Michigan receiver Roy Roundtree is a native of Ohio but says he never liked the Buckeyes. AP photo
Don’t tell Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez he doesn’t understand his school’s rivalry with Ohio State. Rodriguez got a little testy Monday at his weekly news conference when someone asked him if any former Michigan coach or player talked to him about the rivalry.
“Just because I did not coach here before, I did not play here before, I’m not from the state of Michigan, doesn’t mean I don’t understand the rivalry.” Rodriguez said. “Trust me, I understand the importance of the rivalry. I get it..”
Rodriguez was just getting started.
“I‘m going to give you a news flash here,” Rodriguez said. “I‘m going to coach as hard as I can in every game I play, whether I‘m playing Delaware State or Ohio State. Ohio State is a whole lot more important to a lot more folks and I understand that..
“If you know anything about college football, you understand this rivalry. It‘s the best one in sports. I‘m thrilled to be a part of it.”
In what should be the beginning of a banner week for the Wolverines, more bad news came to the program on Monday. An internal audit, to be presented to the University of Michigan board of regents meeting on Thursday was released and it showed that the Michigan football team failed to log and record the hours of practice time in the last year, as it was required to do. This internal audit comes after the Detroit Free Press charged, in a series of articles in September that the Michigan program exceeded the amount of practice time for its football team, according to NCAA rules.
The NCAA is also conducting an investigation into the matter. Rodriguez said he would not comment on the report.
But the stress is starting to show on the second-year coach from West Virginia. Michigan hosts Ohio State at noon on Saturday and the Wolverines are hoping to avoid last place in the Big Ten. Michigan is 5-6 and 1-6 in Big Ten play. Michigan has lost six straight conference games. Ohio State is 9-2, 6-1. The Buckeyes, ranked among the nation’s top 10, has already clinched the conference championship and a berth in the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State is a 12-point favorite. Michigan needs a win to finish the regular season at .500 after beginning the year at 4-0. The Wolverines also need a win to go to a postseason bowl game. But most in the Michigan camp were talking about the rivalry.
Rodriguez said when he was first introduced as Michigan’s had coach someone shook his hand and stuffed something into his jacket pocket. It was a button with the words, “Beat Ohio State.” Rodriguez said that button still sits on his desk at Schembechler Hall.
Of course, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel famously said, when first introduced as head man of the Buckeyes that his first goal was to beat that team to the North (since Woody Hayes was OSU coach, the Buckeye head coaches rarely utter the word ‘Michigan’).
Tressel has gone 7-1 against Michigan while Rodriguez is 0-1 after last year’s 42-7 Ohio State win.
“We haven’t beaten them in five years and everyone knows that,” said Michigan center Dave Moosman., a fifth-year senior. “This is the one we want.”
Michigan sophomore Roy Roundtree hails from the state of Ohio (Trotwood) but has never been a Buckeye fan.
“I’ve never liked them,” he said. “I remember sitting around with my family watching Ohio State and Michigan and I always rooted for Michigan. I remember the games when Desmond Howard struck that Hesiman pose and when Charles Woodson made that play ( a one-hand interception). Those were great games.”
Roundtree said this week he usually gets plenty of crank phone calls from friends in Ohio who feel he is a traitor. Roundtree said he will turn his phone off this week.
There is some thought that Ohio State might be taking the game lightly as they have already clinched their bowl berth and are coming off four straight pressure-packed game, including last Saturday’s overtime win over Iowa. But Tressel put that idea to rest on Saturday in a postgame news conference.
“We’re going to enjoy this win until about midnight tonight,” he said. “And then we’re going to get ready. Because we all know who we’re going to play next week.”
For more info: mgoblue, Detroit Free Press, annarbor.com, Columbus Dispatch
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