Paul Finebaum: ‘Michigan lost this round very badly’ in sign-steal investigation

Michigan threw in the towel by electing to not go to court for the case involving the three-game of suspension of Jim Harbaugh. Now, in the aftermath, Paul Finebaum believes the Wolverines made the correct, and far more cautious, decision to step out of this ring.

Finebaum spoke about the matter during a segment of ‘Get Up’ on Friday. In his eyes, Michigan realized what they were going to risk by going up against the conference. In the end, that’s why they played it safe for themselves by waving the white flag.

“I think cooler heads prevailed on the Michigan side,” said Finebaum. “They clearly got a read on where this was going and I think they were heading toward a disaster.”

“What I mean by that is once you got into an open, public court? You’re not really sure what’s going to fall out,” Finebaum explained. “I have a feeling that the Big Ten let the University of Michigan’s attorneys know that you’re taking a big risk. We’re going to drop the NCAA investigation’s information, the discovery – and this could prove to be far worse.”

In a sense, Finebaum also believes that Michigan wanted this story to go away as soon as possible and in whatever sense that’s possible at this point. Had they gone before a judge, he thinks that their growing concern was that something else would have happened that would have led to further punishment into the postseason.

“I think the biggest fear for Michigan was that the suspension, probably, was not going to be stayed. But it could have looked worse for Harbaugh, perhaps keeping him out of the CFP,” said Finebaum. “I think they protected that.”

It’s not necessarily a cowardly act to withdraw, especially when you know that your opponent might already have you beaten. However, Finebaum made it very clear that, with this part of the narrative over in Ann Arbor, this was no victory for Michigan.

“They took the hit now,” Finebaum said. “It’s not a win-win – Michigan lost this round very badly.”

Heather Dinich: ‘There’s mounting evidence’ against Michigan, sign-stealing story ‘far from over’

ESPN’s Heather Dinich doesn’t believe the Michigan sign-stealing story is close to being through.

Dinich took to Get Up on Friday to explain where we go from here, stating that the NCAA has the ball in their court now after the Big Ten levied their punishment.

“This story is far from over,” Dinich began. “My understanding is that there’s mounting evidence against Michigan. The Big Ten, all along, had evidence in regards to Michigan breaking the rule. I will stand by the fact that the Big Ten and Michigan continue to say there’s not evidence that Harbaugh specifically knew about this, or orchestrated it, or condoned any of it. The question is did other members of the staff know, what are the other implications.

“Our reporters are continuing to work this developing story, to find out what the evidence was. But the case was dismissed with prejudice yesterday. That means that the court determined two things. You can’t bring this back, and there are facts of the case that — one of the things Michigan would’ve had to prove is that you could win it in court. So this story is ongoing. And I think that it’s important that people stay tuned to it, because it’s certainly not over.”