“As a result of Michigan's most recent infractions case, three parties — Michigan, Harbaugh and Moore — fall within the legislated window to trigger repeat violator status. Michigan's repeat violator status, coupled with its Level I-Aggravated case classification, is sufficient grounds for a multiyear postseason ban. However, the panel determined that a postseason ban would unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer associated with the Michigan football program. Thus, the panel determined a more appropriate penalty is an offsetting financial penalty instead of a two-year postseason ban.”
Lol well, there you have it folks… in the current NCAA, money is the only thing that matters. And if you are a big money school, you can get away with anything with a slap on the wrist. And for the first time in NCAA history, the “But won’t someone think of the children?!?” argument actually worked. What fucking joke.
There should be only one goal for Ohio State football in 2025 and that is win in Ann Arbor. I get the “every year we expect a national championship” thing but I don’t subscribe to it, at least not this year. You cannot lose a 5th, every narrative and metric will hinge on it
It's unsurprising to me that the NCAA is totally feckless with a a revenue draw program. Yes of course it's hypocritical for them to say this warranted a ban without giving one and while having Akron on a postseason ban for far less, but one can't be shocked.
What irks me is that Michigan got away with cheating for 3 years while at the same time Ross Bjork refuses to play the game that the entire country (Michigan included) is playing and falling behind in recruiting.
I’m ready to move on. They cheated. Everyone knows, and that’s all we will get out of it. In today’s age of revenue and NIL Twenty Million will sting. That is equivalent to the ticket sales for one home game for them. Not much, but not nothing.
Great article as always. I would only argue with the word “Vindicated”. It seems pretty clear everyone (including the NCAA) knows they cheated. Vindicated, to me, would be the NcAA coming out and saying they didn’t cheat. Similar if someone robs a bank, but only get minimal punishment.
But I am probably in a small group of OSU fans that is fine with this. NCAA was clear in saying they cheated and there is no arguing that point anymore. Vacating wins and post season ban would have been icing on the cake, but the final verdict is clear.
The people who are vindicated are the ones who said the NCAA wouldn't/couldn't do anything. I didn't see a lot of Michigan people saying the Stalions stuff never happened. It was either that it didn't have a big impact and/or, who cares, nothing will coming of it.
I think also I have a different perspective because I wasn’t caring if they got a post season ban or not. I was happy with the final verdict being “they cheated”
Fair. I feel less came of it because it’s a new world and NCAA doesn’t have much weight anymore. Not because they didn’t do it or it didn’t have an impact.
I'm not sure vindicated is the correct description. I'm actually glad they keep the title. It's forever a reminder of the fraudulent era Harbaugh led. When 2023 is spoken of, it will always be negatively. They'll be remembered for cheating. They sacrificed integrity and reputation for wins. When you're as desperate as they were, I guess the risk is worth it. Nobody respects them. Nobody takes 21-23 seriously. The report was pretty blunt. They cheated. Then they lied, covered up, destroyed evidence and acted like victims. That's not vindication. That's embarrassment. The victory lap is odd considering this is one of the worst scandals in cfb history and it was confirmed. They're soft for claiming the accomplishments are legit, but I wouldn't expect anything different. They're a loser fanbase. They don't know what winning feels like. If they don't claim this, what can they claim? 1948?
I think they care. They're on social media trying to convince anyone who will listen that it's legit. If they didn't care, they wouldn't spend time defending it. The truth is they get a W from the NCAA. They get an L in the court of public opinion. And deep down, when they lay their head on their pillow at night, they know they're frauds. And I'm good with all of that.
My biggest problem with the decision is that Michigan created a ton of momentum for itself by cheating. I think the NCAA had an obligation to kill that ill gotten momentum with post season bans. By not doing that, they rewarded Michigan for breaking rules. And rewarded them for not cooperating. Just mind boggling decisions by the NCAA.
Yeah I wrote that they lost in the court of public opinion, but that was pretty much already true before what came out yesterday. What was left to reveal was whether or not they'd be punished for it. Whether they cheated was never in question. I don't think anyone was waiting for the NCAA to say "actually, no this didn't happen." It was all about what the NCAA was going to do with the information. Will Michigan get whacked or not? They didn't. The "you cheated", "no we didn't" was going to persist no matter what. The "you're getting the hammer," "no we're not" wasn't decided until yesterday and the latter side won.
The documented cheating is now part of the public record, but nobody took the trophy and the game results stand. I think the majority of Michigan fans would consider that a win, given what could've been.
Grr... Why no vacated wins? (Feels like it doesn't affect the current folks and would "hit" those who played at the time; on paper anyway. It's at least something to mark what happened.)
Following along with what's coming out of the press conference. The NCAA said vacating wins is only in play if you're found to have used ineligible players. They didn't consider it because they couldn't consider it.
