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Fox Sports
4 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Who Really Runs the Big Ten: Ohio State or Michigan?
Ohio State runs the Big Ten — or does it? The Buckeyes want to be heard on this point: They're defending nothing. They're chasing everything. And everything better mean Michigan. It's a sentiment that most competitors would embrace. Enter the silo. Silence the outside. Secure and protect focus on what's to come, not what has come to pass. However, that's not what we do with defending national champions, especially when they've not beaten their arch nemesis since 2019 and haven't won the league championship in a conference they claim to rule since 2020. Not only has Michigan — Ohio State's enemy now and forever — won three of the last four Big Ten titles and claimed the 2023 national title, but the Wolverines have watched an entire class of Buckeyes go winless against a program they refer to as "That Team Up North." The best tact, the best take, in any conversation where points must be made, is sharpening the truth into an iron point, especially when sliced at a rival. And that is what Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore did on Thursday when asked what he thought about Ohio State winning its most recent national title. "First, I'd like to congratulate them on the win," Moore said. "But you know it's not a real win if y'all [Ohio State] ain't beat us. Moore went on to elaborate on his statement, noting the first-year 12-team College Football Playoff and where the Buckeyes would have ended up had it not been for the expanded field. "If the playoff expansion wasn't around, they wouldn't have won the national championship. So we pretty much look at it like, y'all had a nice little, easy run. But we helped y'all along the way. We pretty much helped y'all build back up. But after that, they dominated everybody that came in front of them, so, I've got to give all the credit to them." Ahem: Where's the lie? Ohio State, being the No. 8 seed, would likely have been left out of a four-team playoff. And that loss to an unranked seven-win Michigan team would've slammed the door on a conversation to get the Buckeyes in among most rational fans and, more importantly, a rational selection committee. Remember this: Michigan ran the table in 2023. The Wolverines ran through Ohio State without their head coach on the sideline, right through their competition in the Big Ten title game and over Nick Saban's Alabama team and Kalen DeBoer's Washington team to win the title. If not all national champions are alike, 2023 Michigan looks a lot like 2018 Clemson and 2024 Ohio State looks a lot like 2007 LSU. It's one thing to win the national title. It's another for Ohio State or Michigan to beat the other, and that is by design. For so long, we've lived for rivalry games because it wasn't that long ago that we counted votes to decide who the national champion was. No one was really playing for one as much as they were playing for the right to point at someone else in a game that mattered more than it should and say, "I beat you." That's what Ohio State-Michigan is all about. It's about eight consecutive losses from 2012 to 2021. It's about Urban Meyer never knowing what it's like to lose to Michigan, and it's about Ryan Day knowing those four losses to the Wolverines might mean more to OSU fans than his one national title. It's about red X's on all words that begin with the letter "M" during the week of The Game. It's about 62-39 (2018), 56-27 (2019) for Ohio State, followed by 42-27 (2021) and 45-23 (2022) for Michigan. It's about Michigan closing the gap from laughable in 2020 to "We Own You" in 2024. It is reasonable that comparing how you win is as important as winning, especially given the Midwest penchant for fair play and taking the rough road, because it's the right way. And that brings us to the obvious rebuttal, where Ohio State might look at Michigan and ask, sincerely, "didn't they cheat?" Here's what we know: The NCAA launched an investigation early in the 2023 season amid allegations that Michigan used a robust in-person scouting and sign-stealing operation. The Wolverines served a penalty for this in the same season for which they won the national title, as the Big Ten suspended Jim Harbaugh for the final three regular-season games of the year after its investigation concluded Michigan had violated conference sportsmanship rules via an impermissible in‑person scouting operation. Just two months ago, according to reports, Michigan proposed suspending current coach Sherrone Moore for the third and fourth games of the 2025 season for deleting a thread of text messages as the scandal broke. Then, this past week, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti reportedly sent a letter to the NCAA Committee on Infractions suggesting that Michigan's football program should not face more sanctions stemming from the sign-stealing scheme. I think what galls most folks isn't that Michigan wasn't punished, but that the program was not punished harshly enough for its transgression. After all, Ohio State likely lost a chance to play for the 2012 national title because, after a 12-0 season, it was forced to serve a bowl ban because players sold memorabilia. Today, that feels quaint. Had some of these events not occurred, the question would remain: Who runs the Big Ten? In a season where the conference could win a third national title in as many years for the first time in the CFP era and in a league that Michigan helped found in 1896, which now features four programs in their second year as members, the consistent excellence of Penn State and the awakening of Indiana, now is the moment for the conference's two best programs over the last five decades to throw down a gauntlet. Come Nov. 29 at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the last two national champs will meet, and we'll look at the scoreboard to see who really runs this league, and, perhaps, the sport. RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The Number One College Football Show." Follow him at @RJ_Young . Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! 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Fox News
