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The Big Ten Officially Puts Michigan And Jim Harbaugh On Notice, What Happens Next? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Tuesday, November seventh. I'm your host,
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tom Or. The Michigan State game is in five days. The game against
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Michigan in eighteen days. Very sorry if you were hoping to talk about the
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Michigan State game today, we are talking nothing but Michigan. There is lots
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of news on that front. There were folks who were expecting a big decision
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on Monday. No big decision, but there it was definitely news to talk
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about on Monday. We're going to break down a few of the different storylines,
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and we're going to do it with our buddy Mark Givler of Buckehuddle dot
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com. I guess let's start with just sort of the news of the day.
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We'll just hit a couple of these and then get some insight from Mark
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on what it all means. First of all, Adam Rittenberg from ESPN says
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a Michigan official has confirmed to ESPN the school received formal notification from the Big
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Ten of potential disciplinary action. This is a step stated in the league sportsmanship
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policy. I promise I'm not going to read any more of those bylaws to
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you if you have not heard them by now you can find them online.
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But that is the first step towards a potential punishment from the Big Ten of
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Michigan. So next up. Michigan Athletic director Ward Manual said he was supposed
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to be on the CFP Selection Committee meetings this week, he is not traveling
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to Texas. His statement is quote, I want to provide an update regarding
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my participation with the College Football Playoff Committee this week. I will not be
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traveling to our weekly meeting in Dallas, but instead we'll stay in ann Arbor
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attending to important matters regarding the ongoing investigation into our football program. I look
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forward to being back in the room with my fellow committee members next week and
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every week through the end of the season. Now how does he know he's
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going to be able to potentially be out, Well, this is probably not
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going to drag on that much longer, at least the initial stages of this
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pete Thanmil of ESPN says, don't expect any action from by the Big Ten
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in the Michigan signed stealing case for at least the next forty eight hours.
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So that came out on Monday morning, so to say Wednesday midday or so
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as league sportsmanship rules allow for a quote reasonable unquote chance to respond, but
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to an institution or individual. Sources have told the ESPN that there will be
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a legal battle if there's a punitive suspension by the Big Ten. To Jim
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Harbaugh, all right, Mark, let's start with just the rough timeline.
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Right now, it feels like, Okay, Monday, the Big Ten notifies
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Michigan. So forty eight hours or so that Pete Themill's floating, Pete the
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Mamill's generally pretty plugged in. That tells me we're probably looking at some kind
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of a decision from the Big Ten coming out maybe Wednesday, late morning,
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early afternoon. Am I am I on the right track here? Yeah?
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I mean I think that would be the earliest. So I'm kind of operating
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under the assumption that there's gonna be a little bit back and forth once Michigan
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has their opportunity to respond, and so I think Wednesday afternoons probably about the
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earliest. I'm expecting I could see this dragonal Thursday or Friday anyway, before
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we get anything concrete in terms of what the Big Ten wants to do and
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then what Michigan's response to that is going to be if they do file some
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type of legal complaint. And I don't think they're bluffing, you know,
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I think a lot of people are saying, oh, it's a bluff.
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I don't think they're bluffing. And I think based on the history of just
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the NCAA being all over the map with how they punish schools, it's probably
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the right move for them to try and get this thing tied up to where
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no one can act until the season's over. That does sort of feel like
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what the strategy is right now, because there's you know, the Santa Onno
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put out that letter that was you know, nominally a letter to Big Ten
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Commissioner Tony Petiti, but oops, somehow it got leaked to the public,
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and you know, that did come out before the meeting last Friday, but
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talked all about due process and needing to let the process play out. That
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process playing out would coincidentally allow the twenty twenty three Michigan team to play its
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season without facing any kind of consequences, and then the penalty would come at
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some point in the indefinite future if there was a penalty. The Big Ten
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seems like it is motivated to any petit he seems like it is motivated by
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some of the pressure from the other coaches in the league to potentially do something
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sooner than that. And there was some interesting reporting from Ross Dellinger of si
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dot Com on Monday. He said the NCAA shares its findings with a Big
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Ten quote. The NCAA has revealed its findings in the Michigan signs, dealing
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investigation to the Big Ten, and the conference continues to consider a multi game
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suspension of head coach Jim Harball as the school gears up for legal actions.
