Eli Drinkwitz Takes Shot At Jim Harbaugh, Believes Underdog Missouri Is 'America's Team'
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz responded in blunt fashion to the idea Michigan is America's team.
Jim Harbaugh bizarrely claimed the Wolverines, who are engulfed in a massive cheating scandal, are America's team.
"It’s gotta be America’s team. It’s gotta be America’s team. America loves a team that beats the odds, beats the adversity, overcomes what the naysayers, critics, so-called experts think. That’s my favorite kind of team," Harbaugh, who is currently suspended, said a couple weeks ago after the sign stealing scandal was blown wide open.
The comments raised a lot of eyebrows, and the head coach of the Missouri Tigers thinks his squad is America's real team.
Eli Drinkwitz has Missouri rolling at 10-2. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Eli Drinkwitz thinks Missouri is America's real team.
The Tigers rolled Arkansas 48-14 Saturday to close out the regular season, and the program is rolling. Not only are the Tigers rolling, but the team is doing it without the kind of resources or recruits traditional powers have.
Does that make the Tigers America's team? Drinkwitz certainly thinks so.
Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz takes shot at Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
The Missouri coach said the following after improving to 10-2:
Earlier in the week I heard a coach talk about being America’s team. And I don’t know about all that conversation, they got so many different good things going for them. Some good, some maybe they stole illegally. We’re America’s team. We’re a team built on underdogs. We’re a team built on young men with something to prove. We’ve got a Division II transfer running back who’s leading the SEC in rushing. We’ve got a bunch of fighters. Our quarterback has been fighting his whole life to earn an opportunity to play the way he does. We’ve got offensive linemen who just play for each other, tight ends, defensively. We’re the story that people should be really proud to be behind. I’m just proud to coach this football team. And it ain’t about me, it’s really about those brothers, those guys coming together, those coaches in there coaching their butt off for each other. And that’s what America’s all about, people coming together. So, that’s my statement.
Drinkwitz comes out swinging against Harbaugh.
"Some good, some maybe they stole illegally," is an absolutely ruthless line from Drinkwitz. It's also the latest sign coaches around America aren't too impressed by the spin and narrative presented by Michigan and Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh claiming a program under the spotlight for cheating was America's team was incredibly strange. Since when was America all about breaking the rules? The USA is about reward exceptionalism, honor and integrity. Is that what comes to mind when you think of the program in Ann Arbor? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
Jim Harbaugh is currently suspended after Michigan was caught in a massive cheating scandal. (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Missouri isn't a traditional power, doesn't recruit like major SEC programs and is sitting at 10-2 after blowing out Arkansas. It's definitely more of an underdog story than whatever Jim Harbaugh and Michigan have produced this season. It's hard to argue against Eli Drinkwitz's stance. Of course, we know that Michigan fans will, which is what makes college football so much fun.