Michigan State football rival Michigan under NCAA investigation

Michigan State football rival Michigan is under NCAA investigation during Hate Week. What did the Wolverines allegedly do?

We’re a few days away from the battle for the Paul Bunyan trophy between Michigan State football and its arch-rival Michigan. This game already appeared to be anything but normal thanks to a -24 point spread in favor of the Wolverines, an interim head coach for the Spartans, and an active coaching search for the next head man in East Lansing.

Things just got even more interesting on Thursday morning.

The NCAA opened an investigation against the Wolverines over potential rule-breaking pertaining to “in-person scouting of opponents.”

It was first reported by Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.

The NCAA has opened an investigation into No. 2 Michigan over possible rule-breaking around in-person scouting of opponents, sources tell @DanWetzel & me.

NCAA has alerted the Big Ten, the league confirmed to @YahooSports without revealing specifics.https://t.co/EXxXc90hZA

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) October 19, 2023

Michigan under investigation

The allegation pertains to NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1 which reads as “Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited,” sources say.

There are various ways to legally scout opponents and sign stealing has been a part of college football for years. Teams are provided with plenty of video footage for scouting purposes. The issue that comes into play is if Michigan was sending members of the coaching staff to attend games in an effort to gather information. This information could be their offensive or defensive signs. It would be against NCAA rules for Michigan to send somebody to any games involving opponents on Michigan’s schedule. This also includes any potential College Football Playoff opponents.

The Big Ten’s statement

The Big Ten released a statement upon the news breaking of the investigation.

“Late Wednesday afternoon, the Big Ten Conference and University of Michigan were notified by the NCAA that the NCAA was investigating allegations of sign stealing by the University of Michigan football program,” the Big Ten said. “The Big Ten Conference has notified Michigan State University and future opponents. The Big Ten Conference considers the integrity of competition to be of utmost importance and will continue to monitor the investigation. The Conference will have no further comment at this time.”

Michigan State has been notified of the investigation, as No. 2 Michigan’s next opponent is the Spartans in East Lansing.

Just when everybody thought rivalry week was getting boring.