Southeastern Conference Should Add Michigan In Next Realignment Round - Maize & Blue Has SEC (Southeastern Cheaters) Ilk Of Late

Remember when Michigan was this pristine football program?

It was not that long ago. As recently as the end of the 2007 regular season, outgoing Michigan coach Lloyd Carr did not approve of then-LSU coach Les Miles as a candidate to replace him. Miles and Carr were assistant coaches at Michigan together from 1987-94, and apparently Carr did not like Miles' lifestyle. Never mind that Miles was single until 1993.

That's a little highbrow. That's a little pious, especially considering the coaching profession. And that's how Michigan overall tended to be for decades. A sometimes stuffy institution with a holier than thou attitude right down to a somewhat elitist fan base. Michigan has historically looked down on Ohio State because of its supposed - egad - rural nature. It has looked down on the rest of the Big Ten as beneath it, which it usually was, but that's not the point.

Who does Michigan think it is? The Mount Sinai of college football?

Michigan's Highbrow Self-Reputation Taking Hits

Well, it has usually been No. 1 in college football in all-time victories, and just reached 1,000 this season. It is currently at 1,003 after beating Alabama, 27-20, in overtime in the College Football Playoff semifinal on Monday. The Wolverines and coach Jim Harbaugh go for 1,004 and the program's first national championship since 1997 on Monday against Washington (7:30 p.m., ESPN) at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Alabama is second in victories all-time at 965, followed by Ohio State at 964. Alabama last won a national title in 2020. That was its sixth over the previous 12 years under coach Nick Saban. So the win over Alabama was particularly sweet for the Blue & Maize nation.

For Michigan has always looked down on the roguish and country Southeastern Conference and all its sordid NCAA investigations and major sanctions at virtually every member institution. There are several multiple major NCAA offenders in the SEC, such as Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and LSU, to name a few. In the wild 1980s and on, the SEC was often jokingly referred to as the Southeastern Cheaters, where postseason bans happen almost as often as postseason bowls.

But things started to change for Michigan's spotless reputation when it replaced Carr with a definite non-"Michigan Man" in Rich Rodriguez of - OMG - West Virginia. He was a disaster. And in 2010, lo and behold, the NCAA slapped Michigan with sanctions and probation for the first time in program history, which had spanned more than 100 years. These were minor offenses, having to do with breaking practice time limits and failing to properly monitor the program. But this was Michigan.

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh Finessed NCAA Rules On Arrival

Michigan went back to a Michigan Man in coach Brady Hoke, but that didn't work either. Then, it landed meteoric rising head coach of college and the NFL and former Michigan quarterback Harbaugh. On arrival, Harbaugh pushed the envelope of NCAA rules by starting satellite camps for recruiting purposes. The NCAA soon outlawed those.

But this didn't stop Harbaugh.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh cheers for the Wolverines in interview with ESPN's Rece Davis after beating Alabama on Monday in the Rose Bowl. (Photo by John Cordes/Icon via Getty Images)

Harbaugh today is on the verge of achieving something that not even an SEC football coach has come close to doing.

Jim Harbaugh May Win National Title Despite Missing 6 Games

Harbaugh could win a national championship on Monday night after missing six of his team's 15 games on suspension for NCAA violations.

Yes. The No. 1 Wolverines will be 15-0 if it beats No. 2 Washington (14-0). But Harbaugh will only be 9-0. Not even NCAA violations record veteran Florida coach Charley Pell did that much game time in the 1980s.

The first three games Harbaugh missed were a self-imposed penalty by Michigan for Harbaugh's "illicit recruiting" over a recruiting dead period during COVID in 2020. According to the NCAA, Harbaugh lied to NCAA investigators about the recruiting. The NCAA is not the greatest organization. Say what you want about it, and you probably already have. But it does not like to be lied to, and Harbaugh will pay for that in addition to that three-game suspension, unless of course he is coaching an NFL team soon.

The NCAA delivered Michigan its notice of allegations regarding those recruiting violations last December. It labeled the part about Harbaugh's lying as a Level I violation, which is the most serious. And there are four Level II violations tagged on.

