Paul Finebaum has had it with Jim Harbaugh and pleaded to the Big Ten to punish Michigan for the Wolverines' alleged sign-stealing ways. Finebaum admitted to giving Harbaugh the benefit of the doubt two weeks ago during the beginning of this emerging scandal, but with every passing day more and more worms are crawling out of this dented can that had long been held out of the public's eyes.
While appearing on Wednesday's edition of Get Up, the ESPN college football analyst went on yet another one of his epic rants that has defined his prolific media punditry career. Michigan may be undefeated and ranked No. 3 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, but Finebaum wishes the Big Ten would do something, anything, because he cannot trust the NCAA or the CFP to do the same.
Finebaum's latest rant was all about a photo surfacing on Tuesday of Michigan staffer Connor Stalions appearing to have worn sunglasses and a goatee disguise on the sidelines during a Central Michigan game to scout in-state rival Michigan State. Sign stealing is legal, but advanced scouting is against the rules. For it to be this blatant and obvious, some punishment could be coming, eventually.
"Two weeks ago I sat here with you and made the biggest mistake of my professional career: I gave Jim Harbaugh the benefit of the doubt. Never again. I thought it was too early to come down on him. It's not too early anymore. It's actually getting very late for him."
Finebaum wants Petitti to do something because it is his job to govern over the Big Ten Conference.
"I mean this is a disgusting story with every revelation which happens every single day of the week. And the fact that the Big Ten has not done anything yet is inexcusable. That's the only mechanism to stop this train, and quite frankly a lot of people think it should be stopped. It's up to Tony Petitti, the new Big Ten commissioner, to step in. They're the only people with jurisdiction."
Clearly, Finebaum has no belief that the NCAA will do anything to help speed up their processes.
"The NCAA could be looking at this for the rest of our lives, and as far as whether Jim Harbaugh goes to the NFL, that's really up to NFL franchises whether or not they want to get in business with this guy right now."
As for if any NFL team wants to hire Harbaugh, Finebaum put the ball in those franchises' courts.
Paul Finebaum wants Tony Petitti to do anything about Michigan scandal
I would agree with Finebaum that the NCAA will take its sweet time in conducting its own investigation. I would also agree the College Football Playoff Selection Committee will argue that it is not up to them to determine if a team can be eligible for its national semifinal postseason invitational tournament or not. It stinks that the Selection Committee opted to go in this direction, but I do get it.
However, it is time for Petitti to show us all why he left MLB to take over for Kevin Warren as the Big Ten commissioner. Conference realignment has been front and center in this league with Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington coming over in 2024. Unfortunately, both of the conference's Michigan football programs have had nothing but bad press written about them over the last two months or so.
In essence, it would have to be up to Petitti to forbid Michigan from being eligible to win a third straight Big Ten East division title if the Wolverines were to go something like 12-0 this season. Deeming them ineligible for the conference championship could conceivably force the Selection Committee's hand, as the Wolverines would not have the most crucial 13th data point to dissect.
Unfortunately, I would suspect that if Petitti were to rip the rug out from a 12-0 Michigan team while the investigation was still ongoing he would get sued by the university for his actions, especially if Michigan were found not guilty for its alleged sign stealing. This is so ugly and it may only get worse. The only solution here is for rival teams like Ohio State and Penn State to beat them head-to-head.
Ohio State may do Petitti's bidding for him, but you cannot put your hope in Penn State showing up.
