Michigan football will have some disagreement with On3 analyst J.D. PicKell and his take on the Connor Stalions saga, but they’ll ultimately agree with his final point.
If you think the reason why the Wolverines have beaten Ohio State and won the Big Ten the past three years, and won the national championship last year, you plain just don’t know football.
PicKell’s message was more so delivered to the NCAA, but his standard applies to anyone who screeches about ‘cheating!’ whenever Michigan‘s name comes up.
“If the best you can do in a draft is give the head coach a Level II violation, that’s the best you can do, you’ve gotta come with a little more juice for me, NCAA if you’re trying to get Michigan to vacate some wins or vacate a national championship for this, that, and the other extreme consequence,” PicKell said. “I am not saying Michigan should not be punished. I am not saying they did not break the rules. I think we can all agree that is pretty common sense. Michigan, also, in some sense, has been punished. The self-imposed suspension on Harbaugh to start the year, the suspension at the end of last year in their most important stretch of the regular season. There has been punishment there.
“If you want to punish Sherrone Moore for this whole thing, go right ahead. But if you truly believe in your heart of hearts Connor Stalions stealing signs illegally, and everything they’re accusing Michigan of here, was the difference-maker with how dominant Michigan has been the last couple of years in the Big Ten and ultimately that national title run, I would say you’re not watching football.”
PicKell does have a point, not only with the overall spirit that the NCAA has but also that the parties involved have already been punished. Though Harbaugh’s three-game suspension at the beginning of 2023 was due to a different infraction, affectionately called ‘burgergate,’ despite the Big Ten not finding any connection between Stalions and his scheme with Jim Harbaugh, Harbaugh was suspended the final three games of the 2023 regular season. Stalions was gone from the team by midseason. Yet, the Wolverines kept chugging along, beating Penn State and Ohio State without Harbaugh and Stalions, and Iowa, Alabama, and Washington without Stalions.
The screeching will likely continue, however, until morale improves, but as many Michigan fans have noted, the joy of winning the championship makes it awfully hard to hear the rival fans’ outcry.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: J.D. PicKell: If you think Connor Stalions is reason Michigan has won, you’re not watching football
Wolverines Wire
