Hoke, Players Say Stake Incident Overblown, Not Meant Disrespectfully
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ANN ARBOR (CBS DETROIT) - Michigan found the spotlight in a bad way again Saturday, falling short in a one-sided game against rival Michigan State and also drawing ridicule for planting a stake on Michigan State's field before the game.
The Wolverines (3-5) have characterized the action, carried out by junior linebacker Joe Bolden, as an extension of a motivational tactic used by the team in its locker room. Michigan head coach Brady Hoke said he did not realize the stake had been taken out of the locker room until it was too late.
"I don't run as well as I used to, so there isn't any way I would have caught him," Hoke said. "The one thing I can tell you is Joe feels as bad as anybody. That wasn't the intent. There was no disrespect intended for anybody. It was a thing for our team."
Hoke issued an apology for the incident, which got Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio so hot under the collar he ranted in his postgame press conference about the disrespect he believes the Michigan program constantly displays toward the Spartans.
Offensive lineman Jack Miller said Saturday's action by Michigan was simply misinterpreted, however.
"First and foremost, it wasn't meant to be disrespectful to Michigan State in any way," Miller said. "It was an emotional thing and a motivational thing that happened. Yeah, it got overblown, but that's what happens when people are upset and those types of things. That's over with and like I said, I think I speak for everyone, and Coach Hoke said it best, it wasn't a disrespectful thing - it wasn't meant to be disrespectful."
Still, Miller acknowledged it did not surprise him that Michigan State took offense to a Michigan player driving a stake into the field.
"I think any time stuff like that happens on your home field, it can spark a little bit of emotion from the home team, so no, not necessarily," Miller said. "That's their prerogative to feel how they want to feel about it.
"I'm an Ohio kid, so I didn't grow up here around the rivalry," Miller added later. "I know it's a heated rivalry, and there's a lot of resentment between the two programs, but that's what a rivalry's all about. I don't think that, in my time here, that there's been any displays or anything like that that necessarily warrant a complete lack of respect, but like I said, I've only been here four seasons, and I've only seen what I've personally been around. Like I said, it's part of the rivalry."
The stake incident is the latest in a line of side stories for Michigan football this season, ranking in seriousness from the concussion controversy involving quarterback Shane Morris to the comparatively trivial (and yet revealing) matter of Coca-Cola giving away Michigan tickets with purchases of soda.
Miller said it makes sense that seemingly small issues have been widely discussed this season.
"That's just the nature of it," Miller said. "People are upset, we're upset, and so naturally things become a bigger deal than they probably are. [ESPN analyst] Kirk Herbstreit said it best with the whole Shane incident; if we were 5 and 0 at that point, nobody would've cared. I think it's probably the same thing for a lot of these situations."
