Future NFL and former Ohio State Buckeyes running back Ezekiel Elliott was a guest of Paul Finebaum on Friday, and the voice of the SEC served up some softballs for Elliott about Michigan and Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh. Elliott responded the way Buckeye fans likely would have wanted suggesting Harbaugh and Michigan need to win before being able to talk about a rivalry.
“I’m tired of hearing about Coach Harbaugh,” Elliott said. “He needs to get in check with reality because at the end of the day you can’t talk smack about a rivalry when you haven’t won a rivalry game. You have to win ballgames to talk behind it.”
Elliott has gotten mixed up with Harbaugh before, of course. Last month he came to the defense of Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith when Harbaugh took a shot at the Ohio State AD. Smith made a comment in response to Michigan’s spring break practices that he later apologized for (although there was nothing wrong with what he said at the time). Harbaugh, though, would not let the comment go when it was fresh.
@CoachJim4UM Welcome to the big house coach. Better luck next time pic.twitter.com/TKrXfEthH8
— Ezekiel Elliott (@EzekielElliott) March 23, 2016
When asked what it is about Michigan that creates so much hype, Elliott told Finebaum “I think you guys, I think the media, you guys have the power, you guys give them so much attention, it just feeds off of that.”
Finebaum, as Elliott finished off his final response to the radio host, gave Elliott a “Well done” pat on the back for a job well done in thrashing Michigan in the way he did. You know Finebaum wanted Elliott to do just that, setting up the question by suggesting Michigan thinks of itself as the epicenter of college football despite one-half of a national championship in the past 40-plus years. Finebaum was in full Michigan troll mode, and having Elliott on the other side of the interview to smash the softballs over the fences was music to Finebaum’s ears.
Of course, Elliott was spot on with his responses. The media does fuel the Michigan ego, because we simply cannot get enough of Harbaugh. Everything he does has been worth discussing, especially when he goes outside the box with his recruiting and operations. So yeah, the media does feed the Michigan ego. There is nothing wrong with that, just as there was nothing wrong with Elliott’s responses to Finebaum.
Rivalries are fun, and as long as Harbaugh is in Ann Arbor the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State will continue to be the most interesting it has been since the days of Woody and Bo, even if Michigan cannot score a win in the series.
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