Tensions ran high on ESPN’s “College Gameday” set ahead of The Game on Saturday.
So much so, there was a bit of an inter-colleague spat on the World Wide Leader during the pre-game broadcast.
ESPN analyst Desmond Howard, a Michigan alum, called out the network’s college football reporter Pete Thamel for reporting from inside Michigan Stadium rather than face the Big Blue crowd on the Gameday panel.
Thamel, who has reported on the Michigan cheating sign-stealing scandal for ESPN, has reportedly received threats from Wolverine faithful ahead of their clash with Ohio State.
“What are we, Week 13 now? So we’ve been doing this 12, 13 weeks,” Howard said. “He’s always been in the crowd giving his reports. What the hell’s Pete in the stadium for? That kind of just threw me all off. Put your big boy pants on and do it in the crowd like you have been doing. I was surprised by that.”
Gameday host Rece Davis quickly tried to squash Howard’s knock on Thamel.
“Come on, man,” Davis said. “He’s gotten, from the lunatic fringe, some threats, that’s taken care of, that’s all.”
“We got security, he’ll be OK,” Howard retorted. “The guys are nice out here. They’re nice out here. They’re not going to do anything. He’ll be OK. [Put your] big boy pants on.”
Unsurprisingly, Howard’s comments didn’t go over well in social media circles.
“Desmond Howard throwing Pete Thamel under the bus and telling him to “put his big boy pants on” while Howard is the only one on the College GameDay set wearing gloves and something over his ears is certainly ironic,” Josh Poloha, a Buckeye fan, wrote on X. “Desmond Howard continues to be the absolute worst.”
“WOW, Desmond Howard might honestly be a lunatic after it was discovered his program was covering up one of the biggest cheating scandals in sports,” Another X user, Bobby Silver, wrote. “Tried to make light of Thamel and ESPN rightfully fearing for his safety based on the lunatic Michigan message boards.”
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