Michigan Football: Jim Harbaugh still won’t name backup quarterback

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh addressed the media alongside Dan Mullen Friday and not naming a backup quarterback was one of the highlights.

The wait for the Peach Bowl has been a long one for the Michigan football team and in less than a day, it will finally be over as the Wolverines and Gators will meet in the Peach Bowl.

While much of the college football world is focused on the semifinals of the College Football Playoff in the Orange and Cotton Bowl’s Saturday, for Michigan football and its fans, the focus has been on a third win over Florida in the last four seasons. Michigan is also 3-0 against the Gators in bowl games.

The first bowl win came way back in the 2003 Outback Bowl against Rex Grossman. Michigan football then beat Tim Tebow in the 2008 Capital One Bowl. This will be the first meeting in a bowl considered to be a major bowl game as the Peach is part of the New Year’s Six.

On the day before a big game for both teams, each head coach fielded questions from the press. For the most part, it was just lame coachspeak, outside of a couple of key things.

For starters, Jim Harbaugh said that Jake Moody will continue to handle the kicking duties for the Peach Bowl. However, as clear as he was on the kicking situation, he was just as mysterious when it came to the backup quarterback. Here is what he had to say:

"Jake Moody will continue to kick for us. And yes, backup quarterback in the game will be the two we’ve always said with the backup quarterbacks, Brandon Peters and Joe Milton."

If there is an injury, who knows who Harbaugh would play. Milton played against Ohio State and if the Wolverines trailed by double digits or something, he would probably get the ball. Yet, if Michigan had a solid lead at the end, Peters could go in to manage the end of the game.

This is likely a strategic thing for Harbaugh, who probably wants to keep Florida guessing if something did (knock on wood) happen to Shea Patterson. While that was one of the most interesting topics, each head coach talked about the week that was.

Here’s what Harbaugh said:

"It’s been tremendous. I think the thing that stands out the most is the Peach Bowl staff,the people, the volunteers. Over 350 that are going out of their way on the holiday, on Christmas Day, to make sure that we have a good experience here. There’s been a lot of great things to do. Atlanta is known for its hospitality, and I can say Aplus-plus with that has been our experience. It’s a good-looking trophy. I’d like to get that."

Some bowl championships matter more than others and winning the Peach Bowl, especially at its current level is one of them. Even before it became part of the New Year’s Six, the Peach was one of the best bowl games out there and now it’s as good as any short of the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton simply due to the longevity of those four games.

That’s why it’s not surprising to see Harbaugh excited about winning that trophy. He knows this is a big game. One of his biggest challenges this week though has been convincing his team that too.

"“That’s our goal, win the next game that we play. This is a big game for us. It’s on a bigstage against a college football, elite historic program.”"

Harbaugh is correct that it’s a huge game for Michigan football. A loss would be three straight bowl losses and three straight seasons ending with back-to-back defeats. A win, on the other hand, could mean a top-5 finish, which would be the first since 1999. Yes, almost 20 years.

And as we all know, there are a lot of good high-school football prospects in Georgia, such as Otis Reese, who is from Georgia and chose the Bulldogs after being committed to UM. However, when talking about the Peach Bowl, Harbaugh admitted it was important to play well to impress recruits.

"“Two of the signees on December 19 came out to practice, and we did have five players sign from the Atlanta, Georgia area. So hopefully, you know, we acquit ourselves well, and I think that’s something that people look at, how your team does on the field. So we hope to do well. It’s a very, very good area for high school football, as everybody knows.”"

Harbaugh also mentioned getting 11 wins, which is another goal for this Michigan football team. If you scoff at that, consider that since the Wolverines won the national championship, they have won 11 games only twice, once in 2006 and in 2011. So regardless of what anyone says, this is a big game and one UM needs to win

At any rate, all of our questions about this game will be answered soon. Kickoff is set for 12 EST on ESPN.