Michigan alum Desmond Howard ripped ESPN’s Paul Finebaum for his continued disdain of the program’s football team due to its ongoing sign-stealing investigation.
The Wolverines (13–0) defeated Iowa in the Big Ten championship game to capture their third conference crown, earning the No. 1 spot in the College Football Playoff as a result.
However, Finebaum previously said if Michigan wins the CFP national title in January, the Wolverines’ championship would be “tainted” and that he would “refuse” to recognize the program as national champions. On Tuesday, Howard appeared on the Rich Eisen Show to discuss Finebaum’s comments.
When the former Heisman Trophy winner was asked if he was prepared for Finebaum to discredit the Wolverines’ national title should they win it, Howard did not hold back his thoughts about the ESPN commentator.
“Paul Finebaum is a caricature of a caricature of Paul Finebaum,”Howard told Michigan alum Rich Eisen. “That’s what he is right now. You can’t take anything he says seriously. You just can’t. It’s like they march him out there, they pull the string in his back, and he just starts spewing negative things about Michigan. When a person does that repeatedly and you just know his stick, you can’t take him seriously.”
Howard also recounted the list of teams Michigan had to defeat when the sign-stealing scandal caught steam during the first week of November. Despite the allegations from the scandal, the Wolverines won their final four games, including wins against Penn State and Ohio State in “The Game” before defeating the Hawkeyes on Saturday.
As Michigan remained undefeated, Howard believes that Finebaum must admit that the Wolverines are simply a “pretty good team.”
“You [Finebaum] have no other excuses,” Howard said.
Michigan will face Alabama (12–1) in the Rose Bowl at 4 p.m. ET on Jan. 1.
