If the B1G forces the issue on JH how about we insist all protected rivalries be removed?

After the 2018 OSU game I did not watch another sporting event of any kind until the 2022 World Cup. It was great—I lost 45 lbs., finally reached C1 fluency in Spanish, and upped my cooking game significantly.

If Michigan Football is forced to endure some unjust penalty because of this absurd “scandal,” the transparent motive for which is clearly the inability of certain other teams to compete with M’s athletes on the field, then I’ll just stop watching sports again. There are obviously better things I could be doing with my time.

Until then I hope M wins every game by 60. 

The school just needs to buckle down and weather the storm.  The push for mob justice knows that the more games Michigan plays and wins without Stalions weakens their position that any of this even matters. They also know the longer this goes, the more will be found out about the PI firm and the involvement of who paid them, taking the focus off Michigan.

Just sit tight and keep telling the B1G to pound sand.

Witch-hunt!

OP, wake up. If the conference could force a punishment on Michigan without any due process, don't you think they wouldn't just force us to play whatever conference schedule they want? Which they currently do to every team anyway. 

I doubt that Big Ten will, the university presidents are usually level-headed. If they do, Michigan will immediately seek an injunction from the federal court against the conference for lacking due process, and start discussing with ACC and SEC. 

Anyone, not just Michigan, should resist such mob mentality. 

This isn't student athletics but the NCAA and BIG like to pretend that it is.  This is big time serious money, and Michigan is part of that equation.

The sooner we move from the NCAA the better.

Or how about this ...

We all gather at the Big Ten headquarters on the same day -- let's say, January 6th. Then, ... 

I’m not professional enough to be in Ono nor Warde’s shoes. I can’t imagine sometime in the near future being in the same room with all the ppl that are trying to kill your football program and discussing the future of women’s volleyball lol

Acc.  Now that cal and Stanford have joined with us it would be the strongest academic conference as well considering Virginia, duke, nc, wake forest, bc.  Partial ND. That’s 9 stellar academic schools.  

Or we can just, you know, leave?

The Big Ten is making it clear they are out to get Michigan at this point and want to run Harbaugh out of town. If they push to have him fired altogether, I don’t see how staying in the Big Ten is in Michigan’s best interest anymore. 

Call the SEC. They will find a way to make room. Wouldn’t be next year. May not be the year after, but they would step all over each other to get Michigan on board. And then the Big Ten is looking at lawsuits not just from Michigan, but NBC, CBS and Fox over devaluing the worth of their tv contracts by running the cash cow out of town over some truly petty bullshit.

Michigan broke rules, but had this been Purdue, Rutgers, Texas Tech, Oregon State, or any other middling program, if they’d done the exact same thing, this story would’ve been over two weeks ago. Would’ve been a one day story, fines, probation, everyone moves on.

This place needs to get a grip. There’s an actual game today.

They already f***** us over in 1970 and I'm talking about the athletic directors. Yes we should move on. This is vigilante justice plain and simple. And it's going to come back to haunt them.

I understand the motives of the other B1G coaches wanting severe punishment of Michigan... but doesn't it seem like the ADs and Presidents are playing a dangerous game trying to do this to Michigan without due process? As I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong) but in the B1G there is some kind of equal revenue sharing, which means the cash cow that is Michigan is helping to fund these lower rung B1G schools...  why would they want to piss Michigan off so much that they'd even consider legal action or considering leaving the conference? Are they just calling Michigan's bluff that they wouldn't ever dare think of leaving the B1G? Why would they want to piss off the cash cow of the conference? Imagine all the $$$ that the other B1G schools would lose if Michigan left the conference. I'm not saying that it is likely Michigan would leave the conference... I'd say it's very unlikely... but why even risk it?

Just curious.  What is the process the B1G would use to force Michigan to do anything Michigan does not want to do?  And if there is a process, what can they actually to Michigan if Michigan refuses to abide?

1. The Big 10 is not suspending Harbaugh at this point.

2. I can't imagine being a Michigan fan and not wanting to play OSU every year, especially in this era.

IF Michigan were to leave the B1G, and I really doubt they would the ONLY conference they do it for has to be the SEC. It would be a money decision and only the SEC has that money. OR, could they persuade ND to join with them and go into the ACC which would likely cause the ACC contract to be re-negotiated. Outside of that the SEC is the only conference that makes sense. 

The ACC in its current structure is way behind on money and in football the competition is a step below the B1G and SEC. The Big 12 without Texas and Oklahoma just feels like a lower tier conference. Pac 12 is dead so that leaves independent or SEC as the best fits.

How about we tell them to fuck off? UM has 75 billionaire alumni. How about they chip in to buy UM out of the GOR?

If the B1G caves to mob mentality and feels like they need to levy a punishment without facts or proof it is both practical and wise to open up talks with the SEC.

I am convinced TruStage is a fucking OSU conspiracy.  I am looking forward to their bankruptcy.

How about we sue instead?

how about we all just shut the hell up and play football.

jesus, some of y’all are WAY whinier than anyone on east lansing or columbus. have some freaking dignity. 

We should join the PAC 2 and form a new pac10.

Warde already insisted we DO keep those games. 

Really confused how people seem to want to punish others by doing things that would dramatically change what Michigan football is and, for me at least, dramatically decrease the fan experience. Nothing crazy out of the box is happening, we unfortunately may get coaches suspended, and/or wins vacated. Nothing else will, or really should, change. Chill

I think we should rotate through one of the protected rivalries (the MSU one) with all of the teams that think they are our rivals. This includes Minnesota (I actually like this rivalry and want to play them more often,) Illinois (wife’s other alma mater) and Rutgers (it’s nice to have an essentially bye week on the schedule). I’d like to add UCLA as a new protected rival because I live in SoCal and they are the other top public university that also sports (sorry, Cal, you don’t count.)

I'm sure the SEC is in Michigan's ear, and this may be why ESPN is pushing the story so hard.

But getting rid of the protected rivalries will never happen, but leaving the conference could.

The last few years the "rivals" have taking the game off the field, MSU with the tunnel and even this year with ine of the dirtiest hits ever seen in organized football. 

And now OSU, after cheating for over almost 2 decades while Michigan stayed mute, can't take 2 losses with any sort of dignity, and has to hire a smear campaign.

The B1G needs Michigan considerably more than Michigan needs the B1G, and it might be time to remind them of that.

Everyone gets a thread these days. Sheesh

I agree. I definitely don’t want to play those Staee hooligans on an annual basis and the more things come to light, why bother with the sore losers down in Columbus. Our schedule is difficult enough as is to deal with them every year and their arrogant supposition that whenever they lose to us it must be because of cheating, something we too could claim with virtually every game because of the officiating patterns. If we have to play them every year then let’s get rid of this last game of the season mandate which only increases the risk of not having key players available due to injury, getting key players injured, or negatively impacting the playoff race. Besides, as I noted in other posts, they are really only an athletic rival, not an academic one. Notre Dame is our true all-in rival when academics are factored in.

I'm okay with going to the trash tornado less often. Nothing good happens there. You spend the whole game hoping they just avoid a dirty hit that causes injuries.

They aren't going to force out Harbaugh.  It would set a bad precedent.  What it says is that if you can't win, investigate your rival and find dirt, then give that dirt to the NCAA and cry to the conference about scandal before any facts are aired.

No one will want to coach in the big ten with that kind of atmosphere.

Bad post; feel bad.

The best thing to do is to keep winning.