Could Michigan Wolverines be banned from this year's College Football Playoff? Exploring Big Ten and NCAA's next steps in sign stealing allegations
The Michigan Wolverines are under NCAA investigation in a sign-stealing scandal centered around suspended staffer Connor Stalions. He is accused of purchasing tickets to more than 30 games at 11 of the 13 other Big Ten schools over the past three years.
There have been plenty of questions about whether or not the Wolverines could be banned from both the College Football Playoff and the Big Ten Championship as a result of the investigation.
Stewart Mandel of The Athletic recently broke down how any potential punishment could impact this season. He noted that there is no precedent as this case involves a title contender potentially committing violations during the current season.
Mandel claimed that the NCAA and College Football Playoff committees are unlikely to punish the Michigan Wolverines, as the former will need time to complete their investigation and the latter is unlikely to set a precedent of attempting to hand out punishment.
Instead, he alleged that any in-season punishment would have to come from Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who claimed that he could take disciplinary action if the league's sportsmanship policy was violated before adding:
"That policy states right off the top: “The Big Ten Conference expects all contests involving a member institution to be conducted without compromise to any fundamental element of sportsmanship.” What Stalions allegedly did on Michigan’s behalf seems just a little bit compromised and unsportsmanlike.
"Of course, Pettiti would need his hands on the same video/paper trail reportedly sent to the NCAA. He would need to feel comfortable taking action before the completion of the NCAA’s investigation. And then there’s the billion-dollar elephant in the room: He’d risk alienating Fox, the Big Ten’s primary TV partner, by staging a conference championship game without the best team in the conference.
What have the Michigan Wolverines been accused of?
Connor Stalions, the suspended Michigan Wolverines' staffer, has been accused of purchasing tickets to watch conference rivals play in person. He reportedly made the purchases for at least three other people, who were seen recording the sideline the entire game on in-stadium surveillance footage.
Stalions' most recent purchase was last weekend's matchup between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Penn State Nittany Lions, both of whom face Michigan later this season.
Each of the games featured at least one, if not two, future opponents of the Michigan Wolverines, while the tickets purchased would be near the 45-yard line, with the seats angled to provide a view of the sideline.