When Oregon visited Arizona State last year, the story of the game was not so much that the Ducks won a triple overtime thriller, but was more so centered around what was transpiring on the Oregon sideline.
The Ducks had heard the rumors that Arizona State had been stealing play calls and signals from Utah the week prior and did not want to fall victim to the same scheme. To counter, Oregon used sheets lined with PVC pipe to shield their signals from view of the Sun Devils’ sideline.
Oregon hiding its play calls with big white sheets on the sidelines pic.twitter.com/x2oKR8pKqS
— Nick Krueger (@NickPKrueger) October 30, 2015
Several days after the game, Arizona State head coach Todd Graham admitted to stealing opponents signs.
“Do we steal signals? Yeah, we do,” Graham told the Arizona Republic. “Do people steal our signals? Yeah, [they] do.”
Arizona State is coming to town this weekend and word around the conference is that they are still up to their signal stealing tricks. Just last week, Washington State head coach Mike Leach was fined $10,000 for his comments regarding Arizona State’s practice.
“I think they still steal signs,” Leach said. “We’ll have to keep an eye on that. That’s certainly the reputation, and I think they have technology and expertise on the subject … Yeah, you’ve got to keep an eye on them. They’ll steal signs, and they’re pretty clever about it.”
Leach would go on to say that they should be investigated by the conference. That comment, and his use of the word “technology” were the main reasons for his fine.
When asked if they will use the sheets again this year against Arizona State, Oregon coaches were still unsure. Assistant coach Steve Greatwood said that Oregon would “probably do the same thing we did last year” but was not 100 percent certain. Quarterback coach David Yost said that he doesn’t know of anything yet, but head coach Mark Helfrich has thrown some other ideas around.
“He [Helfrich] joked around the other day about using smoke signals, starting a little fire on the sideline,” Leach said at practice on Tuesday. “That was more in jest than anything but we’ll see on Saturday what we do.”
Oregon’s players have other thoughts on the matter. Sophomore running back Tony Brooks-James thinks that, while it’s like breaking an unwritten rule, if teams can steal signs, then good for them.
“There’s so much going on on the sideline that I get confused sometimes,” Brooks-James said. “Like, I get confused sometimes and I gotta ask somebody, ‘Hey what was the play?’”
Sophomore safety Khalil Oliver doesn’t think it matters much if teams steal play calls. At the end of the day, you still have to stop the players on the field.
“You may know exactly what the play is but if you have someone in front of you who is going to outwork and beat you then it doesn’t matter if you know it or not,” Oliver said.
Oliver said that he’s not worried about their signs being stolen.
“We’re just worried about playing,” Oliver said. “If that’s what they do, then that’s what they do I guess. But we’re going out there to play a game and we’re gonna go play it the right way.”
Follow Gus Morris on Twitter @JustGusMorris
