Paul Finebaum on Michigan's championship being tainted: 'I can't go that far'
Due to the sign-stealing scandal in 2023, some will always place an asterisk on the national title for Michigan. However, even as a critic of theirs in the midst of it, even Paul Finebaum isn’t willing to take it to that extent.
Finebaum spoke about the sign-stealing saga and how it affects his view on the national championship last season for the Wolverines during an appearance on ‘GoJo and Golic’ on Friday. While it’s not his typical stance on the maize & blue, he couldn’t say that they weren’t deserving to have won that College Football Playoff.
“As much as I would love to say it was tainted and they ‘ought to strip it, I can’t go that far,” admitted Finebaum. “I just felt like, at the end, they were the best team. I think they proved that.”
This all comes down to how much you believe in his conspiracy and how much you think it affected the outcome of each game for Michigan. For Finebaum, he would want to see more concrete proof that it actually impacted the outcomes of their games throughout last fall.
“I would need evidence to say, ‘Okay, because of Connor Stalions and all this, where was the advantage?’. I just never saw it,” said Finebaum. “Now I’m not an Ohio State fan either so maybe I’m missing something.”
“If it was so obvious in one game or two games that they turned? But most of their games were pretty convincing,” Finebaum said.
The NCAA is working on several investigations coming out of Ann Arbor over the last few years. That includes this week’s punishment regarding recruiting violations that led to a four-year show cause with a one-year suspension of Jim Harbaugh who has since left the program this offseason for the Los Angeles Chargers.
With that, a timeline or outcome regarding what anyone finds involving the sign-stealing would be even further into the future.
Still, at this point, Finebaum thinks it is what it is in regards to Michigan. Regardless of what took place last season, they are, and will continue to be in his eyes, the reigning national champions in college football.
Finebaum: Harbaugh ‘looks like a liar’ but ‘got away’ with NCAA violations
With Jim Harbaugh off to the NFL, the punishments this week at really mean nothing according to Paul Finebaum.
“What’s so absurd is that the NCAA is letting Jim Harbaugh off the hook,” Finebaum said Thursday on ESPN’s First Take. “I mean this is a guy who has lied and obfuscated. He’s displaying sociopathic behavior. But instead, everyone loves him.
“We’re wrapping our arms around Jim saying, ‘Way to go Jim! You made the NCAA look like the fools that they are’. That’s really the tragedy in this.
Jim Harbaugh has consistently claimed that he is innocent, which is a claim that Paul Finebaum doesn’t believe. However, in the end, it really doesn’t matter to him if he’s telling the truth or not.
“He looks like a liar. I think he looks terrible but the public is not seeing it the same way we are. I mean we’re critics. We know when these people are lying and we actually care,” Finebaum said. “College football fans don’t. And I think he’s going to get away with it. I mean, in most polars of this country right now, people are attacking the same people we are attacking and that’s the NCAA.”
“So, in the end, I hate to be the jury here but I’m going to be. Jim Harbaugh won. It doesn’t matter how many rules he violated. It doesn’t matter how despicable his character has been, it doesn’t matter how many times he has lied. He got away with it. His statement the other day was basically the middle finger to everyone and he’s living happily ever after out there on the west coast.”
Finebaum doesn’t trust what Harbaugh says but feels that the NCAA screwed up the handling of the situation more.
“They look like the fools that they are,” Finebaum said of the NCAA. “I mean, essentially, Jim Harbaugh ran a stop sign and they came back with a judgment that you’re going to get the death penalty. You’re going to the chair, the guillotine, the gas chamber.”
“But, I mean, we are out of words and adjectives to describe the dysfunctionality of the NCAA. Where they really missed the boat here? Yeah, we’re laughing, we’re having a good time because of the absurdity,” said Finebaum. “Jim Harbaugh is never coming back to college. That’s why he left. He won the national championship. The NCAA must have missed that.”