Jim Harbaugh maintains that the rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan’s collegiate football teams is “manufactured” in order to provide spectators with the greatest spectacle possible: “It’s incredibly overhyped… these are little children.”

Head football coach Jim Harbaugh of Michigan feels that the animosity and disdain between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines is “manufactured” in order to expose student-athletes.

‘I’m not going to go as far as to say contrived, but it is hyped up to no ends,’ Harbaugh said Monday. ‘And these are student-athletes that are young kids, young adults, that are playing this game.’

‘And all we ask them to do is go out there and play the very best,’ Harbaugh continued. ‘I think that it’s very manufactured for the TV show that people want to watch and see.’

Jim Harbaugh describing the Big Ten Conference’s signature rivalry as closer to ‘The Hunger Games’ than reality comes after 119 meetings between the schools on the gridiron alone.

The teams first met in 1897 and played annually from 1918 through 2019. The game amid the height of the coronavirus matchup in 2020 was canceled. The Wolverines and Buckeyes have met every year since.

Every edition of the Ohio State-Michigan game since 1934 has taken place in the later half of November, giving the rivalry an annual contest that has a massive say in the entire college football landscape.

For example, this year’s matchup featured No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan, where the victor would clinch a place in the Big Ten Championship, and a direct path to the College Football Playoff.

The loser wouldn’t play in the conference championship and would likely have any national championship aspirations dashed. Michigan’s 30-24 victory was its third straight in the series.

Harbaugh wasn’t at the latest edition of the showdown on Saturday, as he was finishing his three-game suspension handed down as a result of Michigan’s entanglement in a sign-stealing scandal.

The alleged sign-stealing involved in-person scouting of opponents, some dating back three seasons, which isn’t allowed under NCAA rules.

Both Michigan and the Big Ten Conference have been investigating the claims into cheating, all while the Wolverines’ possible-national-championship season continues.

Harbaugh has denied any wrongdoing of scouting opponents within his program, yet Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti didn’t wait for any official ruling to hand down a three-game suspension.

Harbaugh’s return to the sidelines for the first time since Nov. 4 will be in the conference championship game against Iowa.

Jim Harbaugh made his point about the heightened rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State, a la WWE, on Monday rather than focusing solely on the Hawkeyes.

“It’s not good for you.” When you’re trying to put that much [pressure] on student-athletes, it’s not good for them, according to Harbaugh. That someone truly believes it to be a life-or-death situation… It’s unhealthy for young people, in my opinion.

Read more related contents on sportupdates.co.uk