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The hot button topic in college football has been less about the newly released schedules and protocols in the Big Ten Conference and more about a supposed tiff between Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh and Ohio State’s Ryan Day.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, the story goes as such: on a Big Ten head coaches teleconference, Harbaugh confronted Day about his team purportedly breaking NCAA rules by allowing former Wolverines LB coach — who has been with the Buckeyes since last season — working directly with the players before such action was allowed. Day responded that Harbaugh should ‘worry about (his) own team,’ and reported the incident back to the OSU players, proclaiming that the Big Ten ought to implement mercy rules, otherwise the Buckeyes will hang 100 on the Wolverines.
Ok, got all that?
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Rivals.com — who we’re big fans of — had its braintrust in Mike Farrell and Adam Gorney weigh in, asking themselves the question: is this a situation where Harbaugh should have said something?
Farrell’s take: FACT. The focus for Michigan should be on Michigan right now and not what Ohio State is doing. That’s not saying the Buckeyes should be allowed to break the rules if that’s what they are doing, but Harbaugh doesn’t come from a point of power here. He hasn’t beaten Ohio State yet and has been drubbed the last two games, so it looks like he’s whining a bit. And I don’t think he wants to tick off a rival that now wants to run it up even more if it can.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. If Harbaugh has the goods on Ohio State assistant coach Al Washington working with the linebackers earlier than allowed by the NCAA – which he stated on a weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference – then the Michigan coach has every right to voice his displeasure about it and file a grievance with the conference.
But Harbaugh better have proof that it happened and not just be throwing out rumors. We all know Ohio State has dominated this series for as long as many players on both teams have been born. That’s not the point. If Harbaugh can prove Ohio State did something wrong, report it. If he doesn’t and is just floating speculation, then Harbaugh should worry about his own team, like Ohio State coach Ryan Day said on the call.
While we understand where Farrell is coming from, we’re more with Gorney here.
It’s Harbaugh derangement syndrome to make this situation more on what Michigan has done on the field and who gets to talk compared to what the story could or probably should be: is Ohio State breaking the rules? While we don’t have an answer to that question, like Gorney said, if he has proof, Harbaugh has every right to confront Day on it and report the issue. If Michigan is struggling to get over the hump and Ohio State is gaining an unfair competitive advantage, doesn’t that automatically put the maize and blue at a competitive disadvantage?
We do agree, again, that if Harbaugh doesn’t have proof and it’s just a rumor, then he shouldn’t say anything.
But if another school, especially Ohio State, is cheating, the story should be about that — not how Jim Harbaugh reacted to it as some kind of villain. If he does provide proof, the onus is on Ryan Day fo clear things up.