Why fans, not players, drive rivalries in CFB
Dan Patrick and Co. ponder whether rivalries in college football — and across sports — are diminished.
Video Transcript
The, I couldn't call in yesterday, the Michigan-Ohio State hate game.
Full disclosure, I'm from Detroit, so you kinda know who I'm rooting for.
But I kinda think that when Todd, or, Day says, the second-worst day in his life was when he lost to Michigan again, second only to his dad dying, I thought that's pretty extreme, unhealthy obsession.
But and then, then on the campus they put red tape over all the letters M's on the signs.
I just think they are literally obsessed with beating Michigan.
Michigan loves to beat Ohio State.
If they lose, they lose, they move on, they play again next year.
So I don't know.
That just my take.
Well, this is about the fans.
Like, you know, they want Kyle Whittingham to come in and give, you know, a Knute Rockne speech about beating Michig- or beating Ohio State, and that's not who he is.
Like, it, it's not Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes.
And if Ryan Day is saying that, equating a loss to the loss of your father, you're kinda placating the fan base there.
I get that.
I don't think the players are caught up in this.
Because you have NIL, the transfer portal, and, and rivalries are built through history.
'Cause you might have not liked somebody in high school or your first year at, at a university, you lost that game and then you're gonna come back that next year.
These guys are transferring.
This is about money.
It's not, "Hey, I don't wanna go to Michigan.
I'm from Ohio.
How much is Michigan willing to pay me?
All right, I'm gonna go to Michigan."
C.J.
Carr went to Notre Dame.
His grandfather coached at Michigan.
Like it's not like you're a, a, my, my dad or grandfather was a fan.
No, he was a coach.
He was the head coach at Michigan.
Yes, Marvin.
Even Bryce Underwood, the guy they paid a boatload of money is just kind of, eh, indifferent.
Yeah, he's quoted as saying, "Do you have Bryce Underwood, Marvin?
Here is the, Michigan quarterback."
It's a blessing to be in.
Very physical.
Like I said, it's all around taxing mentally.
Physically you gotta stay strong, mentally you gotta stay strong physically.
You can't quit, can't, can't give up.
When you think about your first meeting with Ohio State, what comes to mind?
I lost.
So, that's all it is.
Does that drive you?
I mean, my goal's to be 1 and 0 every day, you know.
Saturdays I wanna be 1 and 0, Sundays I wanna be 1 and 0, Mondays I wanna be 1 and 0.
So that's what drives me.
How much different is that game from any other you've played in?
It's just another game, just with guys in a different color.
That's how I see it.
It might be healthy to have that attitude.
Like, win every game.
Sometimes you gear up and you go, "Yeah, you know, we, we went seven and four, but we beat Ohio State."
Okay, that's not good enough.
I know it's good enough in that rivalry where you go, "We beat Ohio State" or, "We beat Michigan."
Here's something for you.
Oklahoma State, good example, 50 new transfers.
And a lot of players probably didn't spend years hearing about the rivalry with Oklahoma.
They're just coming in.
It's, th- this is business now.
Here's your transfer portal classes.
LSU 41 players, Ole Miss 29, Penn State 39, Auburn 39.
So you're not there for years hearing about the rivalry.
You might be just coming in for a paycheck.
Hey, you gotta hate them.
Well, Kyle Whittingham said what I, I truly believe he feels.
It's like, "I don't wanna hate anybody.
I wanna beat them.
This is for the fans."
The fans get caught up in this.
They love this.
And I'm fine with it.
It's the last rivalry we probably have, a true rivalry, and it's the fans have the rivalry.
I think the players get caught up in it that week, but I don't think they obsess 365 days out of the year.
And I don't think that's healthy to do that.
Yes, Marvin.
Yeah, I think teams like that, they get caught up when the former players might show up.
Say if you're Ohio State and Eddie George and Archie Griffin, guys like that, when they show up the week of- Yeah and they talk about how intense the rivalry is.
And then they'll feel it that entire week, but I'm sure, just like you said, it's not gonna be all that different to them.
Yeah, Paulie.
And Bryce Underwood's a local.
He's lived this his whole life.
He's aware of it.
He's not like a, a kid from Florida or California who's new at Michigan.
He, he's from Detroit.
He played high school football there.
So he's both aware of it, but also not, like, crazy about it.
Yes, Marv.
And it's not like Michigan was his first choice.
He only went there because they offer more money than LSU.
He was good, as good as gone.
I know.
He was going to LSU, and they're like, "Well, hold on, hold on."
And then I think they brought in, like, major donor money.
Larry Ellison?
Yeah, Larry Ellison's fourth wife went to Michigan.
All right.
And said, "Hubs- All right you know what I want for Christmas?"
Yes, Dylan.
I mean, even in the pros, the concept of rivalries has kind of dwindled a bit.
Like, Red Sox-Yankees isn't what it once was.
I mean, there's, there will probably never be another pro athlete again that plays on one team for their entire career, and that's fine.
Like, I totally get why.
But, like, I remember when Johnny Damon went to the Yankees.
Well, Wade Boggs.
Yeah.
It w- but it was like, "How could this happen?"
I know.
Yep, that rivalry is just not the same.
No.
I, I think the Packers and the Bears, that feels still a little bit more like a rivalry, but that's the fans.
Although Aaron Rodgers, when he said, you know, basically, "I've, I've owned you for, you know, my entire career in Green Bay," which is factually true.
He did own the Bears.
He owned Chicago.
But, you know, rivalries, Giants and the Dodgers, that's a rivalry.
But that feels like it's, it's fan base rivalries, not necessarily players.
'Cause players come and go.
The fan, you stay there.
Your loyalty is there f- forever, your life.
And, you know, it was your dad's, maybe your grandfather's.
Yeah, Dylan.
Yeah, I think it's naive to expect that players are gonna feel as passionately about these rivalries as you when you're a ninth-generation, you know- Yeah Steelers fan, and you're, you know, you hate the Ravens with a passion.
Yeah, but that's still kind of a rivalry.
Yeah, it is.
I mean, and maybe it's not still kind of, it is a rivalry
