Jim Harbaugh expects Alabama to make the Playoff, claims Michigan’s goal is to face them
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Michigan continues to trend in the right direction under head coach Jim Harbaugh, but so far, have yet to achieve any wins of national significance during his first two seasons in Ann Arbor.
Taking that into consideration, it’s somewhat ironic that the Wolverines open the 2017 season against the opponent Harbaugh’s Michigan team got arguably its biggest win over — the Florida Gators. Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a 41-7 win over the Gators in the 2016 Citrus Bowl but he is currently 0-2 against archrival Ohio State and capped last season’s campaign with a loss in the Orange Bowl to Florida State.
While in Mobile recently, where he was inducted into the Senior Bowl Hall of Fame, Harbaugh gave an interview to A.P. Steadham of Bama Mag. Steadham asked the Michigan coach if he would be interested in playing Alabama in a neutral-site non-conference game in the future. Harbaugh answered yes, but hopes the meeting comes together in the College Football Playoff.
“We’re doing a neutral site game this year with the Florida Gators, in Dallas,” Harbaugh said. “Our goal would be to be playing Alabama in the Playoffs. They’ve been consistently there. No reason to expect they wouldn’t be right back there again at the top.
“The thing that’s on our mind is to get ourselves good. Get into the Playoffs, win that championship. It’s a goal we have set for ourselves.”
The two national semifinal games this season will be held Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. While a semifinal matchup of Michigan and Alabama would be entertaining for sure, it would only be topped by those two fan bases if the two met in Atlanta for the Jan. 8 National Championship Game.
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A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
