Michigan president Santa Ono shares photo of him, Jim Harbaugh with team, message of support

In moments of crisis, messaging is key. And the message from University of Michigan president Santa Ono on Tuesday evening was clear: He has the back of the Michigan football program amid the ongoing NCAA investigation into impermissible scouting of opponents, among other things.

Ono took to social media on Tuesday evening to share a picture of him, head coach Jim Harbaugh and the football team after practice. Ono and Harbaugh and side by side, front and center.

“Team 144 are our team,” Ono said, using some parlance of the program to referencing this being the 144th year — and team — for Michigan.

Team 144 are our team.

“Deep down, your players must know you care about them. This is the most important thing…. They know, in the long run, [that] I’m in their corner.”#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/eQg4TBL5n8

— Santa Ono (@SantaJOno) October 31, 2023

And Ono shared with his message and photo an unattributed quote: “Deep down, your players must know you care about them. This is the most important thing…. They know, in the long run, [that] I’m in their corner.”

Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal isn’t apparently affecting the Wolverines in the CFP rankings

Going into Tuesday night’s first College Football Playoff rankings reveal, one of the biggest questions was how the selection committee would view the ongoing Michigan sign-stealing investigation.

For now, the committee essentially isn’t worrying about it, as evidenced in part by Michigan checking in at No. 3 in the initial rankings.

“Michigan’s played well all season,” said Bill Hancock, the executive director of the College Football Playoff. “The fact of the matter is no one knows what happened. The NCAA’s dealing right now with allegations only. The committee makes its judgments based on what happened on the field, and clearly Michigan has been a dominant team.”

Michigan is under investigation after credible evidence surfaced that staffer Connor Stalions had attended or organized arrangements for others to attend various future Michigan opponents’ games. While at those games, Stalions and his cohort reportedly filmed the opponent, engaging in sign-stealing.

That would offer a potentially significant advantage on the field, on top of being against NCAA rules.

NCAA rules do not permit in-person scouting of opponents in the same season, while they expressly prohibit filming another team’s signs.

Still, without hard evidence yet or any resolution to the sign-stealing investigation, there’s not a whole lot the committee can do when it comes to the rankings. And Michigan is, in fact, 8-0 on the season.

“You have to remember that these are allegations at this point and not facts,” Hancock said. “And so, there is no substantive evidence that anything happened that might have affected the game. All this committee does is evaluate what happens on the field during games. That’s why we are where we are.”