Joel Klatt’s recent claim about Michigan will almost undoubtedly ruffle some feathers.
The Fox Sports analyst, who will be on the call alongside Gus Johnson for Marshall-Ohio State this weekend, delved into Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal during a recent appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd.
The pair discussed how Connor Stalions came to be the master of Michigan’s sign-stealing operation, mentioning how he was tasked by then-head coach Ken Niumatalolo, while he was a student at Navy, to decipher signs. That’s when Klatt went into defense mode, addressing the broader narrative about Michigan’s recent success and how it’s been overshadowed by the scandal.
“It’s a sore subject; I mean, you bring it up, and people say with their struggles, ‘It was all the sign stealing,’ and they totally throw out the last half of last season where they beat all of those ranked teams without Stalions, without the operation, and they beat ’em worse,” said Klatt. “Were they stealing signs on fourth down against Bama in the Rose Bowl? Get out of here.”
“‘You defend cheaters,’ ‘Okay,” Klatt added, as he mocked those who have criticized him for coming to Michigan’s defense.
Cowherd said he couldn’t be outraged by Stalions, comparing the reaction to that of Colts’ fans with Deflategate and how Tom Brady went on to play the most efficient football of his career over the next 16 games. That’s not to draw a Brady-Michigan connection here but rather to highlight the response(s) from those who took issue with deflating footballs and sign stealing.
“That’s why I can’t be outraged by Connor Stalions,” said Cowherd. “The worst thing you could do in college football my entire life was pay a high schooler. Now, they’re bidding wars. Seriously, it’s like me getting outraged by jaywalking. It’s like, ‘Yeah, everybody’s doing it; I guess they were a little bit out of the crosswalk at Michigan.’ But, that Netflix documentary — not to tell you to go to streaming — on Connor Stalions, is must-watch.”
Not for nothing, but the ‘Untold’ episode on Stalions was a shocking piece of PR rehab, as Ben Axelrod wrote for Awful Announcing. That’s beside the point, but Klatt also shared Cowherd’s sentiment, calling it a “great documentary.”
“I mean, listen, they broke the rules, and I think they should be punished accordingly — and have been,” says Klatt. “…But to act like sign-stealing is somehow the biggest issue in the outcome of all of these games is naive and not true.”
In November 2023, the Big Ten Conference suspended Jim Harbaugh for the rest of the regular season as punishment for Michigan’s violation of the league’s sportsmanship rules. The Big Ten found that Michigan was “conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition,” according to the conference’s original statement.
In the wake of the Big Ten’s ruling, discussions about Michigan’s sign-stealing practices extended beyond just the conference, reaching even into the College Football Playoff.
“There’s at least rumblings that TCU had help in the playoff game,” Klatt said, referencing the Horned Frogs’ 51-45 win in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl/CFP semifinal.
There have been claims made about TCU in that CFP semifinal before. That was particularly true with an Oct. 2023 Yahoo report from Ross Dellenger, who reported that TCU was informed of Michigan’s previous actions by coaches at other schools and made adjustments as a result.
Ohio State and other Big Ten schools allegedly tipped off the Horned Frogs because they were convinced Michigan was doing something uncouth.
“Sometimes we froze a play before the snap,” said one TCU coach. “We’d call a play, and then we’d signal in another play with an old signal, but we told players to run the original play.”
Klatt’s defense of Michigan, along with the questions surrounding the TCU game and other schools potentially tipping off the Horned Frogs, highlights just how messy the sign-stealing scandal has become. While Michigan undeniably broke the rules and paid the price, Klatt’s point is that their success on the field shouldn’t be boiled down to just stolen signals.
But even then, he’s likely to have a tough time convincing people that Michigan has faced enough punishment for the way the sign-stealing scandal has shaken up college football.
