News & Views: Jim Harbaugh On PSU, More

Michigan football heads to Happy Valley Saturday night as a decided underdog and will need an outstanding effort to beat Penn State. Head coach Jim Harbaugh senses his team is ready.

We tackle his Monday comments in News & Views format:

NEWS: Michigan is now a nine-point underdog at Penn State after opening at plus-7. Penn State is coming off a 17-12 win at Iowa.

HARBAUGH: “We certainly have an opportunity this week. We want to prepare for it. There’s an excitement to it. There’s a bounce in the step of everybody on our team. I thought we accomplished what we wanted to this past week, which was to win the game and improve as a football team. Now onward. Have at it.”

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VIEWS: Use whatever analogy you want, Harbaugh said … playoff mentality, whatever. He said they are “locked in” with a “laser focus” on this game, as they should be, because let’s face it — this one’s the season in a lot of ways.

The seniors on this squad came back intent on competing for a championship, and the margin for error was eliminated when they got thrashed at Wisconsin. Lose another Big Ten game and there’s essentially no shot at a title only seven games into the season.