I went back in and linked the entire report, if anyone cares to read it
From the NCAA statement today:
“As a result of Michigan's most recent infractions case, three parties — Michigan, Harbaugh and Moore — fall within the legislated window to trigger repeat violator status. Michigan's repeat violator status, coupled with its Level I-Aggravated case classification, is sufficient grounds for a multiyear postseason ban. However, the panel determined that a postseason ban would unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer associated with the Michigan football program. Thus, the panel determined a more appropriate penalty is an offsetting financial penalty instead of a two-year postseason ban.”
Lol well, there you have it folks… in the current NCAA, money is the only thing that matters. And if you are a big money school, you can get away with anything with a slap on the wrist. And for the first time in NCAA history, the “But won’t someone think of the children?!?” argument actually worked. What fucking joke.
There should be only one goal for Ohio State football in 2025 and that is win in Ann Arbor. I get the “every year we expect a national championship” thing but I don’t subscribe to it, at least not this year. You cannot lose a 5th, every narrative and metric will hinge on it
It's unsurprising to me that the NCAA is totally feckless with a a revenue draw program. Yes of course it's hypocritical for them to say this warranted a ban without giving one and while having Akron on a postseason ban for far less, but one can't be shocked.
What irks me is that Michigan got away with cheating for 3 years while at the same time Ross Bjork refuses to play the game that the entire country (Michigan included) is playing and falling behind in recruiting.
I’m ready to move on. They cheated. Everyone knows, and that’s all we will get out of it. In today’s age of revenue and NIL Twenty Million will sting. That is equivalent to the ticket sales for one home game for them. Not much, but not nothing.
The $20 mil doesn’t come out of the player acquisition pot. The university or some donor will stroke a check and that’ll be it.
Ordinarily, I would click "Like" here; however in this case I feel an "Agree" button would be more accurate.
Great article as always. I would only argue with the word “Vindicated”. It seems pretty clear everyone (including the NCAA) knows they cheated. Vindicated, to me, would be the NcAA coming out and saying they didn’t cheat. Similar if someone robs a bank, but only get minimal punishment.
But I am probably in a small group of OSU fans that is fine with this. NCAA was clear in saying they cheated and there is no arguing that point anymore. Vacating wins and post season ban would have been icing on the cake, but the final verdict is clear.
The people who are vindicated are the ones who said the NCAA wouldn't/couldn't do anything. I didn't see a lot of Michigan people saying the Stalions stuff never happened. It was either that it didn't have a big impact and/or, who cares, nothing will coming of it.
I think also I have a different perspective because I wasn’t caring if they got a post season ban or not. I was happy with the final verdict being “they cheated”
Fair. I feel less came of it because it’s a new world and NCAA doesn’t have much weight anymore. Not because they didn’t do it or it didn’t have an impact.
I agree. That's exactly what happened.
What happened to KOTN? Just on pre-season hiatus?
I'm not sure vindicated is the correct description. I'm actually glad they keep the title. It's forever a reminder of the fraudulent era Harbaugh led. When 2023 is spoken of, it will always be negatively. They'll be remembered for cheating. They sacrificed integrity and reputation for wins. When you're as desperate as they were, I guess the risk is worth it. Nobody respects them. Nobody takes 21-23 seriously. The report was pretty blunt. They cheated. Then they lied, covered up, destroyed evidence and acted like victims. That's not vindication. That's embarrassment. The victory lap is odd considering this is one of the worst scandals in cfb history and it was confirmed. They're soft for claiming the accomplishments are legit, but I wouldn't expect anything different. They're a loser fanbase. They don't know what winning feels like. If they don't claim this, what can they claim? 1948?
Yeah I don’t think Michigan fans care about that. They care if they were severely punished and they weren’t
I think they care. They're on social media trying to convince anyone who will listen that it's legit. If they didn't care, they wouldn't spend time defending it. The truth is they get a W from the NCAA. They get an L in the court of public opinion. And deep down, when they lay their head on their pillow at night, they know they're frauds. And I'm good with all of that.
My biggest problem with the decision is that Michigan created a ton of momentum for itself by cheating. I think the NCAA had an obligation to kill that ill gotten momentum with post season bans. By not doing that, they rewarded Michigan for breaking rules. And rewarded them for not cooperating. Just mind boggling decisions by the NCAA.
Yeah I wrote that they lost in the court of public opinion, but that was pretty much already true before what came out yesterday. What was left to reveal was whether or not they'd be punished for it. Whether they cheated was never in question. I don't think anyone was waiting for the NCAA to say "actually, no this didn't happen." It was all about what the NCAA was going to do with the information. Will Michigan get whacked or not? They didn't. The "you cheated", "no we didn't" was going to persist no matter what. The "you're getting the hammer," "no we're not" wasn't decided until yesterday and the latter side won.
The documented cheating is now part of the public record, but nobody took the trophy and the game results stand. I think the majority of Michigan fans would consider that a win, given what could've been.
Grr... Why no vacated wins? (Feels like it doesn't affect the current folks and would "hit" those who played at the time; on paper anyway. It's at least something to mark what happened.)
Following along with what's coming out of the press conference. The NCAA said vacating wins is only in play if you're found to have used ineligible players. They didn't consider it because they couldn't consider it.
Ahh...damn. Thanks for the response!
Cheaters do prosper.