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When the Michigan football sign-stealing situation came to light in the fall of 2023, Ohio State football fans were confident that was the reason why the Buckeyes had lost to the Wolverines in the previous two meetings. The two teams have played twice since, and Michigan has won both of the meetings. Still, former Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer is convinced that Connor Stalions is the reason why Michigan won in Columbus in 2022.
The Buckeyes got out to a strong start in the 2022 game as Michigan couldn’t get anything going offensively for most of the first half, but five huge plays ended up anchoring the Wolverines to a 45-23 win.
Jack Sawyer gave Michigan credit for the last two wins, but he still has a funny feeling about that 2022 game.
“I think they beat us straight up last year, obviously, and the year before. But my sophomore year, we left the field like, this feels weird,” Sawyer said during an episode of Not Just Football. “I mean, lost by double digits, and it felt like we had beat the s**t out of them all game.”
There was one play in particular that stood out to Sawyer. It was a tight end screen that Michigan had covered perfectly.
“We ran a screen pass that we had never put in, not the formation, not the look, anything,” he continued. “And like you see them on the sidelines, they're doing it, and we change it. We audible, or whatever, and when we run it, all the D-line as soon as the ball is snapped, a lot the linebackers, everybody, they sniffed it out. We were in a tight end screen from the 25 yard line and they snuff it out.”
Former Michigan football staffer and leader of the sign-stealing scheme Connor Stalions heard those comments, and he had a response for Sawyer.
“1. Jack is saying Ohio St never ran a Slot YY formation all year (pull up any of their games on YouTube and you’ll see them run that look),” Stalions said in a post. “2. Their signal for this play was: – The letter ‘Y' (TE in 99% of offenses) – The Delay of Game sign. So ‘Y Delay.' Wonder what this will be. 3. Jack is admitting they never ran it before. 4. Your head coach already admitted that you changed your signs for us. I’ll stop here. I’m at 4 bullet points. Maybe add a 5th in November.”
Jack Sawyer does contradict himself a bit with his claim. The whole issue with Connor Stalions is that he allegedly illegally stole signs by sending people to games of future Michigan opponents. If Ohio State had never run the play before, how would Stalions have illegally stolen the sign for it from a past game?
Stalions ended his response with a little joke about how the Michigan football team has won four games in a row against Ohio State. The Wolverines are looking to make five in a row this year. Sawyer went 0-4 against the Wolverines during his career, failing to earn a pair of gold pants that are given to the Buckeyes after a win over their rival.
