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Nebraska at Michigan: The Alma Mater Game

Decades after leading their teams as QBs, Jim Harbaugh and Mickey Joseph will square off Saturday as head coaches

Dan McGlynn

Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports (left); 1991 Nebraska football media guide (right)
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Two former quarterbacks will meet as head coaches for their alma maters Saturday when Nebraska travels to play the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor.

One coach has an extensive resume as a head coach while the other will be coaching only his seventh game as interim head coach.

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh was a three-year starting QB with the Wolverines, graduating after the 1986 season. He went on to play QB in the NFL with the Bears, Colts, Ravens, Chargers, Lions and Panthers.

He also spent several years coaching in the NFL with the Raiders (QBs) and San Diego Chargers (HC). He was also the HC for the San Francisco '49ers. Squeezed in between the Chargers and '49ers was a stop at Stanford University, also as the HC.

In 2015, Harbaugh took the HC job at Michigan, where he has since led the Wolverines to a 70-24 record including this year's 9-0 record.

Mickey Joseph also was the starting QB during part of his career at Nebraska ('88-'91). Later while he was assistant head coach and wide receivers coach at LSU, he helped lead the Tigers to a national championship in 2019. MJ came to Nebraska during the off-season last year as AHC/WR coach. After Frost was fired on Sept. 11, athletic director Trev Alberts picked Joseph to coach the remaining nine games.

Michigan and Nebraska have met on the football field only 11 times since 1905, with the Wolverines winning six of them and one game ending in a tie. Because of the reputation of both football programs, it's hard to believe they have met so few times. Oddly enough, this will be the teams' third meeting while being coached by their former quarterbacks (Harbaugh vs. Frost, 2018 and 2021).

This week, the Huskers opened as a 28.5-point dog to the Wolverines. That score might be about right, especially if Husker QB Casey Thompson can't play.

Thompson is clearly a cut above the rest in the QB room. If he can't play, the Huskers' best chance of making the game close might ride on third-string QB Logan Smothers. Chubba Purdy (the better passer) has shown he's not quite ready. So why not give Smothers a chance? After all, what the heck do the Huskers have to lose?

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Dan McGlynn
DAN MCGLYNN

Dan “Husker Dan” McGlynn has been writing about Husker football since 2003. His columns have appeared on HuskerMax.com as well as in several local newspapers and magazines. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dan is a native Nebraskan and lives in Omaha. You may contact him at HuskerDan@cox.net.

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