The Michigan football sign-stealing investigation has taken many twists and turns in recent days. It all started with allegations that the Wolverines were illegally stealing signs, and the culprit was a low-level staffer named Connor Stallions. Stallions was sending people to games to film the signs of future Michigan opponents, and he ended up resigning just a few days ago. Coaches around the Big Ten have been urging the conference to punish the Wolverines because they believed that the sign-stealing created an unfair advantage. However, the most recent news makes it seems like that may not have been the case.

According to a report from ESPN's Adam Rittenberg that was released on Tuesday, Michigan football has proof that Purdue received Michigan's signs from Ohio State and Rutgers before playing in the Big Ten championship in 2022. The Wolverines believe they have proof that coaches from all over the conference were sharing their signs. It's unclear if there was anything done illegal here, but that takes away the unfair advantage narrative if true.

This is one of the more bizarre stories in college sports, and it is sure to continue to develop. In the meantime, there are still a lot of people calling for punishment to Michigan, and one of them is ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

“I spoke at Michigan last week, the Michigan Sports Business Conference, I was a guest speaker there last week,” Stephen A. Smith said on First Take. “I said it while I was on campus, right down the block from the Big House, I said it with everybody in attendance and I'll be damned if I don't say it now. The Michigan Wolverines should be banned from the College Football Playoffs. The Michigan Wolverines should be banned from the College Football Playoff until the investigation is complete. You do not get to go to the College Football Playoff, and rob, potentially, another institution from getting one of those final four spots. The possibility is open that you may have cheated to get your way there. The fact that the investigation is still open is non-sensible to me, it makes no sense.”

While Smith believes Michigan should be banned from the CFP, he never mentions any proof of Michigan football cheating or a cause for the ban. For him, it's simply the fact that the investigation is still going on and that illegal sign-stealing might have happened within the Michigan program.

“Expedite the process, reach a conclusion, tell me they didn't do it, I'm fine with that,” Smith continued. “Tell me there's not enough evidence to validate they did it, I'm fine. But as long as the investigation is open, Shannon, there is no way on earth that you can have the Michigan Wolverines going to the College Football Playoff when it is possible that they may have had somebody working for them, traveling around to other schools, stealing signs, giving them an unfair advantage. Ever since this alleged scandal began, Michigan has been winning games over the last two years, and they've been in the College Football Playoff each time. Sorry, you can't let them go to the playoffs… Come to a conclusion, and if they didn't do it, tell us there's not enough evidence to incriminate them, then I'm good with that. But it can't be ‘well, we don't know yet, we haven't decided yet, we not finished yet' and they still go to the playoff, no.”

This situation will continue to evolve by the day, and we should get news of a potential Michigan punishment later this week.