Jeremiah Smith, a second-year Ohio State wide receiver, offered some choice words about Michigan football to The Athletic on Tuesday. A famed Michigan alumnus had some choice words in response.
Or, to be more accurate: a choice word.
Rich Eisen has no qualms about putting the Buckeyes in their place, especially now that the Wolverines have won four straight games against them. On his eponymous show, Eisen couldn’t help giving his thoughts about Smith’s comments, in which he promised he wouldn’t lose to Michigan football during the rest of his college career.
First, Eisen broke down Smith’s comments, line by line.
“So I couldn’t hit this yesterday, but a very, very talented person — I’m being very positive because he’s outstanding. He’s outstanding. Everybody says he’s the best to come out of his school at a position that has tons of terrific players come out of the school at that position. Jeremiah Smith,” Eisen started. “He said that from his point of view, his vantage point, this terrific wide receiver from the Ohio State University — by the way, if you notice, I could say the words, right?
“‘I’m not a sore loser, but I hate losing,’ said Jeremiah Smith of the Ohio State University, ‘and losing to that team up north was pretty crazy.’ By the way, in case anybody’s wondering what he means by that team up north, because there’s a lot of teams north of Columbus, Ohio, right, that they play against. Technically Minnesota’s north of Columbus, Ohio, northwest, I mean. Penn State is north of Columbus, Ohio. I don’t know. I mean, I’m not going to do — you know, give me give me some latitude, if you will, literally and figuratively. Michigan State’s north of Columbus, Ohio, that is correct. But the team up north is Michigan. ‘In the end, I think that it really helped us play the way we did in the playoffs.’ And in case you’re wondering what he means by that, he’s referring to Michigan’s win in Columbus, when they came from up north, down south, and put a stunning spank job on Ohio State, even though it was a close game. But you know, it’s a spank job when you only have five losses coming in the game with a walk-on quarterback, and three wins against the school in a row that was supposed to be a winning streak coming to an end because Michigan lost to almost everybody. One year, it was Michigan beats everybody. This past year was everybody beats Michigan, it felt like. And at any rate, they then went on and won it all after that. ‘But I didn’t want to go to Ohio State and lose to that team up north. I just hate them. Just something about them. For the next two years, I promise you, I will not lose to them. I can’t lose to them in the next two years.’
But he didn’t stop there. This is where Eisen’s one-word response comes in.
“I have one word: noted,” Eisen said. “Noted. We will make a note of that. And I’ll just tell this to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, I’m addressing you. Very talented. You’re very, very talented. You might be the best out of all of them. Marvin Harrison Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson. Garrett Wilson was the last, if I’m not mistaken — what year did he get drafted by the New York Jets? He was drafted in the 2022 draft? He lost his last game to Michigan, and that’s been four years in a row.
“And the team that beat Ohio State last year — not as good as the one that’s gonna be there. Team 146 is better than Team 145. I can’t wait.”
No sweat, it seems.
Of course, the Wolverines won last year despite an anemic offense that was also missing its star player, tight end Colston Loveland. This year, the maize and blue look to retool the offense while hoping the defense will still be just as dominant as it was at the end of the year in 2024. What’s more, Ohio State loses both coordinators, starting quarterback Will Howard, and the majority of the defense. Oh, and The Game is in Ann Arbor this year.
We’ll see how it goes.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Rich Eisen responds to Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith’s Michigan taunt with one word
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