4 days ago
- Sport
- Fox News
Mature, Focused, Humble: Michigan's Bryce Underwood Isn't Your Average 17-Year-Old
LAS VEGAS — A little more than two months ago, as Michigan embarked on its summer break following the completion of spring practice, some of the Wolverines got together to play pickup basketball, one of their favorite group activities away from the football field. But when veteran edge rusher Derrick Moore arrived at the court, he quickly noticed the presence of someone who shouldn't have been in attendance: freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, the five-star phenom whose commitment to Michigan last November transformed him into an NIL multi-millionaire long before his 18th birthday, which is still a few weeks away. "What are you doing here?" Derrick Moore asked. "You're not supposed to be here." The chilly reaction had nothing to do with what he thinks of Underwood as a person. Like so many of his other teammates and coaches, Derrick Moore is now a wholehearted believer in the teenage prodigy after observing how Underwood, the No. 1 overall recruit in the country, has carried himself since flipping his commitment from LSU to Michigan last November and enrolling over the winter. Underwood joined the Wolverines in time for their bowl prep against Alabama and then took plenty of reps during spring ball amid a quarterback room thinned by injuries and transfers alike. All signs now point toward him being the team's starter once the regular season arrives. Instead, Derrick Moore's objection to Underwood playing basketball on that summer day was purely economic, even if he originally rolled his eyes a bit at the monetary figures attached to Underwood's recruitment. One spring was all it took for Moore to deem it unwise of the program's most valuable asset — a player who reportedly inked a market-resetting NIL deal worth between $10 million and $12.5 million over four years — to risk injury during a meaningless social activity. Especially after defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale spent the spring yelling at his players to "stay away from Bryce, don't touch Bryce at all!" in acknowledgment of how vital Underwood's health really is. "I feel like we do a good job protecting him and also giving him good advice," Derrick Moore said while representing the Wolverines at Big Ten Media Days. "He's worth a lot, so we've got to make sure he knows. I feel like he already knows, but I feel like we've got to do a good job of reminding him that he can't do too much. And if you do play basketball, no jumping, no jumping at all." Underwood, of course, was nowhere to be found in the South Seas Ballroom at Mandalay Bay, where the Wolverines' contingent of Derrick Moore, fullback/tight end Max Bredeson, inside linebacker Ernest Hausmann and second-year head coach Sherrone Moore were responsible for telling wave after wave of reporters about the program's shiniest new toy. It would have been thoroughly un-Michigan-like for Moore to bring Underwood to this week's event, the league's unofficial kickoff party for the 2025 campaign, though Colorado head coach Deion Sanders brought his true freshman quarterback, Julian Lewis, to Big 12 Media Days earlier this month. The Wolverines are digging in their heels to slow the Underwood hype train from picking up too much speed, but everyone around the program — let alone fans outside it — can sense the cars beginning to careen off the track. In a last-ditch effort to fortify himself against the barrage he surely knew was coming, Moore responded to the first question about Underwood by reminding the media that Michigan has yet to name a starting quarterback, that the competition is wide open entering fall camp, that Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene and East Carolina transfer Jake Garcia and former four-star prospect Jadyn Davis will all have chances to stake their claim between now and the season opener against New Mexico on Aug. 30. "There is no starter," Moore said. But that didn't stop reporters from asking Moore about whether the extra reps Underwood took during the spring, when Keene was recovering from an undisclosed injury and Garcia had not yet joined the program, accelerated the timeline for when he will be ready to play. Or about how Underwood has embraced the possibility — inevitability — of starting for Michigan, the winningest program in college football history, as a true freshman. Or about why the Wolverines won't just declare Underwood the starter given the extreme financial commitment they've made to him. All those questions came in the first third of Moore's allotted media time. "His job is to just go be the best teammate, best football player he can be," Moore said. "And whoever that person is, it's going to take a village. And for us to be a successful program, to be a successful football team, we have to do a great job surrounding that person with weapons on the football field [and] the weapons mentally to be successful." Still, there was a fascinating juxtaposition on Thursday between the way Moore and Michigan's upperclassmen spoke compassionately, almost tenderly, about Underwood's numerical age — he'll finally turn 18 next month — and the slack-jawed reverence with which they described his maturity as an athlete, likening his habits and disposition to those of seasoned veterans. On one side of the room was Bredeson, a fifth-year senior and one of the program's longest-tenured players, telling reporters that he takes "a little bit of pride and responsibility