Just like Ohio State, another Michigan football rival has had to vacate wins due to violations of NCAA rules, as the Michigan State Spartans were hit with vacated wins, numerous show-cause penalties, and more as part of an investigation into wrongdoing that occurred under Mel Tucker.
The disgraced, fired, former Michigan State head coach, was most known for two victories over Michigan, plus all of the fancy recruiting weekends, which never paid any dividends. Tucker never signed any major prospects and was fired for an off-the-field issue.
Tucker got a three-year show cause. Some other former assistants were also given show-cause penalties for giving impermissible benefits to players. Those benefits made them ineligible, and since the Spartans played players for three seasons who were not eligible, they had to vacate all the their from 2021-2023, including the game that Connor Stalions was on the sideline for Central Michigan.
Remember, he wasn't there for Michigan, as an NCAA report confirmed. He was there to help Central Michigan, yet even that game has been wiped away.
Michigan football fans laugh at Michigan State again
Of course, Michigan State fans aren't happy and Michigan fans are eating it up.
Just created a simple chart to make this easy for everyone pic.twitter.com/s3qCSdEpyB
— Blue By 90 (@bluebyninety) November 12, 2025
Most vacated wins due to cheating in Big Ten Football History:
— uofmcoverage (@uofmcoverage) November 12, 2025
Michigan State - 14
Ohio State - 12 pic.twitter.com/MQwuSjqX21
At this point, I feel like I'm living in some sort of Truman Show simulation intentionally designed to give me one generational W after another. https://t.co/JqvRqhTxl2
— raj (@internetraj) November 13, 2025
I literally cannot stop laughing. https://t.co/A4ARjL1rN5
— MichiganPodcast (@MichiganPodcast) November 13, 2025
The Spartan fans are going on about how the NCAA system is rigged and favors Michigan, even though the NCAA did impose huge penalties on the Wolverines, in addition to holding a very public witch hunt, which the NCAA didn't do to MSU.
It's interesting how there weren't play-by-play updates by Pete Thamel in this one. Either way, Michigan State will join Ohio State as a tainted program, since the Buckeyes have also had to have wins taken away for cheating during the Jim Tressel era.
Many are wondering they the punishments for Michigan State seem harsher than the penalties for Michigan football. For one, they aren't. Two, the Spartans used players that weren't eligible. The punishment for that is vacating wins.
Michigan didn't use ineligible players, and since we can assume, much like with Tom Brady and Deflategate, that the results were exactly the same before and after Stalions, saying Michigan won because it cheated is just wrong. It has been proven wrong. It's also sad.
But when you have to suffer through a Spartan existence, what else do you have? Dan Wetzel summed it up well, calling it" Perfectly comical."
That it is.