Considering his comments about Michigan earlier this week, many wondered how Purdue head coach Ryan Walters would address Jim Harbaugh following the matchup between the Boilermakers and Wolverines on Saturday.
And Walters didn’t disappoint, seemingly snubbing Harbaugh with a flyby handshake following Michigan’s 41-13 victory at Michigan Stadium.
Walters’ handshake snub of Harbaugh comes amid the ongoing investigation into the Wolverines’ alleged sign-stealing scandal. Saturday marked Michigan’s first game since many of the details of the alleged sign-stealing scheme were first made public, as the Wolverines were coming off a bye week.
During his weekly radio show on Thursday, Walters addressed his upcoming opponent’s ongoing scandal. And in doing so, he admitted that his team had changed many of its signals, as it had been made aware that Michigan had illegally scouted the Boilermakers in person earlier this season.
“It’s unfortunate and what’s crazy is there weren’t allegations,” Walters said. “It happened. And there’s video evidence, there’s ticket purchases and sales that you can track back and we know for a fact that they were at a number of our games and so we’ve had to teach our guys a new language in terms of some signals and we’ll operate differently offensively. You might see us in a huddle for the first time this season.”
On Friday, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported that Purdue had obtained surveillance footage of people filming the opposing sideline at Ross-Ade Stadium in seats that had been purchased by Wolverines recruiting staffer Connor Stalions. Stalions, who resigned on Friday amid the ongoing scandal, had reportedly purchased tickets to six Purdue games over the course of the last two seasons.
Asked about the handshake after the game, Harbaugh downplayed the apparent snub, calling it a “typical postgame handshake,” according to The Wolverine’s Clayton Sayfie.
With the win over the Boilermakers, the third-ranked Wolverines moved to 9-0 and 6-0 in Big Ten play. Michigan will return to action on Saturday when it faces No. 11 Penn State.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.