Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy said that potential NCAA punishment for the Wolverines shouldn't take away from the team's achievements this season ahead of Monday's national title game against Washington.
"We did things the right way as players," McCarthy said Wednesday, according to ESPN's Heather Dinich. "It would be very unfortunate (to) not get recognized for all the hard work that we put in and everything we accomplished over this last year."
The NCAA has been investigating Michigan for an in-person scouting and sign-stealing scheme that resulted in the Big Ten suspending head coach Jim Harbaugh for the regular season's final three games. Connor Stalions - a former Michigan staffer at the center of the investigation - resigned on Nov. 3. Sign-stealing isn't prohibited in college football, but in-person scouting of opponents has been banned since 1994.
"It sucks because we do work our butts off," McCarthy said. "We do watch so much film and look for the little tendencies and spend like 10, 15 minutes on one clip alone just looking at all the little details of the posture of the linebackers or the D-end."
McCarthy added, "You can say it's all sign-stealing, but you know, there's a lot more that goes into play ... a lot of work that gets masked just because of the outside perception of what sign-stealing is all about."
The quarterback also asserted that Ohio State was legally stealing Michigan's signs in 2019 or 2020.
The Wolverines are additionally being investigated for alleged recruiting violations during the COVID-19 season. Due to that probe, the school suspended Harbaugh for three games to start the 2023 campaign after the NCAA rejected a negotiated four-game ban for the veteran coach. The NCAA reportedly recently notified Michigan that Harbaugh is being charged with a Level I violation for allegedly providing false or misleading information during the investigation.
Harbaugh said Wednesday that conversations about potential NCAA penalties for Michigan are "living in the world of rumorville or speculation" at this point.
"We don't have any room to be doing that," Harbaugh added.
McCarthy said the team is focused on continuing to prepare for the Huskies.
"We know the work that we put in. ... Whatever happened, with all the outside controversies, it's out of our control, and whatever the NCAA wants to do is out of our control, but we're going to appreciate the things we did control and accomplish," the junior passer said.
Led by McCarthy's three-touchdown outing, Michigan advanced to the College Football Playoff title game by edging Alabama in overtime in the Rose Bowl. Both the Wolverines and Huskies are 14-0.
