Jim Harbaugh rips James Franklin over tunnel confrontation

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh watches warmups before a game against Northern Illinois at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh fired back at Penn State’s James Franklin over what Franklin said about last week’s tunnel scuffle.

Franklin was critical of the fact that both teams use the same tunnel to go to and from their locker rooms during games at Michigan Stadium. Franklin argued that the one tunnel is an invitation to skirmishes like the one that Michigan and Penn State got into last week, and that something should be done to prevent it.

Harbaugh did not react kindly to Franklin’s feedback. On Monday, he accused Penn State of a “sophomoric” attempt to prevent Michigan from getting to its locker room, and suggested that Franklin was the “ringleader” of the incident.

“Really got bigger fish to fry than Coach Franklin’s opinion on the halftime tunnel from a game ago,” Harbaugh said, via Zach Shaw of The Michigan Insider. “All you got to do is walk into their locker room. Like you saw, pretty clearly, they completely stopped. They weren’t letting us get up the tunnel. And it just seemed like such a sophomoric ploy to try to keep us out of our locker rooms.

“And he looked like he was the ringleader of the whole thing. But no, I’ve got bigger fish to fry than worry about that kind of whining.”

Harbaugh clearly does not think much of how Franklin and Penn State handled the situation. His response has some similarities with what he said about Michigan State four years ago following an on-field pregame confrontation.

If Penn State did have a plan for some sort of tunnel confrontation, it seemingly backfired on them. The Wolverines outscored the Nittany Lions 25-3 in the second half en route to a 41-17 victory.