Getty Image
The ancient proverb “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” has served as the basis for some unexpected alliances over the course of history—which apparently includes a covert operation former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions conducted to funnel some of the stolen signs he obtained to Ohio State.
By now, I assume most college football fans are familiar with the wild saga that unfolded after Connor Stalions was thrust into the spotlight last season due to the years-long scheme he orchestrated to give the Michigan Wolverines an edge over other teams by traveling to games featuring future opponents to steal signs used to communicate play calls from the sidelines.
Those revelations came to light during a campaign where Michigan won a national championship, and while Jim Harbaugh was suspended for a few games due to the scandal, the NCAA has taken its sweet time conducting what is still an ongoing investigation into the matter (which includes plenty of unanswered questions about Stalions’ alleged presence on the Central Michigan sideline during their game against Michigan State).
We got some more insight into what went down thanks to the Netflix documentary that did a deep dive into the situation, and Stalions (who is currently serving as the head coach of a high school football team in Detroit) hasn’t really been shy about dissecting the intricacies of his master plan.
We got some more insight into what transpired when Stalion sat down for an interview on Bussin’ With the Boys where he revealed he went out of his way to give Michigan some help in its quest for a title by sharing some of his intel with their fiercest rival: the Ohio State Buckeyes.
In 2021, Michigan suffered a setback in its quest for a Big Ten championship with a loss to Michigan State, and as the season neared an end, the Wolverines found themselves facing a scenario where they risked ending up on the outside looking in if the Spartans were able to beat Ohio State.
Stalions outlined what transpired at that point, saying:
“They played Ohio State the week before we played Ohio State, so we needed Ohio State to win.
I gave Michigan State’s signals to a buddy of mine—I changed all the logos and made it look like it came from a different school—who may have given it to a buddy who then gave it to Ohio State and said, ‘Hey, I got this from so-and-so at Name Your School University.
I’m sure they probably already had them, but it just confirmed everything. Then they won like 60-0.”
The score was actually 56-7, and Michigan took care of business at home the following week with a 42-27 win over the Buckeyes that secured their berth in the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa (their 42-3 victory in that contest ensured they’d earn a spot in the College Football Playoff, but they lost to Georgia in the semifinal).
What a world.