Jim Harbaugh And Michigan Don’t Deserve Shot At CFP Championship

Here’s the reason Jim Harbaugh and his Michigan football program should remain in the Big Ten slammer before transferring to the one of the NCAA while coming nowhere near the College Football Playoff.

Yes, yes and yes.

Yes, Michigan is a big deal — especially since Forbes said in the fall of 2019 before the pandemic that the Wolverines were third among most valuable college football programs with a three-year average revenue of $139 million.

Yes, Harbaugh ranks among the coaching stars of the sport, and to prove as much, his Michigan bosses extended his contract in February 2022 through the 2026 season for $36.7 million with hopes of keeping another NFL stint away from the former Super Bowl coach for the San Francisco 49ers.

Yes, the Wolverines have an iconic fight song, cool uniforms, alums ranging from President Gerald Ford to somebody named Tom Brady and a No. 3 ranking overall with their 10-0 record in pursuit of a third consecutive Big Ten title.

But no. When it comes to giving the Wolverines the chance to win a national championship this season for the first time since 1997, you can’t take Harbaugh or the rest of his Michigan folks seriously due to the other stuff.

Just like there’s no crying in baseball, there’s no swearing in college football, especially on live national television.

I mean, did interim Michigan coach Sherrone Moore really look into Fox cameras Saturday at Penn State — where he replaced the Big Ten-suspended Harbaugh for the afternoon along the way to a 24-15 victory for the Wolverines — and say “the Lord” and several curse words in consecutive sentences?

Indeed, Moore did. He told reporters he was emotional during the TV interview since Harbaugh is “such a great person, great human, great coach.”

We hear you, Sherrone, but there also is no cheating in life.

Not that Harbaugh and his Wolverines would agree.

They’ve already been spanked twice this fall through a combination of Big Ten, NCAA and Michigan officials. All of that sort of counters Moore’s teary eyed description of his boss after the Penn State game.

First, in September, Michigan officials sought to please NCAA investigators by suspending Harbaugh for the opening three games of the season. The whole thing involved alleged NCAA recruiting violations by the Wolverines. Even though the case remains unsettled, those NCAA investigators said Harbaugh lied to them about something involving the case.

So Michigan officials gave their self-imposed punishment to Harbaugh in attempt to make the NCAA go softer on their guy in the end.

We’ll see.

Then came the latest Harbaugh-Michigan mess. Big Ten officials suspended Harbaugh for those three games after they determined former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions led a sign-stealing operation over “multiple years” to violate the conference’s sportsmanship policy.

The NCAA is still investigating.

In contrast, the Big Ten acted quickly last week by saying Harbaugh couldn’t coach the rest of the regular season — against Penn State, at Maryland Saturday and when despised rival and No. 1 ranked Ohio State comes to Ann Arbor, Michigan — and those among the Maize and Blue Nation fumed.

Michigan officials even sought a temporary restraining order before the Penn State game, but Yahoo Sports said the hearing in Washtenaw County (Michigan) isn’t expected to happen until Friday.

“We know that there’s a target on our back right now, and we love that s—-,” Michigan offensive lineman Trevor Keegan told reporters after Michigan’s victory against No. 10 Penn State. “As players and staff, having a one-track mind and staying together. The storm’s coming. We are the storm. That’s our mentality.”

Michigan players even put Harbaugh on FaceTime after the Penn State game since their coach watched from the team’s hotel. They sang the Wolverines’ traditional song of, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” and Harbaugh “was the jolly good fellow,” Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy told reporters.

Scary.

The same goes for the Wolverines countering their espionage charges from the NCAA and the Big Ten by saying they aren’t alone. They sent documents to the conference office claiming Ohio State and Rutgers gave various signals of the Wolverines to Purdue before last year’s Big Ten Championship game.

That was before or after the dog ate the homework, the check got lost in the mail, and whatever else Michigan folks have thrown out there already to suggest they are unfairly persecuted.

They aren’t.