Michigan already had college football fans up in arms against it ever since the sign-stealing scandal came to light. But the NCAA’s action on the Wolverines hasn’t done anything to quell their wrath for That Team Up North. From what it looks like, the Michigan administration is likely heaving a sigh of relief. Because the punishments levied on the program are far lighter than what was expected to be the just treatment. The USC community, which has already gone off this cliff once, now has beef with Michigan and the NCAA.

“The NCAA decided, ‘You know what? We’re not going to really hit you where it hurts in this one,’” OutKick’s Trey Wallace said after the NCAA ruling broke college football social media. The NCAA has seen its fair share of cheating scandals. But the Michigan scandal is the grandest and most cerebral of them. Maybe not as cerebral, because Connor Stalions was caught. The only party rejoicing in this whole deal is Michigan. No postseason bans, and fines amounting to only $20 million, there is nothing that screams ‘serious’ from this ruling on Michigan. Compared to what USC got during the Reggie Bush controversy, this judgment is very pale.

The USC community has taken immense offense at the NCAA’s handling of the sign-stealing case. Su’a Cravens, USC’s star safety from 2013 to 2015, commented on how easy the damages look. “NCAA just showed us their blatant bias and favoritism for certain teams… USC would be on a 3-year bowl ban, would’ve loss 30 more scholarships, and they would’ve enforced a rule cutting half our NIL budget to limit recruiting. Slaps on the wrist for the boys in blue though. Funny how life works sometimes,” he wrote on X. What’s ironic here is that USC saw the harshest punishment the NCAA ever laid down on a Div-I program, that too for something far less outrageous compared to what the staff at Michigan did.

Michigan has money, there’s no denying that. And in a way, the NCAA did go after the program, which should cause some damage. But this is a program that can afford 12 million for one player. Coughing up $20 more seems like a difficult but doable task for the program. And Michigan already has a Top-15 class in the 2026 recruiting cycle. The topic of players being part of the punishment is seeing a hot debate. Some argue that current players shouldn’t be punished for something they didn’t do. But the NCAA wasn’t of that opinion when it came to the USC scandal, which cost them 30 scholarship players.

The NCAA ended up taking away even a BCS national championship win from the Trojans, as part of its sanctions on the programs. A punishment so harsh came only because Bush picked the wrong agent in Lloyd Lake, who threw him into hot water for money. Bush received gifts from Lake during his college football career, and he, in turn, sued the RB for a mere $291,000. The scandal forced him to return his Heisman, and shut all doors of an NFL career on his face. “[It] felt like I died when I had to hear that there weren’t gonna be scholarships for kids because of me or because of something connected to me… I’m still not over that,” he told The Athletic.

A star player lost his whole career, the program’s winningest coach tapped out, and USC football was forced to let go of its elite status because of the NCAA controversy. Michigan, on the other hand, will play the full season and stands a chance to compete for a bowl game. The most disproportionate fact is that Michigan still keeps its National Championship from the year in which the scandal broke. Connor Stalions is still proud of his doings and has a Netflix documentary to his name. No wonder college football and USC fans are cracking down on the NCAA and its rumored bias for Michigan.

NCAA’s handling of Michigan sign-stealing is in stark contrast to the gravity of the Reggie Bush case

The NCAA kept USC in limbo when it came to the Reggie Bush controversy for 4 years. Before that, Pete Carroll ruled college football as the Trojans’ HC. But because of the NCAA ruling on USC football, he will only be able to claim one Natty, when he had the leverage of saying that he was a back-to-back National Championship winner. The only major change Michigan is going through is that Jim Harbaugh is no longer with the program. And Sherrone Moore is being banned for 3 games. USC football, on the other hand, was nearly written off.

Amidst all this clamour, the NCAA revealed that a Michigan NIL booster nicknamed ‘Uncle T’ was also part of the scandal. To that, USC fan Nico wrote on X, “By the way, USC was punished for 7 years, 2 year bowl ban, 30 revoked scholarships, 14 vacated wins, 1 vacated title, 1 vacated Heisman, and the end of a dynasty because Reggie Bush’s parents leased a house they found from a wannabe NFL agent. Do the right thing, NCAA.” The monetary difference and the scale of the punishment have a huge gap when it comes to this and the 2006 ruling. For just $291,000 and a case that dealt with one player, USC football lost its hold on college football.

When talking about trauma, USC fans will do the telling. Because Michigan is really getting off with just a slap on the wrist, while USC was bleeding. The Wolverines are escaping all while keeping their Natty, and with no fear of being away from bowl games. How is the NCAA going to defend its most talked-about case and its debatable approach?