Report: Connor Stalions bought tickets to five Nebraska football games during 2021, 2022 seasons

On Thursday, the Omaha World Herald’s Henry J. Cordes reported Michigan staffer Connor Stalions purchased tickets to at least five games in Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium across the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

“Connor Stalions bought tickets to the Huskers’ games against Michigan and Ohio State in 2021 and the Oklahoma, Minnesota and Illinois games in 2022,” Cordes wrote. “The information was contained in a University of Nebraska-Lincoln email obtained Thursday by The World-Herald in a public records request.

“An athletic department staffer originally sent the email Oct. 20 to Jamie Vaughn, NU’s director of NCAA compliance. That would suggest the information could have been run down by the school in cooperation with the NCAA’s investigation into widespread sign stealing by Michigan’s football program.”

The NCAA is investigating Michigan for “sign-stealing.” On Tuesday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Stalions, who is at the center of the saga, bought tickets to four different campus games of four College Football Playoff contenders last year.

Thamel also reported that there are records of SEC title game ticket purchases from 2021 and 2022. Finally, twelve of the other 13 Big Ten schools have record of Stalions buying tickets. Earlier this week, The Wolverine’s Chris Balas joined On3’s Andy Staples in an attempt to get to the root of this polarizing situation.

The sign-stealing scandal explained

“Here’s why it’s against the rules — they implemented it as a cost-cutting measure in 1994. Of course, this was before cell phones and stuff but anybody could bring a camera in there,” Balas told Staples. “There wasn’t anything preventing them from doing it. … In 2021, it was actually proposed that they should overturn the rule anyway saying, ‘You know this is going on, you’re naive if you think it’s not. Students sending film into Alabama saying here are their plays, so on and so forth. “

Balas firmly believes Michigan will surrender to the NCAA’s wishes regarding to this situation. They might not roll over and jump through hoops for the national entity, but Balas used the term ‘lay down’ to describe the expected Wolverine response.

“It didn’t have to happen. Somebody a couple of years ago said, when they were looking to change the rule, that the language was that this didn’t give much of a competitive advantage,” Balas continued. “70-75 percent of teams are sign-stealing in some form or another. … To what extent, we don’t know. But I can promise you that there are teams are doing it to the same extent [as Michigan] as far as getting film and studying it. 

“I’m not saying sending coaches across the country, but that’s interesting, too. Who’s funding it and where that is going to go.”

On3’s Barkley Truax also contributed to this article.