Count outgoing Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith among those who believe there should be an asterisk on Michigan’s wins over Ohio State amid the Wolverines’ sign-stealing scandal.
During his appearance on WOSU’s All Sides with Anna Staver on Thursday, Staver asked Smith if Ohio State’s three-game losing streak to Michigan “deserves a little bit of an asterisk since for at least two of those years, it appears they were cheating.”
Smith’s reply: “Of course I do.”
“Yeah, of course I do,” Smith said with a laugh. “The rules are in place to protect the integrity of the game and try your best to create a level playing field, and when those rules are violated, then it affects those principles. And so, we have to keep that in perspective.”
The NCAA has been investigating Michigan since last October after learning that the program had used impermissible in-person scouting to steal opponents’ signals. The NCAA informed the Big Ten in November that it “knew and could prove” former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions orchestrated a scheme in which a network of individuals attended the games of upcoming opponents and recorded their signals, violating NCAA rules which ban in-person scouting of opponents and recording opponents’ signals.
Stalions was on staff for Michigan’s wins over Ohio State in 2021 and 2022 and was seen communicating with Jim Harbaugh and Michigan’s coordinators in video footage from the Wolverines’ 45-23 win over the Buckeyes in 2022. He resigned from Michigan’s staff on Nov. 3, three weeks before the Wolverines’ 2023 win over Ohio State, after the NCAA launched its investigation.
Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten for Michigan’s final three games of the regular season after the Big Ten determined that Michigan had violated the conference’s sportsmanship policy, but the Wolverines – who went on to win last season’s national championship – have not yet been sanctioned by the NCAA. Smith indicated in Thursday’s interview that he anticipates the NCAA’s eventual punishment of Michigan won’t be as severe as Ohio State fans might be hoping for.
“I think people’s expectation of what the NCAA might do relative to penalties were probably too high, because everyone was upset and there was just visceral comments around it,” Smith said. “I won’t comment too much about what I feel, because I don’t want to disparage, but at the end of the day, violations occurred and penalties have been levied and will be levied, and we just have to live with them.”
Smith, whose tenure as Ohio State’s athletic director will conclude at the end of June, said the Buckeyes ultimately need to look forward rather than backward and focus on earning their first win over the Wolverines since 2019 when they host Michigan at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 30.
“I’m not one that looks back. I think what’s important for us is to look forward. And we host that team up north this fall,” Smith said. “And I’m assuming it’ll be what it’s always been (in terms of intensity). But the last time that we had the level of interest in that game was 2006, 1 vs. 2. And I think that this year, it probably won’t be 1 vs. 2, but it’ll be 1 vs. somebody, and we need to make sure we pack that place and we’re ready to roll early. Be in your seats early. Don’t wait till the kickoff. Be in your seats early.”
