Jim Harbaugh compares forces against a football team to Isaac Newton's laws of gravity

Jim Harbaugh had a fascinating analogy to describe the current state of the Michigan Wolverines.

Evidently, Harbaugh has been reading through some science textbooks. He brought up Sir Isaac Newton and the Laws of Gravity while trying to make sense of Michigan’s current success.

“When things are scary good, that’s where you want to be. That’s who you want to be with. That’s how you want to be doing things. But the Law of Averages say that it’s going to catch up to you. To see if we can defy Newton’s — Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Gravity. What goes up, must come down. The gravitational force of the Earth is tremendous. So are some of the forces against a football team. Some of the things that are sent there to divide a football team. The ones that aren’t divided are the ones that are playing in the Playoff,” explained Harbaugh. “Most guys have so much at stake, with their individual careers, and there’s nothing more important to me than each and every guy’s individual career. But to do both, to love both. Do what’s best for your family, do what’s best for you, and then get the team in there. I mean, that’s scary good. That’s happening with our staff, our coaching staff, the coordinators, the assistant coaches, staff, the medical, the doctors, the trainers, the equipment staff. … It’s a scary good thing.

“Got to keep those balls up in the air. How do you keep them high? Probably energy. Energy and working at it. Attacking it. That’s the only way to keep the balloon up that doesn’t have helium in it. Eventually that’s going to come down. But hey, smoke still rises. You know. It stays up a long time, I’ve noticed. Heat. I guess heat energy. Those things are the way we’re going about it.”

So that’s Michigan’s secret to success. Harbaugh wants the Wolverines to be smoke. Or even heat. Heat energy, actually. That’ll help keep them among the best teams in the country.

Regardless of how he’s done it, and any assist from Sir Isaac Newton, Harbaugh has Michigan rolling on all cylinders once again. The Wolverines have been arguably the top team in the country throughout the season, and have designs on making it to the College Football Playoff.

Their trek continues this weekend, as Jim Harbaugh will lead Michigan into a showdown with the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday night.