For former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal is now real with coach Jim Harbaugh being suspended for “The Game.”
“You know how I was the last few weeks. I was like, ‘This can’t be true,’” Meyer said on “Big Noon Kickoff” Saturday. “He’s not coaching in that game. Think about that. That’s his legacy. He’s a former player. He was a great player there. He played in the rivalry, and all of a sudden, you are not coaching in that game? For them not to fight that, there’s something there.”
In Meyer’s experience in the Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry — leading Ohio State to seven wins in seven years against the Wolverines — he said the Buckeyes spent “all year” pointing to that game, calling the game before “a street fight” because of the focus on the Michigan game.
But in 2023, Meyer said, Ohio State vs. Michigan will be remembered as the one Harbaugh did not coach in.
“When you look at the history book that talks about that rivalry game, there’s going to be a big asterisk next to 2023,” Meyer said. “That does not go away, not coaching in that game…. The teams are playing for the national championship in college football.”
Harbaugh accepted his three-game suspension for violating the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy regarding the conference’s investigation into in-person scouting and the use of technology to steal opponents’ signs.
Harbaugh will not coach the Wolverines in Saturday’s meeting against Maryland.
cgay@dispatch.com
There was no bigger storyline going into Auburn’s Sweet 16 game against Michigan than the frontcourt battle.
Both teams like to play with two traditional centers, something rarely seen in modern college basketball. Michigan’s frontcourt of Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin was slightly bigger than Auburn’s pairing of Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell.
Despite that, Auburn dominated the glass, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, which helped the Tigers pull out a 78-65 win.
Those rebounds were especially important as Auburn’s offense struggled to find any flow or efficiency early in the game. The Tigers shot 32.4% from the field in the first half and turned the ball over 10 times.
However, Auburn outrebounded Michigan 29-17 and went into the break with nine second chance points compared to Michigan’s two. It continued in the second half has Auburn finished the game with 21 second chance points.
When Cardwell, Auburn’s starting center, was asked in the locker room after the game how Auburn gained such an advantage on the glass, his answer was as candid as it gets.
“I have no idea,” Cardwell said. “The grace of God? I don’t know.”
Cardwell said it was mentioned briefly on Auburn’s scouting report that Michigan might not be a great defensive rebounding team, but its size would still make it hard for Auburn to dominate on the glass the way it did.
Michigan came into the game ranking near the middle of Division I in defensive rebound percentage, but Auburn did a good job most of the game of keeping the Wolverines off the offensive glass too.
Michigan rebounded 26% of its misses Friday night, seven points lower than its season average.
“We have the best frontline in the country,” Broome said after the game. “We take pride in each matchup that we go against and we’re gonna bring it every night.”
Cardwell and Broome both suggested that the advantage on the glass came from Auburn’s will and effort more than anything schematic or overcomplicated.
“I would say that we wanted it more. This team, overall, we’re in the last year of college. The biggest thing we say in the team room and the locker room is we want to leave the court with no regrets,” Cardwell said. “Now, we can’t control our shots. We can’t control our free throws. We can’t control our layups. We can’t control a lot of things. But we can control our effort and energy.”
The rebounding advantage helped guarantee Auburn’s seniors at least one more game together, and the next one will be with a Final Four berth on the line.
Auburn’s Elite Eight game against Michigan State is scheduled to tip off at 4:05 p.m. Sunday. The game will be televised on CBS.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com
In this previously submitted photo, Consumers Energy employees work on power lines that supply Caberfae Peaks ski resort near Cadillac in Northern Michigan. The energy company was preparing to deploy hundreds of crews to restore power amid any outages during this weekend’s rough weather. Provided by Caberfae Peaks
ATLANTA — For a period of time this season, Michigan basketball was in contention to win the Big Ten regular season championship. And they hoisted a trophy after winning the Big Ten Tournament.
But head coach Dusty May says this team, for many reasons, has become a team with a chip on its shoulder.
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