Michigan's Jim Harbaugh Blames Penn State for 'Sophomoric' Tunnel Ploy
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Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh responded to issues that Penn State's James Franklin raised about the tunnel at Michigan Stadium, saying he has "bigger fish to fry than worry about that kind of whining."
At his press conference Monday, his first since Michigan's 41-17 win over Penn State, Harbaugh said that Penn State blocked his team's entrance into the locker room at halftime. Michigan Stadium has one tunnel that teams share to enter and exit their separate locker rooms.
Franklin called the tunnel situation a "problem" and suggested that the Big Ten regulate it. Video posted on social media showed the teams "jawing," as Franklin said, at halftime. At least one Michigan player said a Penn State player threw a sandwich at him.
"I prefer to talk about these things in the offseason, but the one tunnel is a problem," Franklin said last week. "It's a problem and has been. To me, we need to put a policy in place from a conference perspective in my mind that's going to stop [it]. We're not the first team to kind of get into a jawing match in the tunnel. For me, I want to focus on getting my team into the locker room and not jawing back and forth."
Harbaugh. whose team plays Michigan State this week, was asked about the situation Monday, his first media availability since Franklin made his comments. Harbaugh said Penn State engaged in a "sophomoric ploy" to prevent Michigan from entering the locker room and Franklin "looked like he was the ringleader."
"Really got bigger fish to fry than coach Franklin's opinion on the halftime tunnel from a game ago, but all you've got to do is walk into their locker room," Harbaugh said. "I think you saw pretty clearly that 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 room. 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."
Franklin said that, though the incident didn't go far, a future one could.
"There really should be a policy that first team that goes in, there is a buffer," Franklin said. "If not, this team starts talking to this team, they start jawing back and forth, and something bad is going to happen before we put in the policy.
"All there has to be a two-minute or a minute buffer in between the two teams. This team is in before that team gets close, or however we want to do it. But we're not the first team that's had issues like that. To me, under the current structure, we won't be the last. To me, there is a really easy solution. We've got to do it. But for me, I want to get our team in the locker room. That's my concern."
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