The whole world has been talking about the University of Michigan football team and the sign stealing scandal.

Did head coach Jim Harbaugh know?

If he didn’t know, how could he not have known?

Should they be given the “death penalty”?

After all that big talk by Coach Harbaugh and the universities attorneys, when it came time for the rubber to meet the road, they accepted the suspension handed down from Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, without so much as a whimper.

Add in the fact that Linebackers Coach Chris Partridge has been fired for deleting evidence of cheating, on top of all the paper and video evidence of Connor Stalions doing advanced scouting “in person” and with a literal “play sheet” of diagramed signals, while standing next to Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and Defensive Coordinator Jesse Winters.

How much more evidence does the NCAA need to take action?

How much more evidence, do Wolverine fans need, before they stop with their nonsense denials and making excuses.

By the way, the University of Michigan has NEVER DENIED that the team did steal signals. NOT ONCE, in all the interviews and statements.

The only “denial” was that Coach Harbaugh did not have knowledge of the sign stealing.

Earlier this month, I personally spoke to two students who attend the University of Michigan. They spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, so I will refer to them as Student A and Student B.

Student A is within the “academic world” at Michigan.

Student B is within the “athletic world” at Michigan.

We talked about the cheating and about how it was being viewed by students on campus.

Nobody is talking about how student life is being affected by this.

Both students have family members who attended Michigan in the past. They spoke about the “pressure” they, and other students feel to “not talk to outsiders.”

Both students talked to me about how the mentality of “everyone is out to get us, permeates throughout campus.” They told me that it’s in every aspect of life on campus. How “sometimes it’s all that’s talked about at Bursley and The Quads.”

Both of them told me that “it’s not a secret on campus that the football team was cheating.”

Student A, told me that the “academic clubs openly talked about the ethics of cheating and if it would spread to other sports.”

Both Student A and B, told me that Connor Stalions was “openly seen on campus.”

Both Student A and B, but Student B really emphasized that “Coach Harbaugh was under a tremendous amount of pressure to beat Ohio State.”

Student B told me that Harbaugh would “catch hell” from alumni and students while on campus. Students would “yell and call him all kinds of names.”

Both students were quite concerned about how this “new controversy” was going to impact how students, who have nothing to do with it, were going to be viewed by the media and the public.

They talked about how it was an embarrassment to students who follow the rules and don’t cheat. They were worried about “everyone being painted with the same brush.”

They both understood that “the emotions of being a fan is going to skew some peoples point of view.”

I concluded our conversation by thanking them for speaking with me, and that I appreciate their time and how candid they were with me.

On a personal note, I implore my fellow Ohio State fans, and fans of other schools, not to be harsh and demeaning to students of Michigan.

These kids had nothing to do with what happened and what is going on.

– by Sean McKenzie

Photo courtesy of….. clutchpoints, sportingnews, and si.