They started it. That is, essentially, the claim from the star if Michigan football, quarterback JJ McCarthy, who said in his press conference ahead of Monday’s College Football Playoff championship that the reason there was a Wolverines sign-stealing scandal at all was because other teams did it, too. And by other teams, he mostly means Michigan’s blood rival, Ohio State.
On Wednesday, McCarthy said that the Michigan football program found out that Ohio State had been stealing signs three or four years ago, and the reason that Michigan began its own system of looking at other teams’ signals was to keep up with the Buckeyes.
“I also feel like it’s so unfortunate because there’s probably — I don’t want to say a crazy number, but I’d say a good number, 80 percent of the teams in college football steal signs. It’s just a thing about football. It’s been around for years,” McCarthy said, per the transcript of his media conference.
“We actually had to adapt because in 2020 or 2019 when Ohio State was stealing our signs, which is legal and they were doing it, we had to get up to the level that they were at, and we had to make it an even playing field.”
Michigan Football Sign-Stealing Scandal Only Part of the Story
Of course, JJ McCarthy has only been with Michigan football since 2021, so the alleged stealing of signs by OSU occurred before his arrival. Indeed, while Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh accepted a three-game suspension and staffer Connor Stalions, who was at the center of the scandal, resigned his post in November.
But one of the grievances that was presented by Michigan football throughout the unfolding of the sign-stealing scandal insisted that the Wolverines were hardly the only program that engaged in such chicanery. There was evidence linking several other programs to sign stealing, but it was only Michigan that paid a price.
Defensive tackle Mason Graham admitted that defensive players were the prime beneficiaries of the sign-stealing scandal but to him, it amounted to little more than intense film study.
