On January 8th, the Michigan Wolverines played the Washington Huskies in the College Football Playoff National Championship. Both teams went undefeated with 14 wins, but Michigan came out on top with a final score of 34-13 giving the Wolverines their first national title since 1997. 

However, while Michigan is celebrating their win, many sources state that Michigans’ win was nothing more than a cheating scandal gone right. Throughout the season,the NCAA investigated Michigan Coach Jim Harbaugh which led to two separate suspensions during the season. About these investigations, Harbaugh says to Sports Illustrated, “We know we’re innocent.” But, many cannot help but wonder, if they are innocent, why were they investigated so many times? 

Harbaugh’s initial suspension was due to an investigation based off of sign stealing, CBS News states. Apparently, Michigan employees or employees working for the benefit of Michigan were seen attending games of future Wolverine opponents, and they filmed the sideline during the game to record the hand signals used by coaches. While the initial sign-stealing was not the violation of rules, the violation was the use of technology which led to the suspension of Harbaugh. 

While Harbaugh denies having any knowledge of these accusations, it is unclear how much the Wolverines have benefitted from this, Detroit Free Press says. Earlier in the season though Connor Stalions, the analyst for University of Michigan’s football team, was accused of stealing signs and “deciphering the coded signals that Michigan’s opponents use to communicate with players on the field”, The New Yorker states in their article, “The Michigan Sign-Stealing Story Is The Perfect College-Football Scandal”. Many wonder now if these accusations are true or false. While there is no real proof or evidence, the question still remains, Would Michigan be the champion of the College Football Playoff National Championship if they did not “cheat”?