Kirk Hebrstreit With Strong Statement About Michigan
Michigan and Michigan State are set to square off on Saturday in what could be described as the most important game in the history of the rivalry. Both teams are in the top ten, undefeated and looking to make a statement against a hated, in-state opponent.
ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit spoke about the 2021 version of the Wolverines and, like everyone else, is impressed by how they're winning this year.
"For me, Michigan, you can look at anybody else – probably in the country, but look at the offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency. They're taking care of the ball. They’re creating turnovers. They're doing all the little things that add up to big things to win football games," Herbstreit said. "And this is a team that made wholesale changes to their coaching staff after last year. Jim Harbaugh, the athletic director backed him up and said, “This is still my guy. I still believe in him,” and there were a lot of Michigan fans that were like, “What? We can't beat Ohio State. What are you doing?” A lot of people were frustrated and to his credit, he kind of blocked that out. Now they’re having a lot of fun. Watch Michigan play. Look at their enthusiasm and the confidence that they're playing with."
Herbstreit dove deeper and reinforced a point that Harbaugh and so many players have made this season. Things are different around the program this year and the changes that were made were absolutely necessary.
"It's like, if you turn on the 2020 film – again, it's a COVID year, everybody was dealing with it – but if you turn on that film and watch 2020, just the body language and energy versus watching them play in 2021," Herbstreit outline. "I don't know if there's another team that – from an enthusiasm and confidence and just swagger, I don't know if anybody's changed more than Michigan from 2020 to 2021."
Herbstreit also pointed out Michigan's wins on the road against Nebraska, and more noteworthy, against Wisconsin. The Wolverines have been hijacking energy from opponents this year and will obviously try to do the same thing against Michigan State in East Lansing on Saturday.
"So, they come into this rivalry game on the road," Herbstreit said. "You saw what they did when they went to Camp Randall. When the fourth quarter started, that's supposed to be an intimidating thing when Camp Randall starts bouncing up and down with ‘Jump Around’ and there were players from Michigan – to me, kind of out of character for a Jim Harbaugh team, they're just having fun, swinging towels, jumping up and down with students from Wisconsin. They were kind of like, 'We're not afraid of this. We're having fun with this,' kind of mentality.
"I think they’ll walk into East Lansing with all the booing and all the stuff they're going to be hearing, and they're just going to kind of wave their hands like, 'Oh, we love this. This is what we want, we want to be here.' That's my impression of Michigan and the mindset, the mentality, of how they'll come into that game."
Michigan is obviously a confident team, so if they can hijack the energy inside Spartan Stadium like they did in Madison and Lincoln, they'll be in a great mental space against MSU. The performance on the field is much more important, but finding a mental edge is huge in a road, rivalry game, and Michigan has been great in that area during its two away games this season.
