Harbaugh Echoes Schembechler: No Friday Night Games
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
Jim Harbaugh can still hear Bo Schembechler, all these years later.
"We're gonna tee it up at 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon! We're not gonna play any Friday night games!" Harbaugh declared, impersonating his former coach.
In the wake of the Big Ten's announcement to play six Friday night games per year beginning next season, Harbaugh, hearing the news for the first time, told 97.1 The Ticket on Thursday morning that college football is meant for one day, and one day only.
"I think Saturday, it's a Saturday game," he said. "I'm for traditional Saturdays. Friday night's for high school football, that's my knee jerk reaction to it."
On Wednesday, it was reported that Michigan summarily rejected the idea of playing on Friday nights for "consistency of presentation." The Wolverines have always played on Saturdays.
No. 2 Michigan hosts Maryland this weekend, looking to push its record to 9-0. Harbaugh will be opposed on the sideline by D.J. Durkin, who coached under Harbaugh at Michigan in 2015 and at Stanford before that.
But Harbaugh said isn't looking forward to squaring off with an old friend.
"Nah, not really. I know what kind of guy D.J. is. He's an excellent coach, a great competitor. We have a pretty good idea that his team's going to come in here playing all jacked up and it'll be a great challenge for us," said Harbaugh.
"It's a big game, a championship game for our team and we look forward to competing on Saturday – Saturday," he clarified, laughing.
The Wolverines were ranked third in the first College Football Playoff poll, released on Tuesday night. Harbaugh kept his reaction to a minimum.
"I took note of it. I did not mention it to the team," he said. "I'm sure they saw it as well."
