Great Moments in Jim Harbaugh Vs. James Franklin

The former Michigan coach antagonized the Nittany Lions — and occasionally was antagonized by them.

Jim Harbaugh once repurposed a 1970s beer commercial into a defensive coordinator love song after beating Penn State. He complained about officiating after a Michigan loss to the Nittany Lions. He accused the Nittany Lions of a "sophomore ploy" in the Michigan tunnel and suggested that Penn State coach James Franklin was "whining" about it. He spent the night at the house of a Penn State commit and his last Penn State-Michigan game in a State College hotel, watching while suspended from coaching. Harbaugh was quite a ride for nine years against Penn State.

Penn State football fans likely won't miss Harbaugh, the now-former Michigan coach who will become the Los Angeles Chargers' new head coach. However, Harbaugh spent nine colorful seasons antagonizing the Nittany Lions, occasionally getting antagonized by them, and rejuvenating a Big Ten rivalry with his antics.

Harbaugh technically went 5-3 against Penn State including his suspension game, but his teams won three straight in a tortured stretch for the Nittany Lions from 2021-23. He tortured Ohio State over the same three-year period, so Penn State wasn't alone. But that rivalry lives on its own island. Harbaugh brought his brand of quirk to State College as well. Let us count the ways.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and Penn State coach James Franklin after their game at Beaver Stadium in 2019 :: Matthew O'Haren/USA Today Sports

The 'Sleepover'

In 2015, a kicker named Quinn Nordin committed to Penn State with a video of himself getting off a private plane wearing Nittany Lions gear. Six months later, Harbaugh began a visit with Nordin at 12:01 a.m. on the first day of permissible in-home recruiting. He stayed at the family's house and rode to school with Nordin, who flipped his commitment to Michigan. Nordin heard boos when when the Wolverines visited Penn State in 2017.

The Turning Point

Harbaugh's 2016 team, which finished 10-3, demolished Penn State 49-10 in Ann Arbor, tied for Franklin's worst losing margin. It was a miserable game: The Lions' three starting linebackers were out with injuries, and walk-on linebacker Jan Johnson sustained a season-ending injury. Yet that day became a catalyst. Penn State won 15 consecutive regular-season games after that and a Big Ten title. The last game of the regular-season win streak marked Franklin's first win over Harbaugh.

The Revenge Game

Play 2 of the 2017 Penn State-Michigan game was a gem. Saquon Barkley took a direct snap and boatraced the Wolverines' secondary for a 69-yard touchdown. The Penn State White Out crowd of 110,823 (then the largest in Beaver Stadium history) reveled in a victory by the No. 2 Lions, which included Penn State snapping the ball inside the 10-yard line with 1 second remaining. "We'll put our best people on it," Harbaugh said after the game of his recovery plan.

The Wolverines' Revenge Game

Michigan embarked on a "Revenge Tour" in 2018, which included Penn State in the crosshairs. That 2017 finish lingered in Michigan's memory, and the Wolverines responded with a 42-7 victory. Don Brown, then Michigan's defensive coordinator, had said that the 2017 game haunted him. How did Harbaugh respond to Brown's cleansing of the memory? By turning a Budweiser jingle into an ode to Brown: "You said Don Brown, you said it all," Harbaugh sang afterward.

The Near-Comeback

Michigan rallied from a 14-point halftime deficit in 2019 to draw within a breath of tying the game in State College. But on 4th-and-goal, Wolverines receiver Ronnie Bell dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone. Afterward, Harbaugh used the word "interesting" several times to describe the officiating. In particular, Harbaugh questioned how his receivers were treated late.

“It will be interesting to compare some of the different scenarios in the game in terms of the calls,” Harbaugh said after the game. “... I thought some of our receivers were getting tackled there on the last couple plays of that drive [in the fourth quarter].”

The Tunnel

Halftime of the 2022 Penn State-Michigan game in Ann Arbor got testy, as the teams chatted briefly before going to their locker rooms. At least one Michigan player said that a Penn State player threw a sandwich. And at his weekly press conference following Penn State's 41-17 loss, Franklin drew attention to what he called "a problem" with Michigan Stadium's single tunnel.

"It's a problem and has been," Franklin said. "To me, we need to put a policy in place from a conference perspective in my mind that's going to stop [it]. We're not the first team to kind of get into a jawing match in the tunnel. For me, I want to focus on getting my team into the locker room and not jawing back and forth."

Harbaugh's response? Franklin was "whining."

"Really got bigger fish to fry than coach Franklin's opinion on the halftime tunnel from a game ago, but all you've got to do is walk into their locker room," Harbaugh said. "I think you saw pretty clearly that they completely stopped. They weren't letting us get up the tunnel, and it just seemed like such a sophomoric ploy to try to keep us out of our locker room. And he looked like he was the ringleader of the whole thing. But no, I’ve got bigger fish to fry than worry about that kind of whining."

The End

Harbaugh didn't make it to Beaver Stadium for his last visit to Penn State. The Big Ten suspended Harbaugh for the last three regular-season games of 2023, the first of which was the Wolverines' Nov. 11 visit to Penn State. The suspension stemmed from Michigan's "impermissible, in-person scouting operation" that was a huge story during the season.

Michigan was flying to State College when the Big Ten announced its decision. Harbaugh watched from a State College hotel as the Wolverines defeated Penn State 24-15. Interim head coach Sherrone Moore guided the win, helping him become Michigan's head coach for 2024. Unfortunately, Penn State and Michigan won't play again until 2026.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich. And consider subscribing (button's on the home page) for more great content across the SI.com network.