This afternoon, amid the Michigan football scandal, sign-stealing allegations, and even a three-game Jim Harbaugh suspension, the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines (10-0,7-0 Big Ten) will face the Maryland Terrapins (6-4, 3-4) in College Park, MD, in hopes of staying perfect heading into next week’s bout against Ohio State. Leading up to the game, a few Terps were asked about the allegations that U-M is facing, and it sounds like the team is pretty locked in on the same thing that Michigan is: just getting the win this weekend.
Michigan football scandal takes another twist ahead of Maryland game
The latest developments in the Michigan football sign-stealing scandal are quite interesting, with ex-linebackers coach Chris Partridge being fired on Friday and a U-M football booster being linked to Connor Stalions’ scheme, which he denies. We covered both extensively on Friday, though our best summary and thoughts on the latest reports can be found in the tweet below.
What are Maryland players and coaches saying about U-M’s sign-stealing allegations?
The Terps just need a win this weekend, and there is no team in the Big Ten that Maryland wants to beat more than Michigan football — sign-stealing or not.
“It definitely would be a program-changing win, for sure,” Maryland wide receiver Thai Felton said ahead of today’s game. “It would be the breakthrough I feel like we needed. That’s something that Coach Locksley talked about — it would be the breakthrough this program has needed.
“We try to pay little or no attention to that at all,” he added, talking about the sign-stealing allegations.
Little attention is being paid to Michigan football scandal
The sign-stealing scandal is impossible not to hear about — it is all over the news, social media, and word of mouth travels fast, especially within a conference. Additionally, former Michigan football offensive coordinator Josh Gattis — who was the Wolverines’ OC in 2021 — is now with Maryland, so there are some ties to Jim Harbaugh and his staff in College Park right now.
“You see stuff online, but you don’t really want to pay too much attention to it,” said Maryland defensive back Tarheeb Still. “But this week, they’re our next game, so really just focused on things that are going to help us win the game and not so much the outside noise, outside stuff they’ve got going on in their program.”
Sign-stealing will be a non-factor, per Maryland Terrapins head coach Mike Locksley
According to Maryland head coach Mike Locksley, there are no excuses for the Terrapins tomorrow — he says that his team has already changed its signals and done whatever else it needed to do over the past few weeks in preparation for Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines. Obviously, Harbaugh will no longer be with his team on game day today; however, he has still traveled to College Park with the rest of the staff and players.
“Once we heard (the sign-stealing allegations) two or three weeks ago, we made a lot of the necessary adjustments because if one has them, as you read and hear, anybody can have them,” Maryland head coach Mike Locksley said. “And so we’ve taken necessary precautions to just make sure that again, what we can control. On offense, defense, we’ve definitely mixed up our communications and how we’re able to do it, and so we don’t feel like that will have any effect on our game.”
Maryland really needs this win, as does Michigan
Still, the Terrapins’ head man knows that — with or without the signals — beating Michigan football would be massive, yet that is far easier said than done.
“We know that they’re talented, but I can tell you we’re talented too,” he said. “We don’t always play smart, and that’s my job to get us to play better and to play smarter, to be more efficient and execute at a higher level.”
Michigan football and Maryland will face off at noon (ET) this afternoon in College Park, MD — the team’s final test before hosting No. 2 Ohio State at the Big House next weekend in a game that will decide the Big Ten title race and more for the conference as a whole.
Thank you for reading Blue by Ninety. For more Michigan Athletics and Big Ten content from Blue by Ninety, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. For feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email our Publisher at [email protected]. Also, be sure to check out our shop and our podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms. It is because of your support that we have become one of the fastest-growing and most influential Michigan media outlets there is!
FB RECRUITING5 days ago
FB RECRUITING5 days ago
FB RECRUITING21 hours ago
BASKETBALL4 days ago
FB RECRUITING2 days ago
FB RECRUITING5 days ago
BASKETBALL2 days ago
BASKETBALL2 days ago