“Everyone—and I mean everyone—is stealing signs.” We found an interesting post on Reddit a few months back. The basic premise was simple—how easy was it to steal signs from watching the footage? The user who went above and beyond to create a whole Excel sheet, calling it the “Manifesto,” guaranteed that he managed to decipher 72% of the signs from the all-22 angle of the Bama vs Michigan Wolverines game (CFP Semifinal-Rose Bowl). When you place this right next to the entire drama that unfolded during the Bluebloods’ natty run, it brings up one simple angle that Action Network’s Brett McMurphy had pointed out. “Michigan was not the only school doing this.”

So why make a fuss out of all this? “The NCAA CONFIRMS in the NOA that Stalions’ family members and friends who helped him advance scout were “working on behalf of Conner Stalions,”” BuckeyeScoop shared on X. To understand why the Connor Stalions drama and Michigan’s run-in with the NCAA are so significant and are still talked about to this day, we need to clear out some important facts. Let’s focus on the “red flags.” The first question that comes to our mind regarding Michigan’s sign-stealing controversy is, “Why did Jim Harbaugh accept the suspension?”. With how adamant Harbaugh was about his “I do not apologize. I did not participate.” Isn’t it weird that he would take the 3-game suspension without properly challenging the decision?

And the legal case? Michigan even dropped that very abruptly. These 2 factors point to 3 things: 1. Harbaugh said nothing even though he knew what was going on. 2. He actively participated in the cheating. 3. He is unaware of what his staff is doing and basically cannot control them.

Coming back to what BuckeyeScoop shared, Stalions involving his “family and friends” in the drama is a solid take. There is “alleged” information on how Stalions “had a spreadsheet detailing which games to scout, who he was going to send to scout them, and if he received the footage.” – Further, it also perfectly connects with the update Nicole Auerbach shared on X on how “Connor Stalions bought tickets at opposing stadiums for non-Michigan games…. Some tickets were under names of his family members.”

This was also proven true when footage surfaced of someone sitting on the same seat purchased by Stalions and recording the home team sideline. Whether you like it or not, Harbaugh couldn’t have been that “innocent” in this entire fiasco, and if UM truly believed that their HC “did not participate,” they wouldn’t have backed off the legal action so fast.

And although Stalions was fired and “justice was served,” whenever the controversy comes up again and again, it tends to leave a bad taste in the mouths of a lot of fans—surprisingly, some players as well.

“Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal”

“I think there should be scholarship reductions, and I think there should be financial fines,” former Chargers LB Joshua Perry pointed out. A total of 6 Level 1 violations do need a stricter punishment—at least, that is what a lot of UM and Harbaugh critics would point out. But does it even make sense?

This entire case has been going on for far too long, and we still remember what Paul Finebaum had pointed out about the NCAA – “NCAA takes forever to do anything. I don’t think it’s (case) going anywhere. NCAA is powerless.” With Harbaugh off to the NFL, does the show-cause penalty even hold any value?

And what about Sherrone Moore and the string of 52 texts that were deleted? Another show cause penalty? This entire thing has turned into a “he said – she said” scenario. UM fans think that this “sign stealing drama” is still relevant because of “rabid Ohio State fans” – on the other hand, other neutral CFB fans are already divided on whether Michigan should be pushed to vacate wins or not.

Whatever the case might be, from all the evidence, the summary is that Stalions messed up big time and pretty much dragged the entire Bluebloods comp down with him.