Sign Stealing The Latest Transgression By Highbrow Michigan

Last October, the bombshell dropped. An illegal scouting and sign scheme at Michigan was unearthed. In November, the Big Ten Conference - with cooperation from the NCAA's early investigation into the systemic, organized and sinister sign stealing system - suspended Harbaugh for the last three regular season games of the season, pending more investigation. The NCAA is expected to zero in on that investigation this year with likely more serious sanctions than the COVID recruiting investigation.

Shortly after the Big Ten suspended Harbaugh, Michigan leaders in true Michigan form said, "Well, we'll just leave the Big Ten."

So, when's the next SEC realignment round? Michigan would fit right in. And the SEC office may not be so prickly about rules violations as the Big Ten office has been. Just saying.

Michigan's delusional attitude - under the direction of Harbaugh - would also fit right into the good ole boy SEC.

"They’re on a mission," Harbaugh said of his team before its Nov. 18 game at Maryland for win 1,000. "This year it’s been even more than the wins. It’s a mission of faith. It’s a mission of speaking truth to power."

Was that Harbaugh, or Woodward and Bernstein?

You're the one in power, Jim, and the NCAA, the Big Ten and a few reporters are trying to ask for the truth from you.

"I would have to say it’s got to be America’s team. It’s got to be America’s team," Harbaugh said last November.

Harbaugh's version of America appears a bit warped. Unless you think America's team includes alleged rampant cheating by staffers via electronics and other equipment to film and record other team’s sidelines during other games to garner signs and signals against NCAA rules for Michigan's use in future games.

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh Tells OutKick It's In 'Rumor-ville?'

"I guess you’re living in the world of rumor-ville or speculation," Harbaugh said Wednesday when asked about the real possibility of the NCAA and/or the College Football Playoff committee forfeiting or vacating Michigan wins and therefore a possible national title this season.

It's not rumor, Jim, if you've been suspended three games for it as sort of an appetizer. There are likely full meals of NCAA enforcement coming.

"I'd say a good number - 80 percent of the teams in college football steal signs," Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy said Wednesday, using the old "everyone else is doing it" argument. "It's just a thing about football. It's been around for years."

That was the same argument Houston Astros fans used when Major League Baseball investigations found them guilty of a major sign stealing operation using a complex and aggressive system of video recording. All MLB teams have signed steals for generations. Yes, during games with the naked eye. The Astros perfected it with sinister and state of the art precision.

Yes, J.J., many in college football try to steal signs - DURING the games in which they play. Not everyone sends out staff minions, like Michigan analyst Connor Stalions (and possibly others), to other games to film signs as if he is Steven Spielberg, OK. That has NOT been around for years.

McCarthy's justification thinking would fit in the SEC.

"We actually had to adapt because when Ohio State was stealing our signs in 2020 or '19, which is legal and they were doing it," McCarthy tried again, but was intercepted again. "We had to get up to the level that they were at, and we had to make it an even playing field."

That's like saying you robbed a bank to get to the same income "level" that your neighbors "were at," because your job's pay wasn't cutting it. Your superiors, J.J., made "an even playing field" on which Ohio State was winning legally into an uneven playing field for your benefit by cheating.

Michigan Man Until The End

But the thing that really would make SEC football cheating historians most proud of Michigan was the fact that fired Michigan analyst Stalions - the kingpin or fall guy of Michigan's scouting and sign stealing mechanism - was at the Rose Bowl Monday when Michigan beat Alabama.

That's very SEC. Returning to the team of the crime.

Now, Stalions could have well got a ticket and made the game purely on his own without Harbaugh or anyone else at Michigan knowing anything about it.

Something tells me different, though. Wouldn't it be just like the Michigan way to make sure Stalions made the game and got some face time just to put it in the face of America.

After all, Michigan is America's team, right?

The gall. There is no shame. I'm surprised no one at Michigan has chanted, "Bring on the sanctions!"

Congratulations, Michigan, you may soon become an honorary member of the SEC.