Signgate or whatever the hell you want to call it continues to be a hot topic among Michigan football rivals, but in terms of the actual investigation, things are still developing, slowly.
Michigan has delivered its resonse to the NCAA's notice of allegations and from what was given to the media, it feels like this is headed for a court case. That's especially true if the NCAA tries to level a punishment such as a postseason ban.
Rival fans have tried to say that Michigan football wins will be vacated. However, as Warde Manuel mentioned in his interview with The Michigan Insider on Tuesday, NCAA President Charlie Baker already said Michigan won the national title, "Fair and square."
"I have not had any conversation about postseason bans or penalties that are coming," he said. "What I can point to is that Charlie Baker, when we won the championship, said they 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."
Michigan and NCAA could be gearing up for a fight
You never know how things are going to go with the NCAA. But, if Manuel says a postseason ban or other punishments haven't been discussed, you can actually believe it, unlike anything you might read from Buckeye Scoop or some of the MSU homers.
There will be a punishment but there is nothing in the evidence, unless you are the kind of person who believes in the Illuminati, that points to any kind of wrongdoing that would warrant the vacating of wins, which is reserved for using ineligible players, something Michigan football didn't do.
It also went undefeated and beat five top-15 teams in six weeks without Connor Stalions, so it makes no logical sense to vacate a singe win. A postseason ban would be silly too. The NCAA can try, but that will trigger a court fight years in the making.
The bottom line is whatever violations Michigan committed were minor and didn't impact the outcome of games. The truth is hard to accept for some, I get it, but if you're still waiting for the hammer to drop, you might have to wait for a cold day in hell before it actually happens.