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Sources tell Yahoo Sports there's more that we're going to get to in a minute.
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But one thing that makes me wonder mark about the timing of the release
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of the decision. If we're looking at a multi game suspension of Jim Harball,
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and that has sort of felt like the root. You know, there's
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been enough smoke around that that that feels like, whether it's two games or
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a you know, a more indefinite suspension, that sort of feels like where
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they're trending in terms of it's some kind of a punishment. Can't remember they
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have to get a an airplane and go to State College Pennsylvania on Friday for
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a game of some consequence. So I don't know when that decision. You
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know, how long can you push that decision back with the knowledge that,
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hey, he's got to get in an airplane, this is a pretty big
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football game coming up on Saturday in State College. You wonder how that plays
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into the timing of all this stuff if they can't release it before Wednesday,
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but they're probably not going to want to release it Friday afternoon. I mean,
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I guess we're sort of dialing in our time, but I don't know
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how that all impacts the timing of when this all actually happens. Yeah,
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I mean that's kind of the million dollar question right now. I would think
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we would hear something by Thursday night. But at the same time, like,
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if you're Michigan, is there a way you can Like that sounds a
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little bit weird, but if you're Michigan, can you do anything in your
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power to delay any type of action on either end of this thing till like
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Monday morning? Because my thing here is this isn't about First of all,
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this isn't about due process. There's nothing to do with due process. That's
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how Michigan's framing this. This is about competing for national championship and doing everything
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possible to compete for this twenty twenty three national championship. So if they go
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out and somehow lose to Penn State on Saturday, what is their willingness to
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continue to fight some of this stuff? I guess that's my question in addition
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to the timing of when the Big Ten will render some type of decision,
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and obviously Michigan at that point will decide whether or not they need to respond
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legally or not. There's a second storyline here, and that is to me,
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the outcome of the Penn State game on Saturday, Because if they lose
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to Penn State on Saturday, I think they're out, and I wouldn't have
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said that a month ago. I think they're out. I don't think the
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Committee will put them in. I really don't. I mean, there's maybe
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some scenarios where they could backdoor their way somehow I guess, into the Big
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Ten into a Big Ten Championship, and then maybe there's some discussion. But
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I think if the Committee can find an excuse to leave them out, I
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think they will. And so what happens if they do lose to Penn State?
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Yeah, that is definitely an interesting question. And you know, just
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in terms of back during their way into the Big Ten Championship, if they
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do lose to Penn State and they are a seven point favorite, and they
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have not looked like they've gotten pressed by anyone so far this year, this
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will obviously be the best opponent they've played all season. If they did lose
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to Penn State, then they would have a loss, Penn State would have
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a loss, and even if Michigan beat Ohio State, the tiebreaker that it
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would go down to if all three teams finish eleven to one and with only
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one loss in the conference, the tie breaker would go down to would be
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the record of the Big Ten West teams that they played. That number is
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sort of changing week by week, but as of the last time I looked
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at it, Michigan would have been in third place in that in those standings,
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so not super likely to end up going to the Big Ten Championship game.
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And then, yeah, I think at that point that makes life real
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easy on the college Football Playoff selection committee, which can then avoid any sort
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of concern over you know, will this be sort of this looming cloud over
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the playoff and you know, that would solve the problem for them. But
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that's you know, there's we'll see if the Penn State team that showed up
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against Ohio State can can beat the Michigan team that we have seen all year
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this year. The interesting thing in the Ross Dellinger report that I haven't touched
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on yet is here's a quote the direct the NCAA's findings do not connect the
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in person scouting and recording of opponent sidelines to Harbaugh. Sources say an absence
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of evidence essential to a potential lawsuit from the school and coach against the league.
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So I would assume that that is coming from the Michigan side of things.
