Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Ross Dellenger are joined by Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated to discuss what options the NCAA has in its continuing investigations against the Wolverines program. Hear the full conversation on the “College Football Enquirer” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

DAN WETZEL: I think the NCAA would love to hammer Michigan. I just don’t think they can anymore. They could put a postseason ban on Michigan, but they don’t want to do that. They’ve stated in the past– they’ve stated they’re getting away from that penalty. They can vacate wins, OK? Maybe that’s a little embarrassing, but I don’t know that anyone cares.

My thing is that if they try to do recruiting penalties, none of the recruiting penalties that the NCAA is able to apply bear any relation to how recruiting works these days. It’s all about NIL, making deals with agents, acquiring guys through the portal, getting older players. Nobody cares about your freshman year grants, all of these things.

Most of them won’t have any real impact on the program. So the, idea that Michigan is going to get absolutely blasted, I don’t know if they even can blast them. Because the penalties are as outdated as the rule book is at this point.

PAT FORDE: As far as the postseason ban, that is probably going to be where the rubber meets the road, unless they apply a coach suspension that was supposed to be a Harbaugh suspension, is now just the Michigan head coach suspension. And then it becomes Sherrone Moore, and he’s out for six games or whatever.

I think that would be tough one. That’d be a tough one to apply. So postseason ban is kind of where the action could would be.

And they flat out let Tennessee off the hook last year, for a price. Yeah, like $7 million or $9 million or whatever the price was. So, I mean, I remember getting on the conference call and being told, oh, we do still have that as a penalty.

And as a matter of fact, they said at the NCAA convention– you know, Ross went to one NCAA seminar. I went to another one. I don’t know whether they said it in Ross’s, but in mine, they said, yes, that the postseason ban is still a penalty that can be applied.

ROSS DELLENGER: Good luck talking to Jim Harbaugh now, right? Like, that’s not happening.

PAT FORDE: Right.

ROSS DELLENGER: He’s not– not that he would say anything anyway, but he’s certainly not talking to you now. And those who– Jesse Minter, why would he– I mean, he’s going to be the Chargers’ defensive coordinator. Why would he talk?

I assume that this just further angers the NCAA and the people running the investigation, that the people potentially at the center of this are leaving town. And you do have to wonder if they are going to put the responsibility on others who are still there, like Sherrone.