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Warde Manuel announces decision to miss Week 11 CFP meeting due to sign-stealing investigation

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•11/06/23•

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Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and A.D. Warde Manuel have worked together for eight plus years at Michigan. Photo by Adam Ruff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Life must be hectic for Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel at the moment. His football program is in the midst of one of college football’s biggest scandals in quite some time. On top of other teams having seasons begin on campus, Manuel is part of the College Football Playoff selection committee this season.

A fresh set of rankings are set to be revealed on Tuesday, preparing for what should be an exciting Week 11 slate. However, Manuel will not be part of the discussion in Grapevine, TX, this week. He will be staying back home, helping Jim Harbaugh and other leaders inside the program deal with the sign-stealing scandal.

“I want to provide an update regarding my participation with the College Football Playoff Committee this week,” Manuel began in a statement. “I will not be traveling to our weekly meeting in Dallas but instead will stay in Ann Arbor, attending to important matters regarding the ongoing investigation into our football program. I look forward to being back in the room with my fellow committee members next week and every week through the end of this season.”

Selection committee members missing a week is nothing new, it’s happened before. However, it has never been to help one of their programs deal with this big of a scandal. A big week is coming for Michigan and Manuel is going to stay in Ann Arbor to help out.

Michigan hoping to move up from No. 3 in College Football Playoff rankings

When the debut College Football Playoff rankings came out last week, Michigan was No. 3 in the country. The hatred Ohio State Buckeyes claimed the top spot while Georgia was between the bitter rivals at No. 2. Not too many Wolverines fans were too happy with their ranking, believing they are the best team in the country.

The CFP Selection chair, Boo Corrigan, was asked how the sign-stealing scandal affected talks this week about Michigan’s ranking. He answered by saying it’s not a problem the CFP has to deal with. In his eyes, their job is to just rank the top 25 teams on a weekly basis.

“We really view it as an NCAA issue, not a CFP issue,” Corrigan said last Tuesday. “At this point in time, as we’re looking at this, we want to make sure we get — not just the top four teams but the top 25 teams, right?”