Pressing Questions: Tackling the Michigan sign-stealing scandal, potential solutions to fix CFB’s officiating problems, Arch Manning time at Texas?

The biggest story in college football was the topic du jour of the Week 9 mailbag — and I tackle the Michigan sign-stealing scandal from various angles. Plus, could we see Arch Manning make his 2023 debut soon? Potential solutions to college football’s officiating problems and more. 

As always, you can submit a question via my internet mailbox at [email protected] or send a DM/Tweet reply @JesseReSimonton.

This week’s questions…

How seriously should we take Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal? — Kevin

What happens if Michigan is found guilty of the cheating scandal? — Jim

Unsurprisingly, there was plenty of interest in breaking down the latest scandal coming out of Ann Arbor in the last week. 

Initially, many hand-waved the early reports, believing this was much ado about nothing. 

Well about that. 

Video from last year's OSU vs Michigan game appears to show Connor Stalions who is at the center of the alleged sign stealing operation standing next to the UM defensive coordinator.

See their pre-snap interaction:

Here is better quality video and story https://t.co/aOX1HCRdmN: pic.twitter.com/Q6nNYt2t9x

— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) October 24, 2023

Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal became much more serious Monday with ESPN’s bombshell report that suspended staffer Connor Stalions, the central figure of the NCAA’s investigation, had allegedly purchased tickets in his own name for more than 30 games over the past three years at 11 different Big Ten schools. The tickets were normally around the 50-yard line and on both sides of the stadium, positioning Stalions, who is an ex-U.S. Marine and Naval Academy graduate, and whoever to film the opposite sideline. 

He had two tickets — one on each sideline — for the Top 10 showdown between Penn State and Ohio State last week, too, but they went unused. Thamel sourced 11 Big Ten schools in his report, so this clearly isn’t some isolated incident. 

ESPN released a follow-up story Tuesday, adding info that Stalions bought tickets to the 2021 and 2022 SEC Championship Games, as well as tickets to four CFP contenders last season. 

The NCAA is purportedly set to receive evidence that someone using tickets purchased by Stalions was filming their sidelines for the entire game. If the NCAA gets that video, that could be a wrap for the Wolverines. 

Could. 

There’s still a lot of grey here. It’s clearly messy. And regardless of whether the rule against in-person scouting is silly or not, it exists. In-game sign-stealing happens every Saturday, but this is a different level of brazenness.

We don’t know what sort of advantage was gained from the alleged sign-stealing scandal, but it had to have been sufficient enough for Michigan to continue doing this for over two years. Some 30 games of filming opponents is at minimum a middle finger to the game’s integrity. 

Last week, Jim Harbaugh said he had no knowledge of Stalions’ operation. That seems hard to fathom on something that purportedly dates back to 2021, but let’s say that’s true. He’d still bear the brunt of responsibility because he’s the head coach. 

Harbaugh is already embroiled in a separate NCAA investigation, too. He could be punished hard here, and if staffers did know about Stalions’ scheme, then Harbaugh would hardly be the lone person to suffer consequences. Lots of heads would roll. I will say we’re inching closer and closer to my No. 1 bold preseason prediction that this would be Harbaugh’s final season in Ann Arbor.

Now, the NCAA is historically laboriously slow to rule on investigations. Enforcement typically takes years to play out. It’s hard to see any resolution happening before the end of the 2023 season.

But this isn’t staffs paying recruits or a booster buying a star player a car. There are immediate competitive implications here, so could the Big Ten step in and ban the Wolverines from playing in the Big Ten title game? Could the College Football Playoff committee, which is outside of the NCAA purview and told to “consider other relevant factors”, opt to punish Michigan by not ranking the Wolverines?

It’s not impossible. 

We’ve never seen something like this before. We’re in unchartered territory. We’re talking about the No. 2 team in the country — a program that’s destroying opponents every week with the now-odds-on-favorite to win the national championship and Heisman Trophy — embroiled in a scandal that’s happening in real-time with lots of questions that still must be answered. 

