Jim Harbaugh gives initial impressions of Minnesota

Jim Harbaugh and Michigan never seem to look past an opponent and it won’t start this weekend against Minnesota.

The Wolverines hit the road and take on the Gophers in primetime Saturday as PJ Fleck and company look to pull an upset. Meanwhile, Michigan has national title aspirations, but the team will have to get by a pretty good defense.

Harbaugh described as much when he gave his initial impressions of Minnesota.

“Another really good defense, really stout,” Harbaugh said. “The quarterback’s really coming along and they have a tremendous ability to run the ball. (They’re a) physical team and I love how they play. It’s  an emotional, fired up type of team.

“PJ does a great job and you can always tell they’re confident no matter what the stakes are, the odds are, you’ll see it in the way they play, they play hard and it’s all it’s all you can ever ask for.”

Harbaugh knows Minnesota plays with a lot of physicality just like Michigan. It’s an effort type of thing. So expect it from the Gophers when they play host to the No. 2 team in the nation.

“As a coach (all you ask) from your players is that they play hard,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys are doing it. Minnesota’s guys are. It’ll be a football fight like it is every Saturday and we gotta play good. Get prepared, practice and get ready to go execute in another crazy, crazy college campus stadium, but can’t wait.”

Harbaugh maintained Michigan and Minnesota was going to be a physical and intense matchup. In fact, to describe the matchup, Harbaugh used physics and Sir Isaac Newton to explain why talking Monday.

“To see if we could defy Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of gravity: What goes up must come down, and the gravitational force of the Earth is tremendous,” Harbaugh said. “And so are some of the forces against the football team. Some of the things that are set there to divide a football team. And the ones that aren’t divided are the ones that are playing in the Playoffs and eventually champions … 

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