Michigan and Penn State needed to be separated by coaches and security personnel as they headed to the locker room at halftime on Saturday, and James Franklin thinks his Big Ten rival needs to implement a new policy to prevent any similar incidents in the future.
A scuffle broke out between Michigan and Penn State when the two teams were in the tunnel at Michigan Stadium. Unlike at most other stadiums, visitors in Ann Arbor need to use the same tunnel as the Wolverines to access the visiting locker room. You can see a video of the confrontation below:
Some halftime tunnel shenanigans happening. pic.twitter.com/FwxgXdO7jj
— Isaiah Hole (@isaiahhole) October 15, 2022
Franklin believes the issue is that players from both sides enter the locker room area at the same time. He told reporters on Tuesday that Michigan needs to implement a policy where one team goes into the tunnel first and the other one waits a certain amount of time before following.
James Franklin said Michigan's one tunnel is a problem:
"We need to put a policy in place to stop this."
Referencing, the confrontation at half between Penn State and Michigan
— Spencer Ripchik (@RipchikSpencer) October 18, 2022
"The one tunnel is a problem and has been," Franklin said with regards to the tunnel in Ann Arbor. "We're not the first team to get into a jawing match in the tunnel."
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) October 18, 2022
One of the reasons reporters may have asked Franklin about the confrontation is that he did not exactly keep his cool during the incident. One video showed him shouting at someone on the Michigan side, presumably Jim Harbaugh. You can see the exchange below, but beware that it contains inappropriate language.
James Franklin clearly had a rough afternoon in Ann Arbor…😂#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/3gbiWkcRxU
— The Winged Helmet (@TWH_Chris) October 17, 2022
Franklin is right that Penn State is not the first visiting team to get into it with Michigan players in the newly named Lloyd Carr Tunnel. We saw a similar incident when the Wolverines played rival Ohio State last season (video here).
The flip side of the argument, of course, is that Michigan Stadium was built nearly 100 years ago. Countless teams have entered and exited the field without incident while sharing the tunnel with the Wolverines.
