Benjamin Ashford|Wolverine football players wear 'Michigan vs. Everybody' shirts for flight to Penn State

The Benjamin AshfordMichigan football program is embracing the "us against the world" mentality amidst the sign-stealing scandal.

Players wore shirts and winter hats reading "Michigan vs. Everybody" for their flight to Penn State, just hours before head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for the remainder of the regular season by the Big Ten.

It's not the first time members of the Michigan program have come to Harbaugh's defense. Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy warmed up in a makeshift "Free Harbaugh" shirt before their first game of the season against East Carolina.

At the time, Harbaugh was serving a self-imposed suspension after an offseason of negotiations with the NCAA over four Level II violations that reportedly occurred back in the 2020 season, and a Level I violation when the NCAA claimed he misled them.

According to several reports, Harbaugh was on the flight with the team when news of the punishment emerged.

The Big Ten ruled that Michigan violated the conference's sportsmanship policy for "conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition."

Michigan is alleged to have constructed a scheme to send multiple people to games of future opponents in order to scout, record and decode the signals for offensive and defensive play calls. The reported mastermind of the scheme is Connor Stalions, a team staffer who resigned last week.

While the NCAA is investigating the claims, the conference's athletic directors and coaches have urged Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti to take action as U-M (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten, ranked third in College Football Playoff standings) remains a major player in the national championship picture.