Yesterday, during the playoff selection show, Kirk Herbstreit shared that he thinks the Wolverines will "wave the white flag and not play Ohio State next week," before adding that he's talked to a lot of coaches who believe teams are opting out of games to avoid getting humiliated.
Not surprisingly, those comments prompted a lot of social media conversations. Herbstreit, a former Buckeye quarterback, came out and apologized shortly after the show ended.
To a large degree, the damage had already been done in the eyes of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel.
The leader of the Wolverines athletic department went off on Herbstreit on M Go Blue TV earlier tonight, shutting down the notion that Michigan would duck away from any type of competition.
When asked about Herbie's comments, Warde offered, "I think it's ridiculous."
"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. The only way we want to keep anybody from moving on is to beat them on the fields of play. To insinuate that, to say something other than that, is a statement by a fool."
"I can't tell you how embarrassed I am for the Big Ten Conference to have one of their representatives, who played this game, say that about any team in this conference...and to say it about college football and these student athletes around this country who are trying to play games during a pandemic is ridiculous and sad."
Michigan was forced to cancel their game this weekend against Maryland due to COVID issues, but they hope to be back on track to be able to play the Buckeyes in their rivalry game next weekend.
See Manuel's full comments in the clip.
https://twitter.com/markakunz/status/1334285254715187201?s=21