News surfaced yesterday that several schools had uncovered Michigan’s signs and shared them with each other. John U. Bacon shared that one of those teams was Ohio State while the other was Rutgers who gave Michigan’s play sheet to Purdue ahead of the Big Ten Championship Game:
FWIW:
Big Ten’s Tony Petiti was informed today that the two programs which fed Purdue Michigan’s signals before the 2022 BT title game were Rutgers and OSU. Not clear if rules broken, doesn’t directly affect UM’s situation, but raises question re: relative competitive advantage.— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) November 7, 2023
1-Because a higher-up in the CFB business thought it important enough to send directly to the BT president. 2-Impacts argument of competitive advantage.
3-Raises possibility they violated the same rule, BUT as I said not clear anyone broke any rules, and UM situation unchanged. https://t.co/STaFuYMgOF— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) November 7, 2023
Here’s a look at the sheet that was passed to Purdue, which eventually lost to Michigan 43-22 in B1G Championship Game.
UPDATED STORY: @sinow is able to publish partially redacted documents showing how Michigan opponents decoded Wolverines signals and matched them with run and pass concepts.
More here w/ @ByPatForde: https://t.co/6UI1kp46Im pic.twitter.com/psK6OF4FFg
— Richard🇬🇾Johnson (@RJ_cfb) November 7, 2023
In 2022, Michigan crushed Rutgers 52-17 and Ohio State 45-23.
Big Ten Commish Tony Petitti is expected to issue a harsh penalty against Jim Harbaugh after sign-gate (could be a suspension for the rest of the year) under the sportsmanship policy with Michigan expected to take it to court.
What will be the penalty for Rutgers and Ohio State? This certainly seems very unsportsmanlike….
Ahead of the CFB Playoffs, Ohio State reportedly warned TCU of Michigan’s sign-stealing operation, as well.
