The NCAA announced that college football teams will be allowed to use coach-to-player communication technology in non-College Football Playoff bowl games this year. This experiment is in response to the Big Ten rules committee’s proposal to start using the technology during conference games.
This is the same conference that Oregon will be joining in 2024 and the conference that currently has a sign stealing and advance scouting investigation with the University of Michigan.
After being accused of physically sending people to its opponents’ games to collect strategic information that one couldn’t get off of a TV broadcast or game film, such as signals and play calls, Michigan is under its second NCAA investigation.
The NCAA football rulebook prohibits “any attempt to record, either through audio or video means, any signals given by an opposing player, coach or other team personnel.” Using electronic devices to record signals is prohibited.
The Big Ten rules committee ultimately decided that it would have too much of an impact during games compared to other conferences that couldn’t use it and that could create issues for College Football Playoff rankings.
While the news of the scandal broke at the same time that this was announced, the NCAA rules committee approved it over the summer. However, the process of getting the technology on the field is still in the beginning stages.
“The rules of the road, we’re still setting up,” Steve Shaw, the NCAA national coordinator of officials, told The Athletic. “Do both teams have to do it? Can they use different technologies? What if one team doesn’t want to use it? Dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s is still yet to be done.”
The Big Ten is a pioneer in college football. In 2004, the conference adopted instant replay technology, which is something that all teams across the country now use. It also proposed the use of tablets on the sideline this summer, but was also not approved by the committee. However, multiple Big Ten sources told The Athletic that the Michigan allegations have fueled another push within the conference to have these changes start next season.
Michigan has a reputation of cracking codes throughout the conference. Under head coach Jim Harbaugh, Michigan has been investigated for illegal recruiting during the COVID-19 pandemic and his offensive coordinator hacking into computers and accessing university email accounts without authorization on top of this current scandal.
Connor Stalions, a recruiting staffer that specializes in analytics, is the center of the sign-stealing allegations after being caught purchasing tickets to at least seven Big Ten conference games prior to their games against Michigan over the last three seasons, including 2023. He allegedly would later send people to the games to get cellphone videos of signals that were being used to call offensive and defensive plays from the sidelines.
Pictures have surfaced online of Stalions potentially being disguised on Central Michigan’s sideline during its game against Michigan State on Sept. 1. Michigan and Michigan State played against each other on Oct. 21 and the Wolverines won by 49. Before the rival game, the Big Ten alerted the Spartans about the investigation.
“We already knew about it, but it’s just crazy to actually see it because in the game, they knew what was going on before the play, so it’s a little demoralizing,” Dawand Jones, a Cleveland Browns rookie offensive lineman who played at Ohio State, told the Associated Press. Michigan vs. Ohio State is a historic rivalry in college football and Michigan has beaten them the past two years, breaking an eight-game losing streak for Ohio State.
College football hasn’t used helmet communication technology because of cost, despite the NFL using it since 1994. Also, the NFL has its own helmet contracts and agreements with the players’ union, which is also something that college football doesn’t have.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule, who spent most of his career in the NFL, told the Associated Press, “We could get rid of all of the stupid signs on the sidelines and we could get rid of pictures of rock stars and we could just play football the way it was meant to be. You go to a high school game, there’s technology on the sideline. You go to an NFL game, there’s technology on the sideline. You go to a college game, there’s nothing.”
Besides Michigan, schools like Clemson, Arizona State, Auburn and Florida State amongst others have been accused of sign stealing in recent years. While the value of sign stealing is hard to quantify, it’s still a big factor in the result of games. With communication technology in helmets, signs wouldn’t be necessary.
