Jim Harbaugh: Hype around Michigan-Ohio State rivalry ‘not healthy’

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jim Harbaugh was banned from the sideline on Saturday, but he took in the Michigan-Ohio State game from the comfort of his own home.

And while he watched on TV, the Michigan coach noticed something startling. Pregame segments focused on players’ legacies. Storylines driven around off-the-field hearsay. Even the game’s broadcast partner, FOX, was airing a commercial using former President Dwight Eisenhower’s infamous speech before “D-Day.”

All to garner eyeballs for what usually ends up as college football’s most-watched regular season game. Michigan won the game, 30-24, its third straight victory over the rival Buckeyes.

“I’m not telling you how to do your job — you all know how to do that — but a lot of that seems very, very built up from outside of the two programs,” Harbaugh said Monday, “I’m not going to go as far as to say contrived, but it is hyped up. Hyped up to no ends.”

Harbaugh’s comments come one day after he praised his Michigan team (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) for its performance on the field and its acting head coach, Sherrone Moore, for calling an aggressive, smart game plan from start to finish.

More: Suspension over, Jim Harbaugh renews call for revenue sharing in college sports

But he also spent time on a Big Ten-hosted media conference call promoting the league’s title game to renew his push for revenue sharing in college sports. It’s an idea he has broached before, but the gruesome, season-ending injury to offensive lineman Zak Zinter prompted him to resurface it.

“These are student-athletes that are young kids, young adults, that are playing this game,” Harbaugh continued. “All we ask them to do is to go out there and play their very best.

“To answer your question, I think that is very manufactured for the TV show that people want to watch and see.”

Harbaugh, of course, is not completely innocent here. It was two years ago, after Michigan’s win over Ohio State in 2021, when Harbaugh made his infamous “third base” poke at Ryan Day, suggesting the Ohio State coach inherited a talented roster. The two coaches have allegedly traded barbs behind the scenes in the years since, but declined to discuss one another last week in the buildup to the game.

“It’s not healthy,” Harbaugh continued. “It’s not healthy for the student-athletes on either side when you’re trying to put that much (pressure), where someone is practically thinking it’s life or death.”

Asked about Harbaugh’s comments on Monday, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy said he made it a point last week to remove social media apps from his phone — choosing instead to remain focused on the game. He didn’t want to get caught up in the constant back-and-forth with opposing players or fans.

“I could see where coach Harbaugh is coming from when he says that,” McCarthy said. “Whatever I consume visually does have an effect on you, whether you like it or not and whether you allow it to or not. I just try to completely cut out all the noise and stay with what’s in front of me, and that’s staying present with my teammates.”