We were all a little taken aback by comments former Ohio State quarterback and current lead ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit made on the networks College Football Playoff Rankings show Tuesday. During a segment, he uncharacteristically took a shot at Michigan by insinuating that Jim Harbaugh at the program might fawn a coronavirus outbreak to get out of playing the Buckeyes and seeing another bad result.
He later issued an apology on his Twitter account, but you had to figure the Michigan brass would respond, and respond it did.
Athletic Director Warde Manuel appeared in a video shared by Michigan football’s Twitter account and fired back at any kind of notion that the sports’ winningest program would shy away from challenging anyone, most especially its arch-rival Ohio State.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Manuel said. “I have to pause because my words, the anger, I was infuriated by the insinuation that Michigan would do anything other than play a football game. We’ve been playing this game since 1879. We’re the winningest program for a reason, because we play whoever’s in front of us. And the only way we want to keep anybody from moving on is to beat them on the field of play. And to insinuate that — to say something other than that — is a statement by a fool.”
“It is something that just, I can’t tell you how embarrassed I am for the Big Ten Conference to have one of their representatives who played this game to say that about any team in this conference. And to say it about college football and the student-athletes around this country who are trying to play games during a pandemic is ridiculous and sad.”
You can get a look at the video yourself below.
Athletic Director Warde Manuel, Chief Student-Athlete Health & Welfare Officer Darryl Conway, and Dr. Sami Rifat discuss the medical decision to pause football activities at the University of Michigan amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
INTERVIEWS 👇 pic.twitter.com/BhQmbdlg0t
— Michigan Football (@UMichFootball) December 2, 2020
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I have to say though — and I know it’ll be an unpopular opinion for our readers — I tend to agree with Manuel and Michigan on this. The Game between Ohio State and Michigan is steeped in tradition and lore. Wolverine fans might be rooting for this game to be canceled, but you can’t get back on the top without having the opportunities to do so.
Despite the recent, sustained run of challenges in competing with what’s going on in Columbus, Michigan is still a proud program and isn’t going to duck anyone or anything. At least, that’s not happening with the folks in charge.
And, we just happen to be dealing with a global pandemic, so you have to look at this from that angle too. In fact, Michigan’s game against Maryland is now canceled as a part of trying to get the outbreak under control up in Ann Arbor. There’s real jeopardy here that The Game won’t be played for the first time since 1918, but if so, it’ll be because of the virus. Manuel went on to say he hopes the Wolverines can get back on the field and play OSU.
“We have over 100 tests that are coming back today to be analyzed by our medical staff,” Manuel continued. “We hope to play as we hope to play every game this year, and any team in our league who has stopped thus far had the goal of playing every game this year. And it is disheartening that we’re not going to be able to play Maryland, and our hope is that we can play Ohio State and finish the season in the final week.”
That certainly puts everything up in the air on whether or not this clash between historical titans will take place because of where things are. We hope these two can do battle because it’s a part of American and football culture, and Ohio State can go on with life in the big city. But to think the Wolverines would shy away from a game it circles, stars, and highlights on the calendar every year is nonsense in my opinion.
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