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But either way, if it's true, then that might help Michigan's case
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in terms of you know, there's not any direct evidence. Of course,
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the NCAA forces. You know, the NCAA says head coaches are responsible for
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everything below you know, everything that everyone below them does. But I don't
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know if that's the case in this case. And you know, if Michigan
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can file an injunction and just sort of you know, kick the can down
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the road a little bit, you know, I don't know how long does
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that last? And I you know, you may not know the answer to
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that either does that does that delay things a day, a week, a
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month, two months, because if it delays it two months, that gets
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you through the end of the football season, and then you know, maybe
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it's mission accomplished. Yeah, and Michigan, not to my knowledge, could
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request that. Then they're filing like, hey, you know, we got
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sixty days whatever it is left in the season. We're we have a chance
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to win a national championship. This would derail our national championship hopes. Can't
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we can't We play out the season and then if later on it's decided that,
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you know, we have to vacate or whatever, then we'll cross that
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bridge when we get there. I think they can actually request you know,
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a certain amount of time. I mean they can ask. So we'll see.
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Like I said, I think it's probably the smart play. Where it
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could burn them is if they make this just a legal circus. I can't
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imagine the NCAA. I mean, the Big ten might be different, but
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I can't imagine the NCAA is going to look fondly upon that when they ultimately
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get around to putting out whatever punishment sanctions they may put out. So it's
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it's a calculated risk. But the fact of the matter is this is Michigan's
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best team and since nineteen ninety seven, and so they are going to do
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what they can to try and play this thing out and kind of pay the
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piper later if they have to. And you know, you don't even if
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Jim Harball is going to be the coach next year, So I mean,
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this could be there, This could be their shot. So I mean,
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it is what it is at this point. It's not from from their point
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of view. I don't think this is a bad move. And now it'll
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be interesting to see, you know, how this goes, because you know
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what's going to happen. If they can get this moved until let's say mid
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January, the minute this thing has to actually go into a discovery phase,
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they're going to drop the lawsuit. So it's like, how long can they
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get before the So if the discovery phase is January twentieth, they'll they'll drop
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the lawsuit the day after the season ends, because I don't think they want
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to. I don't think they want discovery here. It would seem very unlikely
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that discovery would would go well for them. Yeah, that's going to be
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something that will have to you know, there's so many different angles to this
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whole thing in terms of timing and all of that, And yeah, that
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is one of the general that's not just specific to this case. Generally,
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if you can avoid discovery, if you were involved in a case, that's
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generally beneficial for all parties involved. So that's not even a just specific to
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this case thing, but I'm guessing it's probably true for this case as well.
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This has been such a wild story because it's just been every day,
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there's just been stuff flying back and forth in terms of, you know,
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here's the latest rumors from the here's what Michigan did side, and here's the
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latest rumors from the Michigan side about what whoever else did or who's behind this
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or whatever. Monday afternoon, there was your AP report out of an arbor.
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The quote I'm just going to quote from the report here, a former
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employee had a Big ten football program, said Monday it was his job to
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steal sigence, and he was given details from multiple league schools to compile a
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spreadsheet of play calling signals used by Michigan last year. The employee said he
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recently shared the documents which showed the wolverine signs and corresponding plays, as well
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as screenshots of text message exchange exchanges with staffers at other Big Ten schools with
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Michigan. So Mark I had the I kind of read through the whole article.
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There was there was more when I read through the whole article, and
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I had the same the same response that a couple other folks did, which
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was, I don't know that that's an NC double A violation, and we're
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gonna we're going to give you both sides of the both sides of the political
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political aisle. Here, Matt Brown, who writes the Extra Points newsletter,
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who is an Ohio State alumnus but also is a pretty well respected national writer,
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says, at first glance, nothing in this story appears to be an
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NC double A violation, but it may bolster the argument that Michigan's ledged wrongdoings
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aren't so serious as to merit immediate action beyond the typical investigations process. And
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then Space Coyote, who is someone he's he's a scheme guy. He is
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a Michigan guy, but he is a scheme guy who you will hear ross
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Fulton and I talk about a good bit again, very well respected, but
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he says, hang on, I'm going to do this. He says that,
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sorry, I have a lot of tabs open, a number of rival
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fans are applying. Quote but I thought signs dealing wasn't illegal. This is
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true. And unless the NCAA wants to say staff sharing info is effectively advanced
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scouting for at the season, no way they do nothing in this new information
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is illegal. So there you go. That is a you know, well
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respected Michigan affiliated person, a well respected Ohio state affiliated person, both kind
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of saying the same thing there. So you know, again, what's the
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what's the story? There? Is the story there that you know as as
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Matt says that you're trying to you know, well everybody does it and sort
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of shaved down the how much worse this is than what everyone else does?