in being like the older guy who can kind of calm college football down for him," while also admitting that nobody else in Michigan's locker room can understand the life that Underwood currently leads, from the sheer attention generated by his every move to the opportunities that land at his feet. On the other side of the room was Derrick Moore, a former blue-chip recruit in his own right, expressing genuine awe about how someone so young can display such unwavering focus and concentration, traits Moore said he never came close to matching at that age. Underwood, who grew up a half hour from Michigan's campus, has already developed a reputation for being one of the first to arrive at Schembechler Hall each morning and one of the last to leave each night, a classic football cliché bestowed upon a team's hardest workers. He's known for taking the field alone 20 minutes prior to every session, headphones wrapped around his ears, to study that day's practice script and visualize the drills in his mind. He builds chemistry with the wide receivers and tight ends via extra throwing sessions that often run until the wee hours of the morning. He competes maniacally in the weight room and has packed enough muscle onto his 6-foot-4 frame to reach 230 pounds. He accepts constructive criticism from anyone in the building and carries out menial tasks without a hint of rebuttal. "He's not no average 17-year-old," Derrick Moore said. "With a lot of money that's coming in, he's pretty humble. If he does anything wrong, he takes full accountability for it. You don't really hear too much trouble out of him, you know? He does everything like a pro." Even if that means sitting out of pickup basketball. Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
Fox Sports
4 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Mature, Focused, Humble: Michigan's Bryce Underwood Isn't Your Average 17-Year-Old
LAS VEGAS — A little more than two months ago, as Michigan embarked on its summer break following the completion of spring practice, some of the Wolverines got together to play pickup basketball, one of their favorite group activities away from the football field. But when veteran edge rusher Derrick Moore arrived at the court, he quickly noticed the presence of someone who shouldn't have been in attendance: freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, the five-star phenom whose commitment to Michigan last November transformed him into an NIL multi-millionaire long before his 18th birthday, which is still a few weeks away. "What are you doing here?" Derrick Moore asked. "You're not supposed to be here." The chilly reaction had nothing to do with what he thinks of Underwood as a person. Like so many of his other teammates and coaches, Derrick Moore is now a wholehearted believer in the teenage prodigy after observing how Underwood, the No. 1 overall recruit in the country, has carried himself since flipping his commitment from LSU to Michigan last November and enrolling over the winter. Underwood joined the Wolverines in time for their bowl prep against Alabama and then took plenty of reps during spring ball amid a quarterback room thinned by injuries and transfers alike. All signs now point toward him being the team's starter once the regular season arrives. Instead, Derrick Moore's objection to Underwood playing basketball on that summer day was purely economic, even if he originally rolled his eyes a bit at the monetary figures attached to Underwood's recruitment. One spring was all it took for Moore to deem it unwise of the program's most valuable asset — a player who reportedly inked a market-resetting NIL deal worth between $10 million and $12.5 million over four years — to risk injury during a meaningless social activity. Especially after defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale spent the spring yelling at his players to "stay away from Bryce, don't touch Bryce at all!" in acknowledgment of how vital Underwood's health really is. "I feel like we do a good job protecting him and also giving him good advice," Derrick Moore said while representing the Wolverines at Big Ten Media Days. "He's worth a lot, so we've got to make sure he knows. I feel like he already knows, but I feel like we've got to do a good job of reminding him that he can't do too much. And if you do play basketball, no jumping, no jumping at all." Underwood, of course, was nowhere to be found in the South Seas Ballroom at Mandalay Bay, where the Wolverines' contingent of Derrick Moore, fullback/tight end Max Bredeson, inside linebacker Ernest Hausmann and second-year head coach Sherrone Moore were responsible for telling wave after wave of reporters about the program's shiniest new toy. It would have been thoroughly un-Michigan-like for Moore to bring Underwood to this week's event, the league's unofficial kickoff party for the 2025 campaign, though Colorado head coach Deion Sanders brought his true freshman quarterback, Julian Lewis, to Big 12 Media Days earlier this month. The Wolverines are digging in their heels to slow the Underwood hype train from picking up too much speed, but everyone around the program — let alone fans outside it — can sense the cars beginning to careen off the track. In a last-ditch effort to fortify himself against the barrage he surely knew was coming, Moore responded to the first question about Underwood by reminding the media that Michigan has yet to name a starting quarterback, that the competition is wide open entering fall camp, that Fresno State transfer Mikey Keene and East Carolina transfer Jake Garcia and former four-star prospect Jadyn Davis will all have chances to stake their claim between now and the season opener against New Mexico on Aug. 30. "There is no starter," Moore said. But that didn't stop reporters from asking Moore about whether the extra reps Underwood took during the spring, when Keene