Michigan’s football program is being investigated by the NCAA for allegations of sign stealing, as first reported Thursday by Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger and Dan Wetzel and later confirmed by the Big Ten.
According to a statement from the Big Ten, both the Big Ten and Michigan were notified Wednesday that the NCAA was launching an investigation due to allegations of sign stealing, with the Big Ten also informing Michigan’s upcoming opponents.
“The Big Ten Conference considers the integrity of competition to be of utmost importance and will continue to monitor the investigation,” the statement read. “The Conference will have no further comment at this time.”
According to Dellenger and Wentzel’s report, Michigan is being investigated for violating rules that prohibit teams from scouting future opponents in person.
It reportedly had unnamed individuals attend games of scheduled opponents and potential College Football Playoff opponents in an attempt to gather information on signs used to call offensive and defensive plays. While sign stealing is not technically against NCAA bylaws, teams are limited to using video footage to scout opponents, and are not allowed to scout in person.
The report also stated that two of Michigan’s opponents this season became aware that Michigan knew their play signs. The Wolverines are currently 6-0 on the season and ranked No. 2 in the most recent AP Top 25.
And this is not the only trouble that Michigan is in, as the university is already under investigation for several violations around head coach Jim Harbaugh, for which he served a self-imposed suspension for the first three games of this season, though he could still face potential repercussions after this season.