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Is this just a get the spotlight pointed a different direction? What's the what's
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the deal there? Yes, it's it's it's both. But I do think
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from I do think the long game there is well, you know, it's
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kind of like the sh it's a gray thing, you know, uh,
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you know, light light, gray, dark gray. You know, we
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were all operating in the gray are. Our gray was just a little darker
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than their gray, and you know, because of that, it's just not
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that big of a deal. I really think that's the play there. Obviously,
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what what was divulged in that story was not against the rules. So
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what yes, what they're going to do is say, look how close these
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two things are and one of them's against the rules and one of them isn't.
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How ridiculous is that? You know that that's the game that's going to
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get played. But you know, we'll see, you know how that.
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I mean, someone the NCAA has to buy that, you know, someone
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someone in the NCAA has to buy that, and someone of the big tests
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to buy that. So we will see. But it's again, it's a
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it's a well timed kind of pr dump issue, and you know, again,
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we'll just have to wait and see how a big ten an NCAA process
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that well. And we will be watching that very closely over the next twenty
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four to forty eight to maybe seventy two or so hours. And then there's
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a pretty big football game happening Saturday, and then there's another big football game
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happening Saturday evening in Columbus as well as the Buckeye's host Michigan State. There
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we go. We talked about that game for you. Boy, this is
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what an eventful week this is going to be and what a I mean a
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historic potentially week this is going to be. I remember going through the twenty
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twenty football season and thinking just about every week. Boy, this is something
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you're going to read about in the history books, you know, and you're
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going to people are going to make a you know, write books about this
16:37
season and movies about this season and whatever else. You kind of get the
16:41
sense we're going to get a thirty for thirty on stuff that's happening right now
16:45
involving Michigan at some point, and boy, you're going to be you know,
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in the same way that people gripe about the nineteen seventy three Big ten
16:52
typebreaker and how that all went down. That was what fifty years ago.
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Now, well fifty years from now, people might be talking about this this
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week and some of the stuff that's happened in recent weeks as well. So,
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boy, living history. May you live in interesting times, as they
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say, we are definitely living in interesting times, and a great place to
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be living during those interesting times would be at Buckey Huddle dot com. I
17:12
just checked a minute ago. Every time I check, if I've been out
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of you know, out of pocket for an hour or two. Somehow,
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our thread on the Michigan story has gained another five pages or so of posts
17:23
and new stories and new new ideas and new you know, theories floated by
17:29
people on both sides. Holy smoke. So over four thousand posts, two
17:33
hundred pages, and it just keeps going. And did you get the sense
17:36
it's probably gonna keep going for a while. A lot of information in there,
17:38
a lot of there's a lot of stuff in there that it doesn't necessarily
17:41
always get reported publicly. So great source of information and definitely entertainment on the
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huddle Board presented by Jeff Ruby at Buckey Huddle dot com. If you want
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want to try try it out, think give it a shot for a month.
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Boy, would this be a great time to do it. Not only
18:14
do you have the Michigan thing going on, the next month includes the Michigan
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game, the potential Big Championship game, the College Football Playoff selection show,
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the lead up to the early signing day. Man oh man, is it
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going to be a busy and eventful week a month at Buckeyehuddle dot com.
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Day interview on Tuesday. We'll have another live show plan for Tuesday evening for
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the college football playoff rankings updates and guess what I'm guessing we will have more
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live shows later in the week as news continues to develop during this incredibly,
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incredibly crazy time in Ohio State, Big Ten and college football. What is
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time to be alive? That will do it for today. Thank you guys
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all, for joining us, have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.