was recovering from an undisclosed injury and Garcia had not yet joined the program, accelerated the timeline for when he will be ready to play. Or about how Underwood has embraced the possibility — inevitability — of starting for Michigan, the winningest program in college football history, as a true freshman. Or about why the Wolverines won't just declare Underwood the starter given the extreme financial commitment they've made to him. All those questions came in the first third of Moore's allotted media time. "His job is to just go be the best teammate, best football player he can be," Moore said. "And whoever that person is, it's going to take a village. And for us to be a successful program, to be a successful football team, we have to do a great job surrounding that person with weapons on the football field [and] the weapons mentally to be successful." Still, there was a fascinating juxtaposition on Thursday between the way Moore and Michigan's upperclassmen spoke compassionately, almost tenderly, about Underwood's numerical age — he'll finally turn 18 next month — and the slack-jawed reverence with which they described his maturity as an athlete, likening his habits and disposition to those of seasoned veterans. On one side of the room was Bredeson, a fifth-year senior and one of the program's longest-tenured players, telling reporters that he takes "a little bit of pride and responsibility in being like the older guy who can kind of calm college football down for him," while also admitting that nobody else in Michigan's locker room can understand the life that Underwood currently leads, from the sheer attention generated by his every move to the opportunities that land at his feet. On the other side of the room was Derrick Moore, a former blue-chip recruit in his own right, expressing genuine awe about how someone so young can display such unwavering focus and concentration, traits Moore said he never came close to matching at that age. Underwood, who grew up a half hour from Michigan's campus, has already developed a reputation for being one of the first to arrive at Schembechler Hall each morning and one of the last to leave each night, a classic football cliché bestowed upon a team's hardest workers. He's known for taking the field alone 20 minutes prior to every session, headphones wrapped around his ears, to study that day's practice script and visualize the drills in his mind. He builds chemistry with the wide receivers and tight ends via extra throwing sessions that often run until the wee hours of the morning. He competes maniacally in the weight room and has packed enough muscle onto his 6-foot-4 frame to reach 230 pounds. He accepts constructive criticism from anyone in the building and carries out menial tasks without a hint of rebuttal. "He's not no average 17-year-old," Derrick Moore said. "With a lot of money that's coming in, he's pretty humble. If he does anything wrong, he takes full accountability for it. You don't really hear too much trouble out of him, you know? He does everything like a pro." Even if that means sitting out of pickup basketball. Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience College Football recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
USA Today
7 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
'Belt to behind': Michigan football's NIL golf outing sparks MSU rivalry trash talk
Rayshaun Benny, Derrick Moore and Tre Williams have a rather descriptive message about their intentions for what will happen this year in East Lansing.'That's little bro.''Belt to behind.' Michigan football is holding its annual golf outing, fundraising through the NIL collective arm, Champions Circle. And rivalries appear to be on the mind. Though Ohio State is the chief rival, it appears that Michigan State is the current target of the Wolverines' ire. Without any context to the situation, defensive linemen Rayshaun Benny, Derrick Moore, and Tré Williams started musing about the Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. It started seemingly by Benny, a former MSU commit, before Williams, the Clemson transfer, starting having his turn. "Go to lil' bro in East Lansing," Williams started. "Go to lil' bro crib in East Lansing, pop out, it's gonna be a good time." "Same thing as Norman," Benny said. "Turn that green into blue." At that point, Moore started taking off his belt, and whipping it into the ground, as the group said, "Belt to behind!" Michigan has won three straight in the series against MSU, with the last loss coming in 2021 in East Lansing.
USA Today
21-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
'Belt to behind' -- Michigan football's NIL golf outing sparks MSU rivalry trash talk
Rayshaun Benny, Derrick Moore and Tre Williams have a rather descriptive message about their intentions for what will happen this year in East Lansing.'That's little bro.''Belt to behind.' Michigan football is holding its annual golf outing, fundraising through the NIL collective arm, Champions Circle. And rivalries appear to be on the mind. Though Ohio State is the chief rival, it appears that Michigan State is the current target of the Wolverines' ire. Without any context to the situation, defensive linemen Rayshaun Benny, Derrick Moore, and Tré Williams started musing about the Battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. It started seemingly by Benny, a former MSU commit, before Williams, the Clemson transfer, starting having his turn. "Go to lil' bro in East Lansing," Williams started. "Go to lil' bro crib in East Lansing, pop out, it's gonna be a good time." "Same thing as Norman," Benny said. "Turn that green into blue." At that point, Moore started taking off his belt, and whipping it into the ground, as the group said, "Belt to behind!" Michigan has won three straight in the series against MSU, with the last loss coming in 2021 in East Lansing.
