Sign-stealing has become a major source of conversation after the NCAA opened up an investigation into the Michigan Wolverines due to allegations of an illegal sign-stealing scheme. But as new Arkansas Razorbacks offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino points out, Michigan is not the only team notorious for stealing signals.
During his press conference this week, Bobby Petrino made it clear that while he didn’t know much about the situation at Michigan, he had plenty of experience with the Clemson Tigers stealing signals.
“I don’t know anything about, you know, Michigan and what they did or any of that. I honestly didn’t pay any attention to it,” Petrino said. “But I do know when you went and played Clemson, that they were going to have your signals.”
During his time as the head coach of the Louisville Cardinals from 2014 to 2018, Petrino faced Clemson every season, and he said he was very aware that Clemson had their signals during games.
“They had guys on the sidelines standing there with a sheet of paper with your signals on it. And that was tough,” Petrino said.
It’s worth noting that stealing signals is not necessarily against the rules if the signals are obtained legally. The NCAA investigation into Michigan is related to Michigan allegedly sending members of the coaching staff to games of future opponents to steal signals ahead of games – which is against NCAA rules.
But Petrino thinks the whole issue could be avoided if college football allowed in-helmet communication similar to what’s permitted in the NFL.
“I think that they should’ve done that a long time ago, you know,” Petrino said. “The SEC and the ACC have talked for years about putting the piece in the ear. And one of the issues that you always have in the NCAA is everybody has a vote. So there’s a lot of schools that play football that can out-vote the major conferences that don’t have the money for that technology to be in their helmets. So that’s why they’ve got to do something about it.”
We’ll have to see whether or not that’s a change college football makes.
[On3]
