Featured photo credit Gerardo Vazquez Garcia
ANN ARBOR, MI (Nov 9, 2025) – Michigan climbed four spots in the College Football Playoff (CFP) poll, but it did not go unnoticed that Michigan didn’t play this weekend due to a suspiciously scheduled bye week.
The CFP committee, while not involved in scheduling, pointed to their new guideline of “team vibe” over “game play.” According to the committee spokesperson, “The new VIR, or Vibe Index Ranking (TM) – which measures sideline swagger, player audacity, and NIL sponsorship – Michigan posted a season high 9.7 during their bye week. For context, in state rival Michigan State’s highest rating was 2.6 and that was last year. Frankly, no team does a bye week like Michigan.”
ESPN analysts spent the afternoon debating whether head coach Sherrone Moore’s absence at Schembechler hall had any impact on the ranking. “Michigan is 8-0 when the coach is suspended”, noted Desmond Howard. “A bye week is surprisingly like a coach suspension, so the higher ranking is warranted.”
Connor Stalions, former low-level Michigan staffer together with Netflix, released a documentary Sunday afternoon claiming a lot of teams rise in the rankings during the bye week. “Texas jumped 3 spots. Georgia Tech jumped 2 spots. Everybody does it.” We tried to confirm this claim and discovered there is literally no way to verify it.
Stalions’ documentary has revived discussions on Michigan’s cheating scandal during the 2023 National Title run. It was discovered that Michigan had been involved in the biggest cheating scandal in college football history. Stalions himself was watching football games as they were happening. Is it possible Stalions influenced the CFP committee?
The head coach of another Big Ten football team, speaking on condition of anonymity said, “Yeah, I heard Michigan was involved in some bye week shenanigans. It happens a lot. It’s not a surprise. But we heard what they were doing was really next level.”
An unbiased Ohio State Buckeye fan concluded, “[M]ichigan was #21 going into the bye week, didn’t play a game, and they’re #18 coming out of the bye week? They cheated. It’s not rocket science.”
Is the CFP rigged, or did Michigan cheat? An NCAA investigation could be looming, but if something isn’t done soon, Michigan could win the National Championship without taking another snap.