Wolverines throw some shade at Buckeyes after victory

Ann Arbor — Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh seemed to take a thinly veiled shot at Ohio State coach Ryan Day in his postgame comments, and captain Aidan Hutchinson said the game was heated because of the Buckeyes “disrespecting” the Wolverines.

Harbaugh led Michigan to a 42-27 victory over Ohio State on Saturday at Michigan Stadium to end an eight-game losing streak to the Buckeyes, giving the Wolverines their first win in the series since 2011 while securing a spot in next week’s Big Ten championship game.

Day took over for Urban Meyer as coach in 2019 and has one win against the Wolverines. The teams did not play last year after the Wolverines canceled because of a COVID outbreak. Last summer, Harbaugh and Day reportedly had a tense exchange during a Big Ten coaches conference call and Day later reportedly said the Buckeyes would “hang a hundred” on Michigan.

During the postgame news conference Saturday, Harbaugh was asked about what the Buckeyes had said that motivated the Wolverines.

“I know probably the things you’re thinking of are the same as the things I’m thinking of, but let’s move on with humble hearts, take the high road,” said Harbaugh, who had been 0-5 in the series before the win. “But there was definitely stuff that people said that spurred us on even more, sure.

“Sometimes people that are standing on third base think they hit a triple, but they didn’t.”

That, it seems, was directed at Day.

Video surfaced from halftime of things getting heated between the teams in the tight area heading up the tunnel to their locker rooms, the doors of which face each other. Then, in the third quarter, OSU’s Cameron Brown ripped the helmet off Roman Wilson and was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Earlier in the week, Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams posted a video on Instagram of him stomping on the jersey of Michigan freshman quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

“These guys have been disrespecting us, stepping on our jerseys, talking about hanging 100 on us, doing all the rah-rah, doing all the talk,” Hutchinson said. “But we were about it today.”

Michigan quarterback coach Matt Weiss after the game took to Twitter to get in a jab, as well, writing: “Did he mean 100 yards or 100 points?”

achengelis@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @chengelis