Efficacy of sign stealing investigation weighs heavy on Michigan football in drubbing of Boilermakers

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The efficacy of the sign-stealing investigation weighed heavy on the Michigan Wolverines in their 41-13 drubbing against the Purdue Boilermakers.

The Big Ten championship rematch had the same results as 2022, but it seemed like a dark cloud was hovering over The Big House Saturday (Nov. 4) night.

Michigan displayed their dominance early in the game on both sides of the ball, but they ended the half stagnant and somewhat out of sync.The Wolverines headed into their week nine bye with tons of noise and unwanted distractions as the NCAA was investigating low-level staffer Connor Stalions and his alleged elaborate sign-stealing scheme that was going on.

Stalions, who was a recruiting analyst for the football team was suspended with pay by the University of Michigan in October due to his alleged operation.

The suspension came as the men in maize were rolling into East Lansing to take on in-state rivals, the Michigan State Spartans, in a battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

The then 8-0 Wolverines were dominating opponents in an embarrassing way as their defense ranks No. 1 in the nation in a multitude of categories, including total defense, total scoring defense, and passing defense. Still, Stalions was suspended with pay as the allegations started swirling.

Teams, including the Spartans, said they were fearful of their players’ health and safety as they believed the Wolverines had stolen their plays, but the highly televised game on NBC went on, and the Wolverines prevailed in shutout fashion.

The Wolverines spent their bye-week moving onward as the outside noise grew until breaking news occurred on Friday (Nov. 3) that Stalions had resigned from his position, which prompted the university to put out a statement.

“Connor Stalions resigned from his position with Michigan Athletics this afternoon. We are unable to comment further regarding this personnel matter.”

David Ablauf, Associate Athletic Director, University of Michigan Athletic Department

Report: Michigan football recruiting analyst Connor Stalions resigns amid sign-stealing investigation

Anticipation loomed throughout the 110,245 fans that were in attendance, which helped the Wolverines jump out to a 17-0 score to end the first quarter, which ended up being 20-6 to enter halftime.

There were tons of plays left on the field in the first half by Michigan as they could not get into a rhythm against the defensive line of the Boilermakers.

Some may call their performance rust based, especially on the offensive end as they could not get the ball into the end zone.

“This team is resilient, and they’re playing really good coming off of the bye,” said Jim Harbaugh. “I’m really happy with the team on all three phases.”

Offense

J.J. McCarthy completed 24-37 passes for 335 yards and no passing touchdowns, but he hit his favorite target wide receiver, Roman Wilson, nine times for 143 yards.

“All I know is that J.J. is a dog,” said Wilson. “He’s the heart and soul of this team. Everything that we are is because of him, as he’s a dog.”

But the second-year starter could’ve pushed his Heisman narrative further. He just kept making bad throws, as the pigskin was either too high to catch or way outside of the receiver’s reach.

McCarthy told reporters these past two weeks have brought the team together, and he felt like it was Michigan against the world. That linear focus by the junior quarterback was a key reason as to how he surpassed the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady, for passing yards in school history.

Brady, who played for the men on maize from 1995-1999, is a mentor to McCarthy, so passing a man of his stature to become ninth all-time in school history meant a lot to him.

“It means a lot, and I give so much credit to him (Brady) as he’s helped me out so much this offseason, and just following on his path is all that I’m doing,” said McCarthy. “I’m just stacking days day by day.”

Michigan has outscored all of their opponents 114-0 in the third quarter through nine games, but Harbaugh says they’re a four-quarter team.

“Really, we put an infuses on playing all four quarters,” Harbaugh said. “It didn’t come easy Saturday, but guys really grinded tonight, and it was a heck of a victory for us.”

“It comes from all 11 of us,” said McCarthy. “We just take it play by play. We just focus on one play at a time, regardless of what the score is. We’re just trying to execute the play at hand.”

Senior Blake Corum scored three rushing touchdowns to move into second place for the most rushing touchdowns in school history, tying legend Tyrone Wheatley with 47.

Corum, who leads the nation with 16 rushing touchdowns, is now nine touchdowns away from passing Anthony Thomas (55). But the achievement came on 15 carries for 44 yards, which is unaccustomed for a player of Corum’s caliber.

The offense finished the day compiling 445 total yards, with 335 through the air and 110 on the ground, but it didn’t resemble the product seen on the field in the previous eight games.

The defense did what they’ve been doing as they held another inferior opponent to 269 total yards and allowed one touchdown, which came late in the fourth quarter while the game was already in hand.

The victory improved the No. 3 ranked Wolverines to 9-0 on the season, and it was their 19th consecutive Big Ten Conference win, tying the program’s longest streak in school history.

Michigan has entered the most challenging part of their season as they have three tough games standing in the way of their goals. Their week 11 matchup will be down in Happy Valley as they will take on the No. 11 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions.

The game, which kicks off at 12 p.m. Saturday will be their first game against a ranked opponent in the 2023 season. The stagnant performance against Purdue could have been a blimp in the algorithm and something they needed to get out of their system as they head down the season’s stretch.

But the sign-stealing probe, which is not going away anytime soon, could be more of an added plus than a hindrance, as their opponents will be overthinking play calls due to the allegations.