the College Football Playoff (CFP).

Related: Check out the Michigan and Ohio State perspectives at Wolverines Wire and Buckeyes Wire!

Here at Fighting Irish Wire we’re always trying to figure out how things impact Notre Dame.  In this case how are Notre Dame’s playoff odds affected by Michigan’s victory?

According to FiveThirtyEight, Notre Dame’s chances of making the CFP take a minimal hit as they drop from 31% to 30% with the Michigan win.  I don’t really get how they go down, unless Ohio State gets love from the committee they don’t deserve with two losses.

Michigan will be the obvious favorite in the Big Ten Championship next weekend regardless of who they play (Wisconsin clinches a berth with win over Minnesota, Iowa clinches berth if Wisconsin loses).  However, the matchup seems to lend itself better to both Wisconsin and Iowa’s chances with it being a Michigan team that doesn’t light up the scoreboard quite like Ohio State’s can do.

Pretty simply, the spread in next week’s Big Ten championship will be a smaller number than if Ohio State was playing.  That’s not to take anything away from Michigan whatsoever, just with an offense that wasn’t viewed as “as sexy” as Ohio State’s, that’s a fact.

That said, I’ll still pick Michigan to come out of that as the victor, but perhaps it’ll be a tougher test than the first meeting between the two was.

Other than that, Ohio State having two losses eliminates them from the CFP, just like a second loss by Alabama SHOULD do to the Tide.

So in short, Michigan’s win helps Notre Dame in the fact that maybe the Big Ten is now ever-so-slightly more winnable for Wisconsin than it would be if they played Ohio State?

It’s not a bad thing, whatever the case.

So congrats to Michigan fans that have sat through a lot of torcher with Ohio State the last couple decades.  That’s a win worth celebrating for days.

Heck, celebrate it for the next week straight and come out flat in Indianapolis?

Related:

FIW Staff Picks for Notre Dame-Stanford

The 50 biggest college football stadiums

Watch: All of Michigan’s losses under Jim Harbaugh in 2:20

Jim Harbaugh was supposed to win a ton of football games at Michigan. This will be the best 2:20 video you watch today….

When Jim Harbaugh was hired at Michigan in 2015 it was supposed to be a program-changing hire and in some ways it was.

Michigan went from an incredibly mediocre final three years of Brady Hoke where they went just 20-18 and immediately went 10-3 the first year under Harbaugh.

A year later they came within inches of stopping Ohio State in a game that would have gotten them to the Big Ten Championship Game and very likely the College Football Playoff.

But the “big one” is still one Michigan fans are waiting for the Wolverines to win under Harbaugh with his best win to date probably being the 2019 blowout victory over a Notre Dame team who finished 12th in the final Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY.

Since that night things have gone perfectly for Notre Dame as they’ve won 15 straight games and they couldn’t have gone worse for Michigan as the Wolverines are just 5-6 since.

Michigan’s 27-17 loss to previously winless Penn State brings Harbaugh and the Wolverines to an embarrassing 2-4 with only games against Maryland and Ohio State (thoughts and prayers in the direction of Ann Arbor for that one, please) remaining.

We would never find joy in Michigan football struggling at Fighting Irish Wire (OK, that’s a lie – I’ll go to confession tomorrow for it), we do like to point out great research and Tattoo Baker on Twitter did exactly that, compiling the ultimate game-changing play from each of Jim Harbaugh’s now 22 losses at Michigan.

Watch and enjoy as it will probably be the best 2:20 of your day.

Sidenote – shoutout again to Jerry Tillery.

So whos got it better than “us”?

Everybody.

Related: Pictures from Notre Dame’s 2018 season-opening win over Harbaugh and Michigan

Report: Big Ten Cancels Football in 2020

According to the Detroit Free-Press, the Big Ten has decided to not play football this fall.

In a report by the Detroit Free Press on Monday morning, the Big Ten has cancelled football for the fall of 2020.

The report states:

The Big Ten has voted to cancel the 2020 college football season in a historic move that stems from concerns related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, multiple people with knowledge of the decision confirmed to the Free Press.

The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the decision. A formal announcement is expected to Tuesday, the sources said. 

The move by the Big Ten comes just two days after the Mid-American Conference canceled their football season and much of the feel is that most, if not all the other power conferences will cancel football for the fall before long.

The report adds that no decision has been made about the Big Ten potentially playing football in the spring.

Keep it tuned to Fighting Irish Wire and the USA TODAY wire sites for all of the latest on this developing story.

Instant analysis of Ravens’ 4th-round pick Michigan G Ben Bredeson

The Ravens now have taken two consecutive guards in the NFL Draft with the selection of Ben Bredeson out of Michigan.

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The Ravens now have taken two consecutive guards in the 2020 NFL Draft with the selection of Ben Bredeson out of Michigan in the fourth round.

Bredeson, at 6-foot-5 and 325 pounds, is an absolute bulldozer off the ball in the run game and we considered him to be the top guard in the fourth round for the Ravens. The four-year starter at Michigan was a team captain and started all 13 games at left guard as well as winning 3rd-team AP All-American and first-team All-Conference.

Bredeson’s technique is highly lauded by analysts, showing polish in both power and RPO systems. He’s able to stun defenders across from him with strong punches while blocking and has fluid enough hips to change direction in the case of twists. He maintains exceptional balance in both areas of his game and creates a ton of leverage while blocking. He’s a leader on the field and is someone who lets his play do the talking.

He isn’t that fast, though, and pulling is not his fortė. He still moves at a relative college speed, so the transition to the NFL could be tough and a little slower for him.

It’s also worth a note that Jim Harbaugh, John’s brother, is the head coach at Michigan.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Michigan vs. Michigan State preview

Previewing Michigan State vs. Michigan

Matt is back! Wil and Matt talk about MSU vs. Michigan of course. They talk about how MSU can possibly win this game and why Jim Harbaugh is the most reliable coach in college football.

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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