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This is making the rounds, and it’s worth sharing, since it’s from a source we trust.
According to Bucknuts.com‘s Dave Biddle (my former colleague at 247Sports), there was something of a tiff between Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day on a Big Ten coaches call. Harbaugh — always a notorious stickler for rule-following in sports — supposedly interrupted Day, which caused Day to say that the Wolverines better hope the conference institutes a mercy rule.
We saw the screenshots and other aggregated posts, but note, this comes from Biddle’s VIP post on the 247Sports Ohio State site.
While on the call, Ryan Day was talking, and suddenly Jim Harbaugh interrupted him to say that OSU was violating the rules by having on-field instruction and drills, which are not permitted until Friday. Harbaugh brought up Al Washington by name and mentioned a picture that surfaced with Washington working with some of the Buckeyes’ linebackers. Day fired back: “How about I worry about my team and you worry about yours?”
It has been reported elsewhere that Day also said to Harbaugh while on the call that Mich. better hope there is a mercy rule because Ohio State “is going to hang 100 on you.” However, Day did not say that on the call.
But he DID say those identical words during a team meeting today, which took place not too long after the call among B1G head coaches. He told his team that the conference better have a mercy rule, or the Buckeyes are going to hang 100 points on the Wolverines.
Take it for what it’s worth. Regardless of the circumstances, it’s always good to see the rivalry getting heated, even if it’s the Michigan side inciting the Ohio State side.
The past few years have been lopsided in favor of the Buckeyes via the scoreboard, so perhaps Harbaugh hearing what Day said behind closed doors could have the reverse effect. Harbaugh’s Michigan teams have been blown out by OSU three out of five times, but the Wolverines nearly won in 2016 and kept it close despite being decimated by injuries at the quarterback position in 2017.
For now, we’ll have to wait, oddly, for the middle of the season matchup between the arch-rivals, as The Game takes place on Oct. 24 in Columbus, according to the newly-released Big Ten schedule.
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