Michigan Football: Talk is cheap for Jim Harbaugh when it’s Ohio State

When it comes to Ohio State, talk is cheap for Michigan football and head coach Jim Harbaugh. It’s time to produce results or keep quiet.

When it comes to Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, I won’t mince words. I love the man and I absolutely believe he is the right guy to lead the Wolverines back to winning championships.

At the same time though, when it comes to the Ohio State Buckeyes, I really wish Harbaugh would keep his mouth shut. It’s time to stop talking. It’s time to be done with bravado. It’s time to get obsessed about beating the Buckeyes and finally making that dream a reality.

When Harbaugh took over more than four years ago, I would never have imagined Michigan football would be heading into the 2019 season, still, without a win over the Buckeyes. It’s unthinkable and Harbaugh has to change it.

Urban Meyer is gone and it’s possible that will help the Wolverines and their head coach get an upper hand. However, taking shots at the old coach, even if what Harbaugh said was true, isn’t going to help. Instead, it just looks like more grandstanding and more attention-grabbing.

Well, I for one am tired of Harbaugh grabbing headlines with words, big-name hires or big-name recruits. I don’t want to hear about how Michigan is the 33rd NFL team anymore or how the Wolverines have sent tons of talent to the NFL, even if they have.

Because at the end of the day, none of that matters. The only thing that does is beating Ohio State and that’s the one thing Harbaugh hasn’t been able to do, something he even admitted in the same interview in which he threw shade at Meyer. Here is the quote via Yahoo Sports:

"“You welcome the accountability that all you can be judged on is your record,” Harbaugh said on the TK Show. “What your record is overall, what your record is within your conference and what your record is head-to-head matchups with the other teams you play. I think you find right now that Ohio State is the only team that has a better record than us, has a better conference record than us and has a better overall head-to-head matchup with us.”"

While Harbaugh is certainly correct his Michigan football program has a better record than just about every other team in the Big Ten, as well as strong head-to-records against everyone but the Buckeyes and Iowa, which UM has played only once and lost under Harbaugh, it doesn’t matter.

Just like it doesn’t matter that what he said about Meyer is true. Meyer has been followed by controversy, especially at Ohio State and Florida. Players and coaches got in trouble, Meyer was even suspended a few games to open last season.

Harbaugh hasn’t had those issues. His program, for the most part, has been squeaky clean, something Michigan fans can be happy about. Unfortunately, Harbaugh isn’t paid millions of dollars to run a good, clean program — he’s paid that money to win championships and beat Ohio State.

So far in four years, he hasn’t done either and until he does, he and his team need to just be quiet. When it comes to Ohio State, talk is cheap and instead of running their mouths more, the Wolverines need to let their play speak for itself, particularly on Nov. 30 in Ann Arbor.