Published Nov 13, 2021
Everything Jim Harbaugh said post-Penn State
Adam Schnepp  •  Maize&BlueReview
Senior Editor

The picture above just about sums it up. Jim Harbaugh was full of energy and ready to answer questions in his post-Penn State press conference. A full transcript of what he said it below:

On whether he was adamant Hassan Haskins touch the ball on the last drive

Uh, well, I mean, the whole game. He's just got a quality about him where he wants to and will take the team on his back. That's his mindset and that's what he did. Over 100 yards rushing in the second half and 150 or so on the day. Obviously they were keying on Hassan and a few of our other guys. Forgot about Erick All, who came up with the big play. Yeah, you know how much I love Hassan. He's incredible so I just enjoy the incredible of what he can do.

On the poise of the offense at the end of the game

Yeah, I was real confident they would. This team doesn’t flinch. We’ve talked about that. They don’t even bat an eye when stuff happens. You can see it in our defense when the turnover occurred and they got the ball at the 16-yard line. They just went out there and held them again in the red zone, which was really good all day for our defense.

And then offensively I could just see the demeanor. You could see the offensive line—no flinching. You knew Hassan wouldn’t. Cornelius (Johnson) isn’t, Mike Sainristil’s not going to. Neither is Andrel (Anthony) or Roman (Wilson), and you know Cade’s not. I’d just say, “Hey Cade, you were born for this. Born for drives like this." Then he went out and did what he does, so yeah, very cold-blooded. After that--guy made a good play. Guy made a good play with the sack-fumble, but didn't bat an eye. Just came back and took the team down the field for the winning drive.

On how impressed he was with the defense's ability to get in the backfield

Yeah, those were havoc plays by the defense. Twelve of them. Six or seven of them were sacks. Aidan (Hutchinson) got three, David (Ojabo) got two, Mike B got one, Junior got one, might have been some others. Got hits, got hurries. Were creating havoc back there in the pass rush and great game. Great game by the pass rushers. Inside pass-rush was really good, too. Mazi, Chris Hinton. They made a lot of plays, we made a lot of plays; we made more. Great stop at the end on four downs. Really big.

Special teams--fakes were coming out. I mean, that was a big fake. Stopped them three times in the red zone. Twice they got field goals. Once they faked and once they missed a field goal, so again, I think that red zone defense was big. Made a huge--and the offense was really good in the red zone too. How 'bout those Wolverines! If that's not great I don't know what is!

On whether he had a sense Erick All would be open on his touchdown reception

Yeah, that's a play we work a lot. Haven't called it much but when we got the man coverage we were excited as heck to call that one. Erick took a really perfect pass on the crossing route and circled the entire defense. They were out of leverage and that was good for us. Erick took it and went the distance. Coming back from a high ankle, put that one to bed. He was rolling.

On what they discussed on the timeout before the fake punt and whether they were looking for it

Why'd I call the timeout before the fake punt? Because we had 13 guys on the field. I didn't want it to go from 4th-and-6 to 4th-and-1.

Were you expecting it?

You're always expecting it. You always got eyes on the eligibles and we did on all the field goals and were able to stop it. We missed, we came down inside and lost leverage on one of their eligibles on the fake punt. Just another example: the guys don't flinch. They get 'em stopped, fake punt, they convert it. There's still 11 men in the end zone and really that's huge all day, all game. Our defense would not let them in the end zone except for the one drive and it took I think three or four fourth-downs to--4th-and-4, two 4th-and-2s, might have been one other one on that drive as well. Would have liked to have one of those calls back but Mike did, but really good. Great performance.

On how the cornerbacks did against Jahan Dotson and how much they schemed to slow him

Quite a bit. Not every down but a lot of the downs we were doubling him. He's just a really good player. I thought DJ (Turner) had a heck of a game. I think Vince (Gray) did as well. In press coverage and throwing deep balls, they weren't able to get them. You're not going to totally shut a guy like that down but I thought it was outstanding play by Vince and DJ.

On whether he thought this was the team he envisioned at the start of the season

Yeah, we were just going about it every day to have good days. At the beginning of the season, middle of the season, now, we're just trying to have good days, good meetings, good practices, and then go play the games. It's great.

I love the team. It's really a team in its beginning when you think about all the young players. Dave Ablauf was doing some stats and I didn't catch them all but the amount of guys that had their best or their first whether its games, catches, interception, forced fumble, sack, yards gained, touchdown catches. You know, Roman WIlson got two today. It's certainly the type of team that you don't know who it's gonna be. Is it gonna be you that makes the big play? Is it gonna be you that really steps up this week? We talked about that on Friday, right Roman? Is it gonna be you, Roman? You don't know who it is but it's the kind of ball team, when you're on a ball team and you just know somebody is and you know, you're confident that it'll be you that steps up when it's your time to do that. What if it comes down to Josh Gattis making the winning call? What if it comes down to Mike Macdonald having to make--are they gonna be ready? Yeah, we all are really confident that they're gonna be ready. If it's Erick All that's thrown in there, we know what's gonna happen. He's gonna make it. These guys have really trained for this and they believe in each other. They believe in their ball team.

On why Aidan Hutchinson makes plays in high-leverage moments

Because he's a great player. We're all really happy for that Lombardi semifinalist nomination. I mean, we're gonna be biased on this one. Can there be a better player than him out there anywhere? I don't know, I haven't seen him. Again, probably biased but he's that kind of player. Great player. And the three sacks, plus he got a holding. It was a big holding in there too where if they wouldn't have held him he would have got a fourth (sack).

On whether a coach can instill in guys an ability to win games Michigan might have lost in the past or whether that comes from the mix of guys on the team

I think it's just, it happens. It's a ball team. I don't know about all that stuff. This was a great win. No doubt this team is full of all the championship qualities in guys, football players that were born to do this. They just approach it like, "Yeah, we were born for these kind of days. Let's go have at it. Let's go have good days and then go play the game." They enjoy it. They're having a lot of fun. The energy is high. "It's time to go!" That's the stuff that I see and I hear and then they go and have at it. It's great to be a part of.


---

Not a subscriber to The Maize and Blue Review? Sign up today!

Discuss this article on our premium message boards

Follow our staff on Twitter @MaizeBlueReview, @JoshHenschke, @AESchnepp, @BrandonJustice_, @DanielDash_, @DennisFithian, @StephenToski, @TannerWutang, @Baird_CJ, @ZachLibby

Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Subscribe to The Maize and Blue Review on YouTube!

Like The Maize and Blue Review on Facebook!