Bet

I second this question! 

I asked my buddy....he is surprised UM folded like a cheap lawn chair.

He suspects, but does not know, that some staff higher up may have had at least some deeper knowledge or dumb communications of Stalions tactics and it was going to make UM look worse in court.

UM legal and admin calculated this, and supposedly they are so far behind on the narrative and PR, that even nuking other programs (specifically OSU) would fall on deaf ears and look like sour grapes at this point.

To quote: UM felt the leaked info on Rutgers, OSU, Purdue collusion would go much further in the media than it did. They were also disappointed that the (Wake Forest stolen signs) Wakileaks story went nowhere.  They felt they were already fighting a very uphill battle publicly and nobody would care about historical pay for play, current pay for visits, and other sign stealing (like OSU having Don Brown's signals) because the outrage machine has already been pointed at UM.

I don't know what else the B1G had on UM, but it was clearly enough to make them flinch. UM indeed has a ton of dirt on OSU, but were skeptical on how they could weaponize it from their current position and how it would resonate.

TLDR: While I wish they nuked OSU and the B1G on the way out the door, they are already way behind in the PR battle, and having evidence of other stories just as scandolous or worse won't necessarily carry as much weight in the media, and the court case could have very well made UM look worse.

If this is how this thing ends, we lost and lost big.  Not only did we fold like a cheap suit, but we've essentially conceded that yes, in fact you can push us around and we won't fight back.  More importantly, if we're fortunate enough to sign Harbaugh to an extension, what stops the mob from further colluding to find something else to pressure Petitti/BIG to act recklessly?  If they selectively target a program to find dirt with a fine-tooth comb, they will.  And today, we proved that we won't defend ourselves.  Win or lose, this was our chance to fight back for once, but again, we showed the world we're still same old spineless Michigan.  And unfortunately, this is only the beginning, the mob will come back for more until they get what they want and again, we'll fold.  Sad day.  Today, I'm not proud to be a Michigan alum.

It existed only in the fevered brains of a couple of "insiders" and a lot of message board posters.