Jim Harbaugh calls out Mark Dantonio, Michigan State for being ‘bush league’

Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh calls out Michigan State Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio’s team for being ‘bush league’ during the pregame.

It took a little bit longer than expected due to a weather delay in East Lansing, but the most recent rendition on the gridiron between the Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans finally played out. Jim Harbaugh’s No. 6 Wolverines beat Mark Dantonio’s No. 24 Spartans on the road 21-7 to improve to 7-1 (5-0) on the year.

Obviously, this is a huge rivalry in the Big Ten East, so emotions were high entering this game. Before winning at Spartan Stadium, Harbaugh was a miserable 1-5 in his six huge rivalry games against Michigan State and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Michigan may have won, but Harbaugh made a point to rip his rival team’s players and coach during the post-game press conference.

It all began with one of Harbaugh’s players in linebacker Devin Bush Jr. deciding to tear up the Spartans logo at the 50-yard line with his spikes. With his headphones on, he probably would have wanted to tear up the entire logo with his cleats if he had the time.

Apparently, Michigan State was not thrilled with Bush’s newfound pregame ritual. According to Angelique S. Chengelis of the Detroit News, “(Michigan State) was 10 minutes late taking the field for warmup. (Michigan) was already on the field. (Michigan State) players with arms locked ‘clotheslined’ Lawrence Mitchell and Bush.”

Harbaugh would take to the podium after his road victory over Michigan State and criticize the whole thing. He called the act “total bush league” and said that Dantonio was “five yards behind them all smiling.” In his presser, Harbaugh did state that he didn’t actually witness this event, but one of his coaches did. No, he didn’t like that one bit.

Overall, both teams were clearly in the wrong here. Did you really think the home team would let an arch rival’s player rip up their logo at midfield and just get away with it? No, but walking as a team with interlocking arms and helmets on basically signified that Michigan was already in Michigan State’s head before kickoff.

The Spartans only managed seven points at home in a huge rivalry game. Michigan State has fallen to 4-3 on the year and 2-2 in the Big Ten. The Spartans are now probably no better than the fourth-best team in its own division this fall.

Though the antics of both parties shouldn’t be celebrated, it is good to see an in-state rivalry like this really picking up steam. Michigan State had dominated Michigan for most of last decade. Since Harbaugh’s arrival in Ann Arbor from the San Francisco 49ers in 2015, the series is now 2-2 between these two bitter rivals. Basically, don’t use cleats to deface other’s property and don’t attempt to clothesline people. It’s not a good look.