For people in the Midwest, the name of Paul Finebaum doesn't exactly carry the same weight as it does with folks in SEC country. In the case of fans of the Michigan Wolverines, Finebaum's recent statements about Jim Harbaugh's team won't be endearing him to the good people of Ann Arbor any time soon.
Finebaum, on a Sunday edition of ESPN's SportsCenter (h/t Wolverine247), had this to say about Michigan's 2016 squad and the team's polarizing head coach:
"I'm not sold on Michigan. I know Jim Harbaugh has had a very exciting offseason rapping and posing with Drake and taking cheap shots at Nick Saban, but I'm not convinced this is a final four team. They deserve a good ranking because they had a good season, but they got run over by Ohio State.
While saying that he isn't convinced about the Wolverines as a "final four team" isn't the most damning statement in the world, Finebaum going out of his way to take shots at Harbaugh via "posing with Drake" won't go over well. Michigan does enter the season with real questions at quarterback, and that should add a bit of skepticism to any pundit, but this does have a ring of hating for hating sake.
Ohio State enters the season as the favorite in the Big Ten by nature of recent track record, a returning high-level quarterback in J.T. Barrett, and "The Game" set to take place in Columbus. Still, Michigan's talent should not be overlooked, and perhaps this will serve as bulletin board material for Harbaugh's bunch this season.