With the injury to Quinn Ewers, will we see Arch Manning get some playing time? — Josh

Only if Maalik Murphy struggles badly or also gets hurt. 

While Ewers is expected to miss several weeks with a shoulder injury, fortunately for Texas, it has the luxury of having a pair of blue-chip backups. 

But Murphy, who played the fourth quarter in the win over Houston, is ahead of Arch Manning on the depth chart right now — mainly because it seems like Steve Sarkisian wants to preserve the 5-star freshman’s redshirt. 

When Ewers got hurt against the Cougars, the TV broadcast noted that Manning had taken most of the reps with the 2s during the week, but Sarkisian still turned to Murphy. 

Murphy does have more experience in Sarkisian’s system and is a tank at 6-5, 240 pounds. He dazzled in Texas’ spring game, flashing ridiculous upside. Still, he’s thrown just eight passes this season, so there’s plenty of unknowns with his game. 

Texas can’t afford another Big 12 loss, so depending on how long Ewers is out, Sarkisian could face a tough decision if Murphy does struggle. The Longhorns have five regular-season games remaining with hopes of making the Big 12 Championship and the College Football Playoff. 

Manning has four games to play with to still preserve his redshirt. That’s clearly the plan. For now anyways. 

What realistically can be done to improve officiating in college football?  Hiring full time officials?  Forcing ref to answer questions after the game? Other ideas? — Matt

This was absolutely a no-good, very bad week for officials in college football. 

Josh Heupel doing his best to avoid getting fined by the SEC when asked if he thought the officiating was one-sided in the Volunteers' loss at Alabama. pic.twitter.com/9RuJH1STkI

— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) October 22, 2023

Tennessee fans had reasons to gripe. And they did. Same for Iowa, Arizona State, Houston, Pitt and others. The calls (or no calls) in those games were legitimately bad. 

Now, I am not a subscriber to the “game is rigged” belief. Birmingham did not call in an Alabama win on Saturday. But the “human element” has become the “human error” far too often. 

We’ve got officials spotting the ball incorrectly. Completely missing obvious choke-hold holds. Screwing up the replay. Don’t even get me started on targeting. 

The NFL isn’t immune to these problems either, but it’s not nearly as egregious. 

Your suggestion to hire full-time officials would be a strong start, and there needs to be some sort of national, collective officiating hub, too — not officials tied directly to one conference or another. That way the best officials would call the biggest games. 

Right now, these officials are too old, underpaid and definitely undertrained. 

Transparency and accountability would go a long way as well. Make the officials full-time, and then have the lead referee available to a pool reporter postgame. They could also follow the NBA model and release postgame right/wrong call reports. 

Something needs to change, though. There’s too much money at stake, especially with all the gambling implications now.

You called Kyle Whittingham a Top 5 coach in college football this week. I disagree but if that’s true why wouldn’t a program like Texas A&M hire him this offseason? — Derek 

Should Texas A&M give Kyle Whittingham a call if it does indeed fire Jimbo Fisher? Absolutely. But here’s a strong hunch he politely says, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Whittingham started his coaching career as a GA at his alma mater BYU, and after a couple stops in the Big Sky, he landed at Utah in 1994. And he hasn’t left since. 

In 1995, he actually replaced his father as Utah’s defensive coordinator, and he held that job under Ron McBride and Urban Meyer until 2004 when he was promoted to head coach. 

At 63, Whittingham is a Utes lifer. He’s won with remarkable consistency, winning nine games 11 times in 18 seasons — and he’s well on his way to No. 12 in 2023. He navigated Utah out of the Mountain West into the Pac-12 as well as any transition in modern college football history.

Whittingham would be an upgrade for almost any program in the country, but he’s not leaving Utah. The real question is how much longer is he going to coach before he decides to hang it up and go spend time with a bunch of grandkids?