Ohio State and Michigan are typically rivals, but they came together as allies in the fall of 2021.
During the 2021 football season, Michigan suffered its only Big Ten loss against Michigan State. To prevent a three-way tie, Ohio State had to defeat the Spartans.
Ohio State succeeded in beating Michigan State, leading to a winner-take-all game between the Buckeyes and Wolverines. The victor would secure the Big Ten East title and advance to the conference championship game.
Michigan ultimately defeated Ohio State, allowing them to reach the conference title game. Connor Stalions, the former Wolverines staffer involved in the sign-stealing scandal, confessed that he provided Ohio State with Michigan State’s signals to help them win and avoid a three-way tie in the conference.
In an appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Stalions revealed that before Ohio State faced Michigan State, he shared the signals with a friend and altered the logos to disguise their origin, making it appear they didn’t come from Michigan, so he could pass them on to the Buckeyes.
Connor Stallions on sharing Michigan State’s signals to Ohio State in 2021 to prevent a possible 3-way tie pic.twitter.com/3TO10c9132
— College Football Report (@CFBRep) October 8, 2024
Stalions has no idea if Ohio State ended up using the signals he sent them or not, and now there is a chance Ohio State and Michigan cheated.
There wouldn’t be any problem with teams exchanging each other’s signals if they obtained them legally, such as by observing during games or watching broadcasts. However, Stalions initiated a sign-stealing scheme while at Michigan, acquiring opposing teams’ signals through illegal means.
It’s hard to determine what’s true in this story and what might be exaggerated. Sign trading does occur among college football coaches, so it’s possible that Stalions interacted with someone who assisted in providing the signals to the Buckeyes.
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