John Harbaugh might not want to apply for a role as a college football analyst should he willingly give up his head coaching job anytime soon.
At least, not if he genuinely believes his most recent assertion that Michigan — not Georgia — is one of the two top collegiate football programs most built like an NFL club.
“There are certain college football programs that are built like NFL programs,” John Harbaugh recently said.
“Alabama is one, Michigan is the other one. The two top ones, I would say.”
John Harbaugh would say that because his bother, Jim Harbaugh, coaches the Wolverines.
Here’s a scorecard of how many picks the top programs in the nation have produced in the past four NFL Draft classes:
• Georgia 38
• Alabama 36
• Ohio State 35
• LSU 32
Michigan has produced 28.
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And yet, Alabama and Michigan are the two programs John Harbaugh claims to have at the top of his mind.
“Those are the ones I’m thinking of off the top of my head,” John Harbaugh said, waxing on about a Michigan football program that has appeared in just one Big Ten Championship in his brother’s seven-year tenure.
“So those guys generally come in and they know what to expect. It’s a little flatter for those guys in terms of practice and understanding how it works.”
Despite all of that NFL understanding, the most recent Michigan team couldn’t find the end zone against Georgia until the final five minutes of a lopsided Orange Bowl CFP Semifinal, after the Bulldogs put backups into a 34-3 game.
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Georgia, which set an NFL Draft record with 15 players selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, manhandled what was reputed to be the best Michigan team since the Wolverines split the 1997 national championship.
It was 27-3 at halftime, and if Kirby Smart wanted, the score could have been much worse by the end of the game. Georgia was on the Michigan 11-yard line when time ran out after 16 run plays and one pass play in the fourth quarter.
It’s possible John Harbaugh might have missed watching the game with his team in the midst of a six-game losing streak when the Orange Bowl was played.
One imagines a phone call to his brother went like this:
John: “How was the game against Georgia?”
Jim: “They won, but we’re built more like an NFL team.”
John: “Great, I’ll put your team at the top of my mind, with Alabama.”
Stumping for a relative is one thing, but suggesting the Michigan football program is superior to Georgia — or Ohio State, for that matter — is insulting to the college football world.
Almost as insulting as a Baltimore Ravens team falling below .500 and winning just one playoff game in six years.
Next, Jim Harbaugh pays Baltimore a compliment as being built more like a Super Bowl team -- along with the Cincinnati Bengals -- than any other NFL team he can think of.
