Analyst breaks down how the Michigan football scandal may end

The Michigan football scandal regarding Connor Stalions and his alleged sign-stealing operation has taken the news cycle by storm. With the future of the program — including head coach Jim Harbaugh — very uncertain right now, ESPN analyst Bruce Feldman recently took some time to break down how everything will shake out for the Maize and Blue.

Analyst predicts how the Michigan football scandal may end

Bruce Feldman is one of the top college analysts in the media world right now, and many Michigan football fans may agree with him on his analysis as to how everything will conclude for the Wolverines. Unless something new comes up with Matt Weiss and the FBI investigation there, here is how Feldman sees everything playing out, including Jim Harbaugh bolting back to the NFL at the end of the 2023 season.

“Michigan football is going to drive a lot of eyeballs, no matter what,” Feldman explained on the Rich Eisen Show. “I think it’s going to be really hard for the NCAA to get out in front of this. The only thing I can compare it to is that about a decade ago or a dozen years ago, Cam Newton took college football by storm when he came from junior college back to the SEC. He was the best college football player I’ve ever seen, and there was all kinds of drama about the NCAA was going to get them or whatever.

“They (Auburn) won a national title, and it was almost all Cam Newton. … And if I’m not mistaken, they still got (to keep their championships), and he (Newton) still got his Heisman.”

Can NCAA take action amid sign-stealing scandal? Like not, says Feldman

It has also been reported that, if Michigan football is to get in any trouble this year, it would have to come from the Big Ten or the College Football Playoff committee — the NCAA will not move fast enough to take action this year.

“I think JJ McCarthy’s playing at a really high level. I’m sure they will do the ‘us against the world’ thing,” he added. “I could be wrong on this, and I probably will be, but it doesn’t seem like the NCAA ever moves this fast. So I think at some point, Jim Harbaugh wins, and Jim Harbaugh leaves (to the NFL). I don’t know if he goes to the Bears; I don’t know if he goes to the Chargers. I don’t know where he goes. But I don’t think he’s going to be there (with Michigan football) next year.”

Jim Harbaugh back to the NFL in 2024?

Bruce Feldman made it very clear that, despite the outcome of the 2023 season for the Wolverines and despite how the Michigan football scandal over sign-stealing plays out, he suspects that this will be the final season of the Jim Harbaugh era in Ann Arbor.

“My sense is that Jim Harbaugh, who’s obviously danced with the NFL a couple times the last two years and he has a really good record as an NFL head coach in the past, will bounce after this season,” he said. “And the stuff that he’s already in the middle of the NCAA hot water with in terms of Covid violations during the Covid dead period from a few years ago, that they won’t be able to do anything to him and they may be able to add sanctions to his alma mater, Michigan.”

Michigan football returns to action next weekend

Next weekend, Michigan football will face the Purdue Boilermakers before heading to State College for a crucial bout with the No. 10 Penn State Nittany Lions — a game that will largely determine the rest of the season for Jim Harbaugh amid the sign-stealing scandal. With just four games between the Wolverines and a third-straight Big Ten title game appearance, things are really heating up in Ann Arbor right now.

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