November 28, 2023
Ohio State Athletic Director Goes Off On Unknown University Of Michigan Staffer
OSU's Gene Smith wasn't having it.
The games between Michigan and Ohio State are always testy affairs, but the tension hit a fever pitch between the two teams last weekend. A clip posted by Trey Wallace of Outkick on X shows Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith getting into a profanity-laced conversation with an unidentified sideline official and a Michigan staff member.
In the clip, the Michigan official asks Smith for his name and questions him for seemingly standing too close to the field during the game. Smith did not take the questions well.
“What the f— is yours? What the f— is your name?” Smith asked the official before turning his attention to the Michigan staffer. “I’m behind the yellow line. Don’t get me started.”
The clip ends when an off-camera Michigan staffer swiped [at Wallace’s phone. It’s unclear what led to Smith’s response.
Unfortunately, Smith, who will retire at the end of the 2023-24 academic year, Michigan got the last word, winning the game 30-24 and qualifying for the Big Ten Conference Championship game against Iowa on Dec. 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.
For Michigan, making the Big Ten Championship is a slap in the face of those who accused the Wolverines and head coach Jim Harbaugh of cheating after Harbaugh was forced to miss Michigan’s last three games of the regular season against Penn State, Maryland, and Ohio State amid the conference’s investigation into alleged impermissible, in-person sign-stealing by a member of Michigan’s football staff.
Ohio State, meanwhile, is likely to miss the College Football Playoff, but it may get a bid to a New Year’s Day bowl game. Outside of what bowl game the Buckeyes will play, all eyes are on wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and whether he will enter the NFL Draft, where he is a lock to be a top-five pick or return to Ohio State for his senior year.