Joel Klatt: No taint, no asterisks on Michigan Football's national championship

Fox Sports' Joel Klatt, one of the leading vocies of college football, made his thoughts on the Wolverines' national title very clear...

Matt Lounsberry | Aug 28, 2024

Jan 8, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh celebrates with the CFP Championship trophy after beating the Washington Huskies in the 2024 College Football Playoff national championship game at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

Michigan Wolverines

Despite the 2024 college football season kicking off last weekend, the debate over the legitimacy of Michigan's national championship last season rages on. Gasoline was added to the fire of debate this week when Netflix released it's documentary, Untold: Sign-Stealer, which gave former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions a chance to share his side of the story.

Fox Sports' Joel Klatt, one of the leading voices in all of college football, gave his opinion regarding the Wolverines' successes last season on the latest episode of his podcast, The Joel Klatt Show. In short, Klatt pushed back forcefully on the notion that Michigan's title is "tainted" or should come with an asterisks.

"First and foremost, the national championship in 2023 is not even close to tainted. It's not even close. It's not even close to an asterisks. Not even close," Klatt said, before listing his reasoning.

"No. 1 — when this operation was still plausibly happening, they were blowing people out and there was little to no advantage needed, nor gained. No. 2 — once this operation was brought to the forefront, and then it was eliminated, they got nothing but better. The first week that Connor Stalions wasn't on the field, they beat Michigan State, 49-0."

"The national championship in 2023 is not even close to tainted.” @joelklatt debriefs the Connor Stalions sign stealing saga and how it wasn’t the reason Michigan was so successful ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/8WQah7doiY
— The Joel Klatt Show: A CFB Pod (@JoelKlattShow) August 28, 2024

In his full segment discussing Michigan's national title and the Connor Stalions documentary, Klatt laid out three forms of sign-stealing that take place in college football: In-game deciphering of signs and advanced scouting of the TV copy of an opponent's prior game, both of which are legal, and advanced illegal scouting.

"You think they were [illegally] stealing signs in the Penn State game? Ohio State? In the playoff? Against Alabama?" Klatt asked. "So, no, this national championship is not tainted at all. If anything, they were given a break that this all came out in the middle of the year. If this all came out after the year, there would be a huge cloud of suspicion. But there's no suspicion, because I know they did it without the third version of sign-stealing in the second half of the year. That's what we do know, because it was eliminated."

In Klatt's mind, what Michigan did in the final five games of the regular season, the Big Ten Championship game, the Rose Bowl and the National Championship Game — after Stalions was removed from the staff — is enough to clear the Wolverines' title of any suspicion. However, Klatt had a much less strong stance on Michigan's prior two seasons.

"What should we think about 2021 and 2022? That's murkier. Much more murky," he said. "Part of me, as I just talked about, tends to minimize sign-stealing because it can be mitigated, because it's a probability and an educated guess. And then, part of me is like, man, there was some close games. And a play here or there, yeah, absolutely could have or did influence outcomes of games. I think it's hard to say. It's much murkier.

"I do know this — did sign-stealing help Aidan Hutchinson get 15 pressures on C.J. Stroud in 2021? Probably not. I don't want to minimize what happened on the field because I'm generally a player's advocate. I want to advocate for the teams that feel like they were cheated as well. I know Ohio State feels like they would have won a couple of those games if this wasn't taking place. I know that they feel that way. My heart breaks for a guy like C.J. Stroud, who probably wins a Heisman Trophy if it breaks the other way. So, like, yeah, this had an impact in those years and it's much murkier."

While Klatt continues to defend the Wolverines' title in 2023, he said does not take rules being broken lightly.

"I'm really disappointed in the lack of integrity from Connor Stalions and whomever knew," Klatt said. "I don't know exactly who knew, what they knew and in what timing. But, my disappointment would be in their lack of integrity, just as is the case when I'm disappointed in the lack of integrity in these coaches that are poaching and tampering with talent that's not on their roster. All of these rules that are broken, I'm disappointed in. There's no question. If a rule was broken, they should be punished, which they were. [Michigan] had to play the bulk of their schedule without their head coach.

"Everyone thinks that I'm a Michigan apologist. That's not the case. Their lack of integrity, or at least Connor Stallions in this case, has put them in this situation, and they're going to have to pay the piper to some extent. Now, they idea that they would have to somehow vacate anything in 2023, to me, is comical. It would be way over the pail from the NCAA, and I don't believe that would happen."

"I'm disappointed in the lack of integrity from whoever knew. I do not believe it was evidence Jim Harbaugh knew that he gave Connor Stalions a game ball after the Iowa game...I don't think that that's evidence that he knew [illegal sign-stealing] was taking place. I think that it's evidence that he knew that Connor Stalions was really good at the [legal sign-stealing]. It's a messy situation. I'm disappointed in all of it, I really am. I want to move forward. I want to move forward for the players and it sucks for everybody involved."

The full segement of "The Joel Klatt Show" referenced in this article can be viewed below:

- Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI -