Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from Big Ten Media Days

Jim Harbaugh, Cade McNamara, and others talked about Michigan football’s upcoming season at Big Ten Media Days, and here are the key takeaways. 

It’s never dull when Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh steps up to the podium and it wasn’t on Tuesday as the Wolverines took part in Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis.

Speaking on the same field where Michigan football won the Big Ten championship in December, Harbaugh said the Wolverines weren’t complacent at all this offseason and that’s goals have remained the same.

Here was his opening statement via The Wolverine:

"“It’s been a tremendous offseason for the Michigan Wolverine football program. From days after our game last year, our guys have been at work, attacking everything they do. There has been zero entitlement the entire offseason. … Life is good. the biological clock is ticking, and we’re ready to start and get training camp underway.”"

Harbaugh delved into a number of different topics on his first appearance (he will do a breakout session later in the afternoon) such as the quarterback competition, the new coordinators and also laying out goals for 2022.

Here’s a look at all the key things said by Harbaugh and Michigan football players so far at Big Ten Media Days.

The goals

Michigan football should always have the same goals: beat Ohio State, beat Michigan State, and win the Big Ten. Harbaugh added another but was very clear in what the goals were and also that the Wolverines aren’t satisfied with what they did last season.

"“Our goals would be to beat Ohio State and Michigan State in the same year, win the Big Ten championship and the national championship. Those would be our four goals.”"

It’s not shocking that Harbaugh said this, but I still enjoyed the way he approached it. I wouldn’t expect his team to rest on its laurels and truthfully, proving they can do it again will be an even bigger challenge.

The other big challenge is beating Michigan State.

The Wolverines took back control of the state after Harbaugh took the head coaching job but Mel Tucker is threatening that. The Spartans have won two in a row over the Wolverines and while Michigan’s Big Ten title was a good answer in its own right, it has to beat MSU.

A third straight loss would be disastrous. It can’t happen and that’s why it was good to hear Harbaugh mention Michigan State too. If you can’t control the state, you aren’t ever going to control the Big Ten East, and ultimately, that should be the long-term goal of this program.