Paul Finebaum heaps praise on Jim Harbaugh after shutting him up

ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum, a longtime critic of Jim Harbaugh, finally came around in Harbaugh’s seventh year at the helm of the Michigan Wolverines. And after Michigan turned in a 42-27 win over the heavily-favored Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, who can really blame him?

“I genuinely felt happy for Jim Harbaugh. I know what the narrative has been coming out of my mouth and I appreciate everyone reminding me,” Finebaum said on The ESPN College Football Podcast after Michigan’s win. “I genuinely loved what I saw with him and I have to take my hat off to this guy because I don’t know if there’s a major coach in the country that has been pummeled by more people, and forget the media — we’re pundits. His own fanbase [has criticized him].”

Harbaugh responded to the criticism in a big way Saturday, leading Michigan past Ohio State and paving a clear-cut path for the Wolverines to make the College Football Playoff. Now, all they’ll have to do is win the Big Ten Championship game against Iowa, a game Michigan clinched a berth to on Saturday, and their chances of missing out on the playoff are close to zero.

“His administration was on the verge last year of trying to find out where to go, so they cut his salary, and he took every punch,” Finebaum said of Harbaugh. “He never said very much, and he put an absolute masterpiece on the board yesterday. He made Ryan Day look silly, he made all of us look silly. His team was dominant, they were crushing, they were suffocating. And I don’t know where the national coach of the year will go, Clawson certainly has a shot at it, others do as well, and we’ll figure it out after next week. But I would have to put him very high on my list of Coach of the Year because not only did he put that on the board, but he exceeded expectations, and he really shut everyone up in the country including myself.”

Ryan Day, on the other hand, saw Ohio State’s College Football Playoff hopes crumble on Saturday in Ann Arbor, as the Buckeyes fell to the rival Michigan Wolverines. Ohio State was dominated in the trenches on Saturday, and that was on both sides of the ball. Day’s defense was torn up by Michigan’s rushing attack, which utilized a simple ground-and-pound method that the Buckeyes were unable to stop. Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara only needed 13 completions in 19 attempts for 159 passing yards because of the dominance from Michigan’s rushers: the Wolverines ran for 297 yards and six touchdowns, including 169 yards on 28 attempts from Hassan Haskins, who also had five of the six rushing scores.

For Ohio State’s offense, things weren’t much better in the physicality realm. Ohio State allowed eight tackles for a loss, including four sacks, while the Wolverines also tacked on four quarterback hurries. Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson had a signature performance, totaling seven tackles (five solo stops) and three sacks — on top of the box-score stats, Hutchinson excelled in advanced stats, too. According to Pro Football Focus, Hutchinson had 15 quarterback pressures against Ohio State, a stat unique to the site, which is the most in a single game since PFF started tracking college stats in 2014. Suffice to say, it wasn’t a great day for Ohio State’s lines — whether the offensive or defensive line.