Ohio State inquired about in-person scouting for CFP last season

Submitted by shags on October 28th, 2023 at 4:27 PM

LINK TO STORY

Link to article by SignGate friend Ross Dellenger.  They were actually told, "Yes, you can send people to scout the other game."

Seems kind of relevant now.  Just a little bit.

EDIT - fixed link - LSA

MichAero

October 29th, 2023 at 12:03 AM ^

What’s even more illuminating to me is that it appears Georgia, TCU, and OSU didn’t seem to think this would lead to an advantage. If the reporting is accurate about all teams being made aware of the new rule and that they are unaware of having sent anyone, that would seem to indicate there isn’t a competitive advantage to doing something like this. 

MichAero

October 29th, 2023 at 12:43 AM ^

Isn’t that exactly at the heart of the loudest complaints, though? I won’t say there would be no benefit, but if the 3 other teams in the playoffs (and, in the case that this entire ordeal wasn’t approved by the staff, our own team as well) are given a green light to scout the other game and none do, it’s not a stretch to say that it wasn’t a large benefit.

Hensons Mobile…

October 29th, 2023 at 1:04 AM ^

I agree it's not a large benefit. Even the NCAA rules call it a minor violation.

I just feel like there are a lot of comments on this blog that seem to think that because it was a small benefit (or as is often stated, no benefit) that it therefore wasn't wrong.

It's still cheating.

The sensationalizing media and rival schools wanting to act like it's the greatest crime in sporting history, well, I think they're overreacting.

Beat Rutgerland

October 29th, 2023 at 1:36 PM ^

The real push is to vacate wins and prevent Harbaugh from being offered a new contract, and possibly throw a one year post-season ban in there.

My take: On vacating wins, meh, I can see the argument.

On getting rid of Harbaugh: feels like they should have to prove he actually knew about it.

On a post-season ban/ scholarship reductions: Seems extreme, especially again, if there's nothing that indicates this was some sort of team-wide conspiracy, but OSU fans are really gonna push here imo.

The key thing seems like it it extended beyond Stalions in terms of what punishment is reasonable.

brad

October 29th, 2023 at 1:16 AM ^

If the media as a whole ever put this together, this pretty much kills the issue.

First, deciphering opponent signs is generally part of sport, all sports at all levels.  I'm guessing even in journalism, figuring out what your journalist competitors are doing is part of the job.

Second, Ohio State was told point blank they have permission to attempt to decipher an opponent's signals.  Whether anyone else asked or not, this means its A OK.

djmagic

October 29th, 2023 at 10:07 AM ^

methodically breaking down a news story, calmly explaining the facts of a matter and putting them in their proper context doesn't generate nearly as many clicks as do senastionalism-and-innuendo-laden hit pieces.

 

(not that that's news to anyone here, just sayin'...)