The Rose Bowl between Michigan football and Alabama will pit two of the most successful college football coaches of the modern era against one another.
Jim Harbaugh and Nick Saban square off for the second time in their coaching career, this time in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Saban won the first matchup in the 2020 Citrus Bowl, U-M’s last non-CFP bowl game.
ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, a longtime college football analyst and talk show host focused on the SEC, said it very well could be the final matchup between Saban and Harbaugh. On the latest episode of “Hail Yes!” the Free Press’ podcast about Michigan sports, Finebaum said the situation around the two coaches has created a matchup with fascinating story lines.
“To see Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh on the same sideline for the Rose Bowl is pretty exciting to me …” Finebaum said. “This is one of the most intriguing matchups I’ve ever seen. You just don’t know what’s on the other side of this game for Nick Saban or Jim Harbaugh. So I’m glad to see it.
He went on to explain he believes this could be the final season for Harbaugh as coach at Michigan because of “baggage” Harbaugh has accumulated with multiple NCAA investigations and three-game suspensions in the last year. While comparing him to a dinosaur, Finebaum said Harbaugh’s best decision, in his estimation, would be to move on from Michigan.
