The college football season got off to a rocky start for the University of Michigan with a 24-17 loss to rival Notre Dame on Saturday.
The 12th-ranked Fighting Irish came into the season ranked slightly higher than Michigan (No. 14) and were playing at home in South Bend, so it was not a shocker by any stretch. But any loss, particularly in the season opener, doesn’t sit well in Ann Arbor.
Criticism is part of the job when you’re a head coach, but one criticism in particular got under Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh’s skin. It came from former Michigan great and NFL Pro Bowl receiver Braylon Edwards.
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Edwards, who now works as an analyst for the Big Ten Network, tweeted some harsh, and expletive-laced, comments about the team, specifically calling out center Cesar Ruiz and quarterback Shea Patterson.
“Ruiz is weak, line is weak, shea is scared, f—ing Michigan offense so predictable … Michigan football is sadly one thing … trash,” he said in the tweet, which has since been deleted.
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The Big Ten Network promptly suspended Edwards indefinitely for the tweet, which it said was a violation of its social media guidelines.
In a news conference Monday, Harbaugh responded to a question about Edwards’ tweet by defending his players and blasting Edwards.
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“Number one, first of all, it’s not true. It’s not factual. There’s nobody in our program who thinks those things about any player on our team, let alone the two players he describes,” Harbaugh said, reported CBS Sports. “On the other level, it’s disappointing that a member of the Big Ten Network would choose to attack the character to our players. It’s disappointing.
“If someone else wants to attack the character of anybody on our ball club, come after me.”
The coach continued, “It’s not true. And nobody in the program thinks that about any player on our team. Just so you know, that’s not coming from anybody inside here.”
Jim Harbaugh addressed the situation Monday, saying Edwards should "come after me," not the players if he has an issue with the program:https://t.co/462wpXTOdk
— 97.1 The Ticket (@971theticketxyt) September 3, 2018
Despite being suspended, Edwards tweeted again Monday, calling out Michigan’s lackluster performance against ranked teams.
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https://twitter.com/OfficialBraylon/status/1036671889295462400
“So funny that everyone is worried my tweet as opposed to the real issue, 0-17 on the road against ranked opponents, 1-6 against rivals and the one win was against a 3-9 MSU,” he tweeted.
Edwards also apologized to the players in another Monday tweet.
https://twitter.com/OfficialBraylon/status/1036705777778675714
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“I should not have attacked Ruiz and Patterson that hard or period individually,” he said. “I apologize as a former student athlete and NCAA analyst.
“With that being said UM football still needs to step up so no apologies there.”
Michigan will look to get into the win column when it hosts Western Michigan on Saturday. Notre Dame, meanwhile, will try to get to 2-0 against Ball State in South Bend.
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