Rece Davis, Pete Thamel believe Michigan's national championship will not be vacated
ESPN’s Rece Davis and Pete Thamel believe Michigan’s national championship will not be vacated amid the notice of allegations.
As far as penalties are concerned, it seems like a financial penalty is the likeliest outcome for the Wolverines. But taking away last year’s national title?
Not happening, according to Thamel and Davis.
“I think the fans want to know, like the people on Twitter have reacted to is, will there be a postseason ban,” Thamel said on the College GameDay podcast.
“No,” Davis immediately responded.
As Thamel pointed out, could a postseason ban be on the table? Sure. But even that’s unlikely for Michigan.
“So the vacating thing I can say with full throated confidence,” Thamel said. “They take away wins when it involves players who aren’t eligible. And there are no players implicated in here directly by name or anything. Looking back there will be nothing. Looking forward, you could say, technically, some type of postseason ban is on the table. The actual likelihood of that happening considering Tennessee, considering the political climate, considering the NCAA has basically come out and said, ‘We don’t want to punish them.’
“… So again, it comes down to a roomful of people … I would say looking at this, it would seem unlikely. What is likely as Michigan cuts a big old check.”
Michigan national title safe?
Davis is firmly of the mind that Michigan’s punishment should be financial. After all, money drives the bus in all facets of college athletics.
“That is what the punishments should be, in my judgment,” Davis said. “I’ve said this for years. What drives this enterprise? Money. What sends the biggest message? Taking away money. So if the NCAA wants to be taken seriously consistently as an enforcement body for college sports and college football, particularly, that needs to be the direction in which they go. Fine people. They can do the show cause thing.”
No current Michigan staffers are facing allegations of violations. However, one current coach allegedly deleted text messages between himself and Stalions, though it’s unclear if that will be part of the NOA from the NCAA.
Much of the focus around the country when the scandal broke came down to Stalions, a staffer at Michigan who resigned in early November 2023. The issue largely resolved around scouting opponents in-person to steal signs. It’s not the act of stealing signs that is against the rules but using advanced on-campus scouting to do so.