Despite Ohio State and Michigan State fans spewing BS online, Michigan AD Warde Manuel told Sam Webb of The Michigan Insider he has not had any conversations with the NCAA regarding postseason bans for the football program:
The Michigan Wolverines begin spring practice today (March 18), which is a reason to celebrate as we inch closer to leaving the cold weather behind us and entering the summer months. Position battles will take place as the coaches find the best players to help guide Michigan back to competing for the Big Ten and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
However, there are some naysayers out there — I won’t name any names but you probably know the characters I’m referring to — that don’t believe Michigan will even be eligible to get to the College Football Playoff because of the ongoing NCAA investigation involving former staffer Connor Stalions. These delusional people believe “tHe HaMmEr iS cOmInG!” and that the NCAA will hand down a postseason ban to punish the Wolverines.
As the old saying goes, “Hope springs eternal.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary , this phrase is said “when you continue to hope that something will happen, although it seems unlikely.”
That’s certainly the case for the rival fanbases — and to head coaches who flip recruits from Michigan that rhyme with “Bandrew Polesh” — who make stuff up on Twitter.
To give fans reassurance that these basement dwellers don’t know what they’re talking about, Athletics Director Warde Manuel told The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb on Tuesday that no such “hammer” has even been brought up in Michigan’s discussions with the NCAA.
“I have not had any conversation (with the NCAA) about postseason bans or penalties that are coming,” Manuel said. “What I can point to is that (NCAA President) Charlie Baker — when we won the (national) championship, (he) said (Michigan) won it fair and square. That’s something I can say that gives me some sense that they understand that this was a team who won that championship fair and square. I look at that, and as we move forward we’ll see how it goes, but the process continues.”
Boom.
It was always ridiculous for people to insinuate a postseason ban was even a possibility. And now that we know the topic hasn’t even been discussed, I think it’s safe to say those discussions will never be on the table.
This case has been going on for a year and a half — if no conversations regarding a postseason ban have been had up to this point, the odds of them ever being brought up are slim to none.
All in all, Ohio State fans can go back to enjoying their national championship — even though they lost to an 8-5 Michigan team that motivated their CFP run — and MSU fans can go back to forgetting they have a football program altogether and hoping for Tom Izzo to deliver their first basketball championship in 25 years.