{"id":292830,"date":"2025-08-16T13:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/292830\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T13:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:33:17","slug":"heres-why-the-ncaa-never-considered-vacating-michigan-football-wins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/292830\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why the NCAA never considered vacating Michigan Football wins"},"content":{"rendered":"

It finally happened \u2014 the NCAA released its findings into the Connor Stalions\u2019 sign-stealing\/advanced scouting case, as well as the punishments for those involved. We\u2019ve waited nearly two years to find out more about the evidence obtained by the NCAA and hear its ruling on Michigan\u2019s penalties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NCAA Committee on Infractions (COI) levied financial penalties against the university, handed out show-causes, and even upheld head coach Sherrone Moore\u2019s self-imposed two-game suspension, but they also tacked on a third game for him to serve in the first game of 2026.<\/p>\n

The penalties aren\u2019t insignificant, but they\u2019re not the \u201chammer\u201d that rivals fans expected from the NCAA, and it appears that wasn\u2019t even on the table. On Friday, the NCAA made it clear that vacated wins are only considered when there\u2019s ineligible competition. Norman Bay, the chief hearing officer for the COI panel, said in a press conference, \u201cThat was not a factor present in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some rival fans haven\u2019t exactly been living in reality for the past few years. For many, what Stalions did will forever live in their minds as the worst scandal to ever happen in the history of college football. That\u2019s why it warranted vacated wins and postseason bans, according to those rival fans. If that\u2019s how you saw this thing playing out, I\u2019d be disappointed with the news today, too.<\/p>\n

While the NCAA tried to make Stalions\u2019 scheme a huge deal, they couldn\u2019t really say definitively that his process even helped Michigan in any way on the field. The NCAA admitted as much in its own press conference on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

If the argument is the team didn\u2019t play by the rules, you have to follow the rules for punishments, too. The NCAA doesn\u2019t vacate wins unless a team plays an ineligible player \u2014 that\u2019s pretty simple. Michigan didn\u2019t violate any of the rules that would lead to the NCAA vacating any wins.<\/p>\n

Still, there are some that look at this report and think there is clear evidence that Michigan had an unfair advantage. I\u2019ll look at it for what it was \u2014 Michigan broke some rules. The press release<\/a> is mostly theater, as the NCAA lays out its case against Michigan. The fact the organization chose to include Stalions\u2019 admission of his phone and other evidence being at the \u201cbottom of a pond\u201d was enough for me.<\/p>\n

For those that want to call Michigan\u2019s national championship tainted, you do you, man. I\u2019ll sleep soundly at night and continue to celebrate the 2023 season. Each morning, I\u2019ll drink my coffee out of my Big Ten Championship mug \u2014 I have three to choose from. I\u2019ll rewatch highlights of Blake Corum flashing Zak Zinter\u2019s number in the end zone and Rod Moore\u2019s interception against Ohio State, or the defense making its final stand in the Rose Bowl, or Donovan Edwards breaking off two huge runs against Washington in the National Championship. To top it all off, I\u2019ll suffer through highlights of the 2024 edition of The Game just to have a good laugh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It finally happened \u2014 the NCAA released its findings into the Connor Stalions\u2019 sign-stealing\/advanced scouting case, as well…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26596,331,7,580,52888,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-292830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-big-ten-football-news","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-michigan-football","12":"tag-michigan-football-news","13":"tag-ncaa","14":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115038703013999418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}