A lone Michigan fan sits amongst the Ohio State faithful during No. 2 Ohio State’s (11-1) 45-23 loss to No. 3 Michigan (12-0) in Columbus Nov. 26, 2022. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Lantern File
With tensions between Ohio State and Michigan heating up before The Game on Nov. 25, both universities have added animosity toward one another due to the ongoing investigation into Michigan’s football team stealing signs.
On Nov. 7, the Michigan football program sent documents to the Big Ten Conference that accused Ohio State, Purdue and Rutgers of sharing Michigan’s signs.
Ahead of Purdue’s loss to Michigan in the 2022 Big Ten Championship game, it received Wolverine offensive signals from Ohio State and defensive signals from Rutgers, according to ESPN.
The Ohio State football program did not have any involvement in the sign-sharing between the Big Ten Schools, head coach Ryan Day said Nov. 8 at a weekly meeting with the media.
“I can answer very strongly that that did not happen,” Day said.
On Nov. 8, University of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel sent the conference a 10-page document urging the conference and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti to allow for “due process” as the school awaited a decision on the matter. The document was obtained and shared by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.
“Even if disciplinary action were permissible at this stage — which it is not — such action would be unjustifiably premature,” Manuel said in the document. “There is no reason to shortcut a full investigation in favor of summary punishment.”
Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh already received a three-game suspension to start the season, a punishment levied regarding another ongoing investigation into Harbaugh and recruiting efforts during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period.
The focal part of the investigation revolves around former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions, a United States Naval Academy graduate turned football assistant who, according to the investigation, bought tickets to more than 35 games at 17 stadiums around the country to scout future Wolverine opponents, according to ESPN.
Stalions resigned Nov. 3.
“For example, at this stage of the investigation, there remains major outstanding questions about the scope of Connor Stalions’s ‘scheme’ (to use your word),” Manuel said in the document. “As far as we are aware, there is no current evidence suggesting that Michigan coaching staff knew about or participated in the alleged offensive conduct. Coach Harbaugh has denied any knowledge of Stalions’s conduct.”
The 10-page document enumerated Ohio State’s wrongdoings regarding sign stealing.
“For example, Exhibit 1 is a document sent from a former coach at Ohio State to a former coach at Michigan, which shows that Ohio State had extensively decoded Michigan’s defensive coordinator’s signals, apparently based on broadcast footage,” Manuel said in the document.
The letter also highlighted the “regularity” of sign-stealing, as it is “not only perfectly legal under NCAA and Conference rules,” but also a “standard practice,” Manuel wrote in the document.
The investigation began Oct. 18, when the Big Ten Conference announced that the Wolverine football program was under investigation because of a violation of NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1, which states, “Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited,” as first reported by Yahoo Sports.
Friday, judgment day arrived. The Big Ten released a statement announcing Harbaugh is suspended for the rest of the 2023-24 regular season.
“As a penalty imposed on the institution, the University football team must compete without its Head Football Coach for the game remaining in the 2023 regular-season, effective immediately,” the release said.
Harbaugh’s penalty is due to the University of Michigan’s violation of “conducting impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition,” or the Big Ten’s Sportsmanship Policy, according to the release.
Harbaugh will miss games against No. 10 Penn State Saturday, Maryland Nov. 18 and No. 1 Ohio State Nov. 25.
