Rob OllerColumbus Dispatch
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Michigan is the defending national champion in college football. The Wolverines also are an outlaw program.
Two things can be true at once.
No one can fictionalize UM’s title. Even if the college football police try to confiscate the trophy – and they won’t – Wolverines fans know the Maize and Blue defeated four consecutive ranked opponents last season, and five in their last six games, on the way to claiming the school’s first natty since 1997. It happened. It can’t unhappen.
Removing championship banners appeases authorities and somewhat defangs outraged fans, but it’s like removing the cookie jar after the cookies have been eaten.
At the same time, history’s footnotes may appear in small print, but never are forgotten, often to the chagrin of the home fans.
In the Fifth Down Game of 1990, a Big Eight officiating crew mistakenly gave Colorado an extra down, and the Buffaloes scored as time expired to defeat Missouri 33-31. Colorado went on to finish the season 11-1-1 and share the national poll titles with Georgia Tech.
Buffs fans still celebrate their championship. Others are not so sure. A botched call is not the same as cheating, but history is not always adept at offering nuance.
Florida fans embrace their team’s 2008 national championship, but check the footnotes – 41 players from that roster have been arrested. That factoid seemingly has little to do with how the Gators performed on the field, but it raises eyebrows nonetheless. Should some of UF’s players have been allowed to play?
Miami fans still claim Ohio State stole the 2002 national title from them when Terry Porter robbed the Hurricanes by throwing a late flag in the end zone that gave the Buckeyes second life; OSU went on to win 31-24 in two overtimes.
Ohio State fans feel no need to apologize, noting that, unlike Michigan, the Buckeyes did nothing wrong. Still, two truths remain: 1. OSU won the title; 2. The flag helped.
On a bigger and darker scale, so shall it be with Michigan’s 2023 national title, which was earned on the field even as it was being maliciously manufactured behind closed doors. NCAA and Big Ten rules were broken. Cheating occurred. By multiple coaches and staff members, over multiple seasons. Systemic malfeasance was afoot.
Jim Harbaugh got out of Dodge before the NCAA posse arrived with a list of infractions that included a four-year show-cause penalty and one-year suspension for trying to throw investigators off the trail. Jimmy the Kid, who never lies, cheats or steals – except when he does – found a new hideout in the NFL, safely removed from the NCAA infractions that would make it challenging for him to return to college coaching. Not that he is too concerned. Harbaugh got his national title. No reason to return to the minor leagues.
But just because Harbaugh jumped to the Los Angeles Chargers does not mean Michigan is off the historical hook. A stain remains. Wolverines fans may choose not to see it, but, like mustard on a tie, it is hard for anyone else to ignore.
Connor Stalions’ alleged espionage deserves an addendum in any 2023 season-in-review synopsis. (It already has its own TV documentary. “Sign Stealer” is scheduled for an Aug. 27 release on Netflix). The former UM staffer oversaw a spy network that included him, or someone that looks just like, wink-wink, going undercover on the Central Michigan sideline during a Chippewas game against Michigan State.
You can’t make this stuff up, even if many Michigan fans argue it’s all made up, or at least the part where Harbaugh knew what was going on under his nose. They want to believe Stalions was a lone wolf acting on his own to gain favor with his boss. But even if true, as the top dog Harbaugh should have known what his pup was doing. And as the NCAA notice of allegations shows, it was more a litter of puppies that behaved badly. Seven members of the UM football program, including new head coach Sherrone Moore, are accused of violating NCAA rules.
One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. Three or four makes you wonder if the program is rotten to the core. Seven? The whole tree is dead.
Yet the other truth remains: It is indisputable that Michigan played excellent football in 2023. I’m not willing to say the Wolverines won the national championship fair and square -- put an asterisk on it -- because Cheatgate allowed UM to bolster a sinking foundation by restoring player confidence. Self-belief is essential to a program’s success. But no matter how the Wolverines got there, they performed well when it mattered most, defeating No. 9 Penn State, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 18 Iowa before beating No. 5 Alabama and No. 2 Washington in the College Football Playoff.
Michigan was an extremely talented team that thrived on a secret sauce of confidence and team chemistry. It wasn’t just cheating that earned them the title.
In a rare display of praise for Ohio State’s bitter rival, Buckeyes tailback TreVeyon Henderson recalled being impressed by Michigan’s camaraderie last season.
“I was looking at them toward the end of the season, and not really looking at the game but focused on their sideline and the interaction before the game with the coaches and players and I’m seeing so much joy on their faces,” Henderson said. “I’m like, ‘Man, something on that team is going on.’ It was like a couple of days later that I saw where over 70 players got baptized on their team.”
That feel-good story, however, butts up against the ugliness of cheating coaches and staffers who put their players in a bad light. The players were not so much complicit as compromised. But history does not always care to draw distinctions. Instead, it will recall two truths: Michigan won. And cheated along the way.
roller@dispatch.com
