Michigan coach Whittingham wants to beat Ohio State 'worse than anybody'

Ann Arbor — Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham, in his first season with the Wolverines, wants to make it abundantly clear that he understands Ohio State is the program’s arch rival and that beating the Buckeyes is a priority.

Whittingham, who spent the last 21 seasons as Utah head coach, knows that every word he utters as Michigan coach will be parsed. He may not have realized just how much. During the recent Big Ten media days, he was asked about hating Ohio State.

“Hate’s a strong word,” Whittingham said. “But I want to win that game as badly as anybody in Ann Arbor.

“I just think that a rivalry can be intense and emotional without the hatred factor. I don’t think there’s a place for that.

“Personally, I think (OSU coach) Ryan Day is a good person. To sit here and say I hate Ryan Day, I’d be making crap up because that’s not true.”

The portion of his comment perhaps overlooked focused on wanting to beat OSU “as badly as anyone.”

Many have hung on the fact he said he didn’t hate Day or OSU.

“Will we have a better chance to win if I hated them?” Whittingham said Monday during a news conference. “Whatever gives us the best chance to win, I’m all for. Want to beat them worse than anybody, and so I don’t know how that got to be such a hot topic.”

The season has yet to begin, so that offers time to discuss depth charts, make predictions, and, apparently debate whether Whittingham understands the depth of the rivalry known as The Game and what it means to both programs.

Whittingham coached in the Holy War, Utah-BYU, so he understands rivalries and said he absolutely gets the meaning of the Wolverines’ final regular-season game.

“I guess I set myself up for it in a lot of ways,” Whittingham said Monday referring to his comments at media days in Chicago. “But just don’t confuse that with a lack of desire to win the game. I mean, we obviously understand that is The Game, as we call it.”

Rich Rodriguez, who was hired after Lloyd Carr retired, was the last Michigan head coach who didn’t play or coach for the Wolverines before joining the staff. He spoke of receiving a “Beat Ohio State” button when he first arrived, and he kept it on his desk as a reminder.

Whittingham probably doesn’t need a Beat Ohio State button to keep the game in the front of his mind. After all, he sees the signs in the weight room and the infield practice field, holdovers from the Jim Harbaugh Era, that read: What are you doing to beat Ohio State today?

Tight end Zack Marshall said last Friday that the Wolverines still have a version of the Beat Ohio drill that Harbaugh implemented. It was a bit different in the spring but wasn’t sure how it might be during preseason and regular-season practices.

“The goal at the end of the day, win the Big Ten,” Marshall said. “And how you do that? You beat Ohio State. When we beat them, that’s the answer to all of it.”

Whittingham reiterated he’s more than aware what the Ohio State game means. But that’s the 12th game of the season, and he’s preparing his team for the season opener against Western Michigan and every other game leading to the Buckeyes in Columbus in late November.

“There’s periods in practice segments or things in the weight room that you know that’s talked about,” Whittingham said. “We’ve got the countdown clocks. I’m not trying to downplay that at all. It’s a huge game. Gigantic. It’s something that we all have the back in the back of our mind 24/7.

“I probably should have worded it differently, but that game is of the utmost importance.”

Whittingham has two assistants on staff who coached the Buckeyes, special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs and running backs coach Tony Alford. They understand the rivalry from both sides, and Coombs said no one at Michigan discounts anything about it.

“It is the greatest rivalry in sports, and it’s not just a rivalry between the two football teams,” Coombs told reporters last week. “It’s a rivalry between the universities. It’s a rivalry between the states. It’s people that live there. I live there. People that live here. It’s real. We don’t discount that at all. 

“At the same time, there’s no reason (for hatred). I grew up with Woody and Bo. One of the reasons why I’m a football coach is because I grew up with Woody and Bo. There’s no reason for any of it to be nasty. It doesn’t have to be hateful. It doesn’t have to be unnecessarily violent. Violence between the lines during the game, that’s what we do.”

Eric Weddle, a safety who played for Whittingham at Utah, made some well-publicized comments about Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood on a podcast this spring. Weddle said he had attended Michigan spring practice and observed Underwood, who started every game as a freshman last year.

“Don’t be surprised if the backup is playing early because that Underwood kid, I don’t think he could throw or play quarterback, so we’ll see,” Weddle said on the podcast.

Whittingham on Monday was asked if Weddle’s remarks were a fair assessment.

“We see Bryce every day,” Whittingham said. “We know where he’s at and (where) we need him to get and the time and effort he’s putting into everything. I got to say, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but we feel good about Bryce’s progress right now.”

Whittingham said that five practices in, the offense is on schedule in terms of install and execution. The running back room is fairly established, the coaches are working toward finding the right starting five on the offensive line, and Underwood has shown improvement.

Andrew Marsh is the top returning receiver, but J.J. Buchanan, who transferred from Utah after last season when he had 427 yards on 26 catches with five touchdowns, is getting plenty of praise. Whittingham called him a “special” receiver.

“He’s, at times, unguardable in practice,” Whittingham said. “With the 50-50 ball and the contested catch up the field, he’s as good as anybody I’ve ever been around. He’s got size at 6-3, 215 pounds. He can run, he can jump, he’s tough, he’ll block. He’s a complete receiver in all aspects.”

He also said young transfers Salesi Moa and Jamie Ffrench, as well as Channing Goodwin, have had solid camps.

“When all is said and done, we want about seven guys that we feel confident we can put in the game,” Whittingham said, adding Michigan is about two shy of that target right now.

achengelis@detroitnews.com

@chengelis

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan coach Whittingham wants to beat Ohio State ‘worse than anybody’