Jim Harbaugh: James Franklin Was 'Ringleader' of Michigan, Penn State Tunnel Incident

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh thought James Franklin played a role in the incident inside the tunnel at halftime of the Wolverines' 41-17 victory over Penn State.

Tensions were high when players from both teams occupied the tunnel on the way to their locker rooms.

"Like you saw, pretty clearly, that [Penn State players] completely stopped," Harbaugh told reporters Monday. "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 rooms. And [Franklin] looked like he was the ringleader of the whole thing."

Franklin offered his thoughts on the matter last week and thought it was a result of the Michigan Stadium layout, which has one tunnel leading to each team's locker room.

Franklin told reporters, "It's a problem and has been."

"To me, we need to put a policy in place from a conference perspective in my mind that's going to stop—we're not the first team to kind of get into a jawing match in the tunnel," he said.

A similar situation unfolded when Michigan hosted Ohio State last year, when players engaged in a shouting match at halftime.

Michigan offensive lineman Trevor Keegan claimed Wolverines defensive back R.J. Moten was hit with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich during the Penn State episode.

If the Nittany Lions were attempting to intimidate their counterparts or gain any sort of mental edge in the tunnel, the tactic backfired in a big way. Michigan was only up two points, 16-14, after the second quarter before blowing Penn State out in the second half.

The Nittany Lions had no answer for the pair of Donovan Edwards and Blake Corum, who combined to run for 339 yards.