Josh Pate Talks On "Toxicity" Surrounding Michigan vs Ohio State Rivalry

The Ohio State Buckeyes won the National Championship on January 20th with a 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It was a fantastic performance by the Buckeyes capping off an incredibly dominant playoff run. While all Buckeyes fans are ecstatic about the championship, some are still upset about the regular season loss to Michigan.

When the Buckeyes lost 13-10 to Michigan in the regular season finale, it was the fourth loss in a row for Ohio State in the rivalry. As a result, it had a good portion of fans upset.

However, some fans feel rivalries are not a good thing for college football. On Thursday, analyst Josh Pate released an episode of 'Josh Pate's College Football Show.' On the episode, Pate read a comment from a fan who thinks the Michigan and Ohio State rivalry has gotten too toxic (0:00).

"Unpopular take, but maybe it's good the CFP is removing some intensity from the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. It's reached levels of toxicity lately that don't feel good for the sport."

Josh Pate quickly said that there was nothing about that take that he liked.

"I hate this. I don't hate you Nate, I think you're a smart guy, we've heard from Nate before. It always goes back to Meemaw's age old and proper adage, and that is smart people say casual things sometimes."

"Casual people rarely say smart things. Nate is a smart person. He has just said a very casual thing. I hate this. Hate everything about it, from top to bottom."

Josh Pate speaks about why he thinks the Ohio State vs Michigan rivalry is not toxic

Josh Pate went on to speak about why he thinks the Ohio State vs Michigan rivalry is not toxic unless people get violent (0:40).

"There is nothing that I could pull out of that that is redeeming in nature. It isn't too toxic. First off it isn't too toxic. Once upon a time, Romans gathered in the Colosseum and watched people kill each other. That's toxic. That feels pretty toxic to me. This is a football game. It's not toxic."

The belief that rivalries are toxic in sports is a relatively new phenomenon. Although rivalries have always been heated, it appears that the growth of social media has made rivalry games and sports, in general, more emotionally taxing to some fans.