Popular analyst calls for Michigan football CFP ban

Today, live on ESPN show ‘First Take,’ popular sports talk show host and analyst Stephen A Smith publicly called for a Michigan football CFP ban. The College Football Playoff committee, which has already met and discussed the sign-stealing allegations against Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines, said that they see this as an “NCAA issue,” not their issue, yet that has not stopped Smith and others from stirring up more outrage over the past few weeks.

Popular analyst calls for Michigan football CFP ban

Stephen A Smith is perhaps one of the most popular and most watched sports analysts/sports show hosts in the country right now, though his analysis of college football is not known to be anything special. Today, with an ongoing NCAA investigation into the Michigan football program for alleged illegal sign-stealing methods, Smith called for the College Football Playoff to ban Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines until things with the NCAA wrap up.

For context, it is not expected that the investigation will be over until after the 2023 season — the NCAA is well-known for taking a while to come to any real conclusions in investigations like this one.

“I spoke at (the University of) Michigan last week, the Michigan Sports Business Conference — I was a guest speaker there last week,” Stephen A Smith began. “I said it while I was on (Michigan’s) campus, right down the block from the Big House, and I’ll be damned if I’m not gonna say it now: the Michigan Wolverine should be banned from the College Football Playoffs until the investigation is complete.”

More from Stephen A Smith on his push for a College Football Playoff punishment for Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines

Smith did not stop there, either, continuing on to justify his call for a Michigan football CFP ban until the sign-stealing investigation is wrapped up on the NCAA’s part.

“(Michigan football) does not get to go to the College Football Playoff and rob, potentially, another institution from getting one of those final four spots if the possibility is open that you may have cheated to get your way there. The fact that the investigation is still open is nonsensical to me — it makes no sense. Expedite the process, and reach a conclusion.

“Tell me (Michigan) didn’t do it — I’m fine with that. Tell me there’s not enough evidence to validate they did it — I’m fine. But as long as the investigation is open, there is no way on earth that you can have the Michigan Wolverines going to the College Football Playoff when it is possible that they may have had somebody working for them, traveling around to other schools, stealing signs, and giving them an unfair advantage.”

Smith wraps up regarding sign-stealing scandal and Michigan football CFP ban

Stephen A Smith continued on his rant about Michigan football and the CFP, even stating that the scandal all first started when Michigan saw its rise back to the top of college football back in 2021.

“Ever since this alleged scandal began, Michigan has been winning games over the last two years, and they’ve been in the College Football Playoffs each time. Sorry — you can’t let them go to the playoffs with this (scandal) hovering over them. Come to a conclusion — tell us they didn’t do it. Tell us there’s not enough evidence to incriminate them, then I’m good with it. It can’t be ‘Well we don’t know yet, we haven’t decided yet,’ and they still go to the playoff. No — absolutely not.”

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