MSU beat rival UM in 2021 despite Wolverines knowing 'almost every signal'
Beating your rival in a top 10 showdown is extremely tough to do and impressive to accomplish. Now imagine how much more difficult and notable that achievement is if your opponent "knew almost every signal the whole game." That's what Michigan State was apparently up against when they played Connor Stalions and the Wolverines in 2021.
Stalions has been back in the news this past week after TCU head coach Sonny Dykes shared that his staff was tipped off about Michigan's extensive sign stealing practice ahead of their 2022 College Football Playoff semifinal matchup with the Wolverines. That story hitting the news cycle didn't sit well with Stalions, who took to social media platform X early on Saturday morning to fire back at Dykes' comments. The full post on X from Stalions can be seen below:
The notable takeaway from Stalions' post for us Spartans, though, was the fact that he admitted to knowing "almost every signal the whole game" against Michigan State in both 2021 and 2022. The Spartans were led by Kenneth Walker III in 2021 to knock off the Wolverines but came up short in a road loss at Michigan in 2022.
Now, of course, Stalions admitting to having the signals of the Spartans is not technically against any rules. Sign stealing in college football is fine to do (and apparently done by many schools), but how you conduct sign stealing is what got Stalions and Michigan into hot water with the NCAA. The outcome from that investigation and potential penalties for the Wolverines have not yet been announced by the NCAA.
Regardless of how Stalions was able to know all of the Spartans' signals in those two games, its quite the advantage and statement to say he had that kind of knowledge -- which makes that 2021 victory for the Spartans even more impressive in my opinion. So while it's been nearly four years since Walker found the endzone five times to lead the Spartans past the Wolverines, the lore of that day continues to grow for Michigan State football and those who got to enjoy that fun afternoon in East Lansing, Mich.
In case you wanted to relive that fun Spartans' rivalry win over Stalions and the Wolverines, here is the highlights video below:
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.
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