Michigan Sign Stealing Rumors

Submitted by maizenblue92 on October 19th, 2023 at 11:52 AM

The premium boards for OSU posted about a story breaking soon regarding Michigan football last night and that has spread over to the Michigan and MSU boards this morning. The rumor is that the story is Michigan has been caught stealing signs with some saying that a low level staffer was at a game Michigan was not playing taping signs. Still to be seen if this is true but there is a lot of smoke this morning and with the NCAA already emptying the clip at Jim it seems worth monitoring. I personally do not care if this is happening as it is likely many programs sign steal to a certain degree. 

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s1105615

October 19th, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^

So there’s a rumor that is completely unsubstantiated that you felt needed to be concern trolled about here.  Send us a note from Bolivia when you get settled.

Joined: 03/01/2014

MGoPoints: 8603

Blau

October 19th, 2023 at 1:15 PM ^

First, it's one thing to post a wild-ass rumor happening within the program but when the OP leads off with "premium boards for OSU" and spread to the "MSU boards", you lose all credibility not because of the allegiance to the school but the lack of source.

Next, whether or not this is true, the OP's details are about as vague as they come. Who's the staffer? What game were they attending? Who were the teams? How was the staffer caught? What evidence do they have? See... these are the things that would help verify your post.

Lastly, as others have said, "stealing" signs is a misnomer phrase. Stealing presumes a team is taking someone else's signs and using them as their own. Are you talking about someone studying a teams play calls and predicting what a team is going to run? That's called preparation or scouting. If they are indeed stealing these signs and opposing teams know about it, coaches and players have the opportunity to change them. Dummy signs, audibles, and silent snap counts can all be used to even the playing field.

Simply put, if you can't beat 'em, accuse 'em of cheating I guess?

Joined: 01/23/2014

MGoPoints: 35254

Carpetbagger

October 19th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^

Isn't the whole point of multiple people signaling from the sideline at once to make this harder to do?

Then again I have no idea why sign stealing was such a big deal even in baseball a few yeas back. If you aren't doing everything you can to keep signs from being stolen, that's on you.

Joined: 12/31/2010

MGoPoints: 6563

DelhiWolverine

October 19th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^

That's right. The Astros did it and were stealing the opposing catcher's signs via a camera in centerfield and then had a player watching the feed, who made a racket by hitting a garbage can with a baseball bat in the dugout tunnel whenever an offspeed pitch was called for. 

In college football, there's no audio communication from the OC to the QB's helmet (like in the NFL) so all plays have to be called or signaled in to the team from the sideline. Sometimes the entire playcall is sent in using handsigns, sometimes it's sent in using a combination of pictures on big posterboards, and sometimes they us handsigns or pictures to let the QB know which play to look for on his armband or fannypack and call for the offense. I think most teams that operate this way using the fannypack or armband has the coded signal come in from the sideline that denotes something like "A-15" and then the QB looks on his armband/fannypack and calls the play in cell A15.

If the entire playcall is signalled in (no fannypack or armband) then there are usually multiple "signallers" in order to confuse any people attempting to steal signs. In my opinion, it's fair game to try to steal signs this way and figure out which signaller is not the decoy and what the signs mean.

If play call signaling is done via the fannypack/armband manner, you can just switch up the play grid on the QB's fannypack/armband every week if you wanted, and/or put the same plays in multiple cells. Even if you were stealing signals from the previous week's game, taking these steps would make the prior week's intelligence irrelevant. Football playcalls are so long and complicated that it makes more sense to call the plays using this system instead of signalling in the entire playcall 

Joined: 11/26/2017

MGoPoints: 11903

crg

October 19th, 2023 at 3:34 PM ^

Why should it matter if they use a digital camera, a cheap Polaroid, a scribble on a Palm Pilot, an Etch-A-Sketch, or having a relay network of people using American Sign Language?  The *method* of performing the action is not as relevant as the *action itself*.  If teams want to use signs/signals to communicate plays over distance, then they need to expect those signals to be seen and eventually deciphered.

Joined: 04/30/2015

MGoPoints: 75054

Watching From Afar

October 19th, 2023 at 12:03 PM ^

IIRC, the issue was with the Patriots (though it wasn't actually illegal at the time) is that they were filming coaches/the guys giving the signs on the sideline. So they weren't just watching the defense and tracking the plays they ran and personnel, it's that they were filming the coaches.

I recall seeing a video in the late 2010s where a Pats staffer was in a press box scouting their future opponent and a guy (maybe NFL or the opponent's staff) sitting behind him and making sure the Pat's scout wasn't recording just the sideline. That he was recording the actual field of play.

Joined: 10/10/2016

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Michael Scarn

October 19th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^

Everyone steals signs.  But observing in person or using readily available tape to look at signs is not the same as sending someone to tape signals.  It is similar to what McDaniels got caught doing, if true.

Joined: 01/21/2011

MGoPoints: 4196

jhayes1189

October 19th, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^

Every team has assigned analyst for each team on the schedule, and their entire job is to gather as much info as possible on said team. 
 

this isn’t news 

it’s just because Michigan is doing it

look at: stretch-gate/burger-gate 

Joined: 10/04/2021

MGoPoints: 6552

1VaBlue1

October 19th, 2023 at 12:04 PM ^

So they're already coming up with excuses for a pending loss...  Nice.  

I mean, who gives a rats ass?  Isn't this the same as 'scouting'?  And if Michigan is, indeed, doing this, so is every other team in existence. 

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 127087

CLord

October 19th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^

According to MSU/PSU/OSU mouth breathers, any time they beat UM it's 100% legit, but any time UM beats them there must be shady stuff going on...

Further, why does every team have 3 guys in crazy colored hats all sending play signals in at the same time?  Perhaps because everyone would steal signals if they can?  I assure you that OSU and MSU have explored efforts to quietly steal UM's signals.

Thusly, all of this smoke can go blow.

Joined: 09/11/2011

MGoPoints: -6341

BoCanHam15

October 19th, 2023 at 12:10 PM ^

Hell I'd steal signs for free every week on the road for Michigan on my Apple Phone!  Hell they have people getting paid for this with every follow button on YouTube!!!  If the signs are that weak start on,"THIRD BASE!"  Weak once a month catching feelings Buckeye Fish!!!

Joined: 07/08/2016

MGoPoints: 16100

PopeLando

October 19th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^

Step 1: make stuff up

Step 2: post made-up stuff everywhere you think of

Step 3: wait for people to repeat the made-up stuff on another platform 

Step 4: someone writes an article “Sources Report [Made-Up Stuff]”

Step 5: people think that [Made-Up Stuff] is factual 

You have now allowed someone to say “Michigan blog reports that Michigan is stealing signs” just FYI

Joined: 08/01/2015

MGoPoints: 68293