Radio personality Craig Carton has sharply criticized Michigan Wolverines fans for storming the field after the team's narrow 13-12 victory against the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday. Carton, whose new show premieres on OutKick this week, deemed the celebration excessive and indicative of poor judgment.
The controversial win for Michigan hinged on a second Hail Mary attempt. Officials determined that a Western Michigan defender had touched Bryce Underwood's initial pass with one second remaining, granting Michigan another chance. Underwood then connected with J.J. Buchanan for the game-winning touchdown.
"The thing that bothers me more than the hubris of adding a second to the game and giving Michigan another opportunity to win that game was the fact that there was 110,000 people at Michigan for that game and at the end of the game they stormed the field like they were Western Michigan knocking off a Big Ten team on the road," Carton stated on his show. He added, "And it just was a good reminder to me that even though Michigan is thought of as a top educational experience for the kids that take the six years they normally take to graduate, the reality is that they’re a bunch of morons."
Carton also referenced past controversies surrounding the Michigan athletic program, stating, "Now, we already know that Michigan is a corrupt athletic program. We know that it’s a dirty athletic program. We know that coaches like to sleep with coeds there. Coaches like to steal signs there. Coaches like to cheat there. But what I didn’t know as a fact until Saturday night is that that 18-27 year olds that call Michigan their undergraduate home are morons."
He argued that the celebration was unwarranted given Michigan was heavily favored, playing a Mid-American Conference team, and benefited from a questionable clock infraction. "The fact that you would storm the field when barely beating and, let’s be honest, needing the Big Ten to cheat for you to win the game, the fact that you would storm the field when you won by a single point because you were given an extra second of time while 27-point favorites tells me everything I need to know about the type of kid that goes to Michigan," Carton said.
Carton suggested that the victory was not a cause for celebration but a warning sign for the rest of the season, calling Michigan football an "embarrassment." He further contended that the team's struggles, despite reportedly paying its quarterback $10 million, were evident in the narrow win.
"So, just remember what you saw Saturday night. You saw a Wolverine program that needed cheating and needed secretive clocks to beat a MAC team while favored by 27 points. And the kids there are either so drunk, so high or so stupid that they stormed the field like they had accomplished something. You didn’t accomplish a damn thing but embarrassing yourselves on Saturday night," Carton concluded.
The Big Ten and Mid-American Conference have both released statements addressing the clock controversy, asserting that a Western Michigan player did touch the ball out of bounds with one second remaining.
Michigan, ranked 16th entering the game, is scheduled to face Oklahoma next. The team's performance and the status of quarterback Bryce Underwood remain subjects of discussion.