CFB insider reveals likely timeline for Jim Harbaugh suspension

During Saturday morning's edition of College GameDay, ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel shared with us the latest on the Michigan sign-stealing scandal. With former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions announcing his resignation on Friday evening, it appears that Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti could look at suspending Harbaugh in the wake of this scandal, as soon as ... maybe Sunday?

Through his attorney, Stalions said that he acted alone and that nobody on the Michigan staff knew about his alleged sign-stealing ways. Thamel's ESPN colleague Rece Davis said that while that may be true, that is what every person guilty of something says as a scandal is being uncovered. Clearly, the Big Ten coaches are furious over Michigan's incredible actions to gain any advantage over them.

As Thamel explained, the likeliest punishment for Michigan is for Harbaugh to be suspended. It could be for a few games. It could be for the rest of the season. It could be indefinitely. We do not know right now. What we do know is that it will not be coming until after Michigan's Week 10 game vs. Purdue. Obviously, new Purdue head coach Ryan Walters had scathing comments about Harbaugh's program.

The Big Ten does have authority to suspend Harbaugh based on the league's sportsmanship policy.

If Harbaugh is suspended, that would probably indicate that he would miss the Penn State game, probably the Ohio State game, possibly any postseason games beyond that, College Football Playoff or not. For a coach to be suspended twice in the same season is pretty much unheard of. Michigan may damn the torpedoes and continue on with Harbaugh as its head coach, but this is so very slimy.

There is so much to unpack here, but all we know is that Harbaugh's reputation will take a massive hit.

Michigan sign-stealing scandal: Jim Harbaugh suspension timeline

It goes without saying that Michigan has forced Stalions to fall on the sword so maybe Harbaugh will not have to. It is gross, to say the very least. Thamel does not know if Harbaugh will be suspended by the Big Ten, how soon that will come or how long that it could be for. However, this is the worst scandal to come out of a Big Ten football team since the Jerry Sandusky scandal over at Penn State.

The reason why I suspect Harbaugh will be suspended, and probably done coaching at his alma mater after Saturday night, is how disgusted his Big Ten contemporaries feel about him. If Walters is this emphatically livid, how do you think guys like James Franklin and Ryan Day will feel about this? Unlike Walters, they are coaching teams that have a real shot of playing for a national championship.

Ultimately, the Big Ten has to act, and has to act swiftly, because you cannot compromise the integrity of a game's competitiveness. It is why the NFL goes out of its way to punish players for gambling as severely as it does. The league does not want casual fans to think their product is kayfabe like professional wrestling. It is all entertainment, but not all entertainment is the same.

Every day, this Michigan sign-stealing scandal keeps getting uglier and uglier and uglier, man...