The dust has settled after a 21-month long investigation by the NCAA into Michigan's football program for their involvement in a sign-stealing scandal, where staffers were accused of attending opponents’ games in person to record and decode play signals for a competitive edge.
The final punishment given to Michigan includes a fine to the program that could be upwards of $30 million, a 10-year show-cause order for former coach Jim Harbaugh, an eight-year show-cause order for Connor Stalions (the Michigan staffer who was the mastermind of the operation), and a one-game suspension in 2026 for current coach Sherrone Moore. Notably lacking in the punishment were any vacated wins or postseason bans.
The Washington Huskies lost to Michigan 34-13 in the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship game - their only loss of the season. At the time, Michigan's sign-stealing scandal was a major topic, and although there's no evidence the Wolverines used their robust reconnaissance methods against Washington, the lack of any vacated wins or postseason ban in the NCAA's punishment leaves Husky fans to wrestle with what, if anything, was taken from them.
“And your 2024 National Champions are the Washington Huskies!” https://t.co/25T1WYjKq3
— UWKING☔️ (Demond the 🐐) (@Nothin_ButDawg) August 14, 2025
Similar scenarios have happened in the past in college athletics. The 2004 USC Trojans had their BCS Championship vacated due to an investigation that notably found star running back Reggie Bush to have received improper benefits from sports agents. The 2012-13 Louisville Cardinals had their national title stripped away by the NCAA due to a scandal.
However, in both these instances, the losing team in those championship games did not decide to "claim" the national title - a practice done in college athletics that was more commonly invoked in an era before the NCAA had official national championship games or playoffs.
During the College Football Playoff era, the only time a program that did not win the National Championship game to claim a national title was UCF in 2017 - following an undefeated season in which they were not selected to participate in the playoffs.
At this point, it seems unlikely that Washington will ever join that list by claiming the 2023 National Championship. The program has two claimed national titles (in 1960 and 1991), yet has three unclaimed national titles (1910, 1984, 1990), thus showing a propensity for the program to not accept recognition unless they believe they outright deserve it.
Either way, the 2023 season will still be looked back on as a bittersweet one among Husky fans. Their most successful season in decades, fans witnessed a magical run that featured key wins over Oregon (twice), a Caleb Williams led USC, and Texas before ultimately falling to Michigan in their first ever true national championship game appearance.
That season was also Washington's last in the Pac-12, winning the conference championship to secure their spot in the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2016. The burn left from not capping off a perfect season in their loss to Michigan was only intensified when coach Kalen DeBoer left Seattle to fill in the large shoes of Nick Saban at Alabama.
In the end, the NCAA's punishments may tarnish Michigan’s legacy, but for Washington, the loss remains permanent, and the lingering question of what might have been will never fully go away.