A short look at some bad business
I. THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STEALING SIGNALS ON GAMEDAY AND USING SIDELINE VIDEOS TO COMPREHENSIVELY BREAK DOWN AN OPPONENT’S ENTIRE GAMEDAY COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
Once you know what you’re looking for the actual gestures teams use to signal from the sideline aren’t hard to decipher: a muscle with the right arm for power right, a muscle with the other for power left; crossing one leg behind the other to signify “Trips” one way or another. Maybe something cockney clever like waving hands low to signify making a mess for ‘Mesh.’ You have to remember, the point of these signals is not to deceive, it is to communicate.
How do teams compensate for this necessary obviousness? By obscuring the signal with copious amounts of noise. Multiple signalers, big boards with silly images on them that might shift to denote, for instance, which signaler is “live” at a given moment.
This is where the advantage gained in videotaping whole games of opponent sideline signals multiple times over the course of a season comes in. Match the sideline escapades to the All-22 film, and over time you’ll find out not just “What each signal means” (low hanging, easy fruit) but:
- How a team denotes which signalers are live and which are dummies (e.g., when they shift the “key to the code” and even what comprises the full universe of alternate keys)
- How and when teams denote changes in signals over the course of a game
The signal operation is a shared language in which dozens and dozens of people on team must be fluent given the extraordinary levels of ad hoc cooperation needed in a football game. Sure, teams can add some wrinkles in from week to week but it’s not like it’s practicable to switch from French one week to Farsi the next. At best a team can go from English one week to Pig Latin the next.
If Michigan had Stalion grinding for untold hours illegally unwinding other teams’ entire comms operations, those opponents are left without much practical recourse.
II. THIS TYPE OF SUBTERFUGE CAN PROVIDE A MASSIVE AND DECISIVE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
One of the natural rejoinders from rug-sweepers on this issue has been “So what? This kid was supposed to be sitting next to the OC or DC all game reading every single play?” To them I would say: no, of course not. That is certainly not the best way in which to lean into such an advantage.
This clip from The Imitation Game gets to the heart of the matter in three minutes.
The point of coming into a game with an opponent’s full communication system decoded isn’t so you can beat them in rock-paper-scissors 75 times in a row. It’s to be SURE you are going to win the decisive battles that determine the course of the game. These come in two varieties:
- The first and more straightforward one would be on high leverage plays. You don’t even need to know an entire playcall. If before a big 4th and 3 you know whether the opponent is going to run or if they’re going to pass and you can get that simple alert word out to the defense, that’s all she wrote. Just pick the two or three critical calls to watch for and have the cheater in question stand by the OC or DC during a big game. He sees the key signal, he gives a hot word and you (the OC or DC) know the perfect call to make in a high leverage situation, every time.
- The other and probably even more advantageous factor is allowing Michigan to completely erase problematic schematic elements from the opponent’s gameplan. Doubtful your corners can hold up against a specific passing concept? Diagram a specific, perhaps-even-generally-unsound defense and create an alert for every time the opponent calls that concept. Viola! You no longer have a matchap problem and the opponent’s gameplan just blew a tire.
III. THERE’S AN OBVIOUS AND CLEAR REASON THAT NO OTHER TEAM DOES THIS
It leaves an extremely obvious evidence trail and it is very hard not to get caught! That’s the whole reason we are here!
This shit is like insider trading. Everyone would do it if they could but they refrain because they know they’d very likely get caught.
Michigan got caught red, red, red, red, red handed engaging in behavior that blatantly undermines the premise of fair competition. The Big Ten and NCAA should make an example of them.
Death penalty 2.0
B1G reaches out to ND to fill Michigan’s void – gives ND Michigan’s share of $$ plus an additional full team share
Michigan has to disown Fielding Yost as a condition of being allowed back into the league.
I heard that Fielding Yost was disowning Michigan over this scandal. /s
I’ve heard some very high level allusions to this (and this article explains it a bit), but can anyone explain what exactly went on, share details/links, etc?
Getting excited to schadenfreude so hard.
Also, sounds similar to the Pats first scandal. They lost a first round pick. At the time, worst penalty ever handed out by the NFL.
Are there specific rules around this in the NCAA?
Short version:
-Michigan has a superfan turned staffer named Connor Stalions who, beginning in 2021, bought tickets to games of upcoming B1G opponents. He gave those tickets to friends, who video recorded the opponents’ sidelines, and then gave the videos to him. He bought the tickets in his real name and Venmo transactions appear to confirm who he gave the tickets to. Stalions is now suspended.
-Stalions and Michigan’s staff then used the videos to decode opponents’ signs. While sign-stealing during games (like Clemson did) is legal, what Michigan did is explicitly illegal in several ways, including in-person scouting, video recording opponents, and using technology to steal signs.
-B1G coaches figured out what was going on and alerted the conference and the NCAA, who in turn alerted Michigan State last week. Apparently this was so serious that there were questions about whether the game should even be played.
-The upshot is this: Michigan’s entire post-2020 turnaound now appears to be the product of cheating. Not clear what the next steps are, but there are real questions about whether any game they play is legit.
Thanks. To quote a wise man “Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.”
Wow. Thanks for this info. Had not heard about it all all on this side of the pond. I thought something was going on that Harbaugh should be emerging from his late yuckiness. It’s like watching the Tour of France and some cyclist just explodes at a 27% clip faster than he had ever done in his career.
So was the Hitler on the Michigan St. jumbotron some kind of warning?
The reveal that MSU plays random YouTube videos on their jumbotron before games rather than having anything produced in house is more damning to me than that they played a video of Hitler trivia.
I’m biased of course, but I think Michigan is in some real trouble here.
First, the facts are against them. The evidence that has come out, while circumstantial, is damning. Stalions used his real name for almost everything and was not subtle at all. Apparently videos are on the way too. There is going to be no way for Michigan to argue that this didn’t happen or that their coaching staff didn’t know.
Second, the law is against them. What they’re accused of doing is explicitly illegal under NCAA rules. At best they can argue that the people doing the actual videoing weren’t UM employees, but it doesn’t matter practically speaking. Stalions, who is an employee, paid them to attend games and video opponents, then took the videos to Michigan’s staff and used them against those opponents.
Third, the court of public opinion is against them. College coaches almost unanimously consider this to be cheating — that’s why other B1G coaches turned them in. No one is going to be sympathetic to whining about NCAA overreach or singling out Michigan.
At the absolute minimum, Michigan’s post-2020 renaissance is going to be under a dark cloud of suspicion. More likely this is going to destroy their coaching staff and result in the vacatur of dozens of wins.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.
I want to agree with you so badly and common sense is 100% agreeable with you. However, I don’t have much faith in anything happening. Direct sports analogy is the Astros and quite literally nothing has happened to them. Harsh but fair is that none of those guys should be playing in the MLB and ownership should have forfeited a year’s worth of revenue. I know it would never happen. Not to get political but the Trump stuff and the ongoing effects of that mess leads me to my opinion that this country doesn’t really care about cheating anymore because it’s assumed that everyone is a bad guy now so why don’t we all just be bad guys together.
What I think is going to happen is the powers that be will come together and “determine” that Stallions was a renegade analyst who so badly wanted to impress the UM coaching staff that he did this on his own. Harbaugh and the UM staff didn’t know anything about the videotaping and they thought Stallion was just a hardworker and great at cracking codes. Stallion will be scapegoated just like Kareem Serageldin was the only banker jailed for the 2008 financial crisis. Jim will finally leave at the end of the year and the talking heads, NCAA, and coaches will play fans off as unintelligent imbeciles and laugh and say, “I can’t believe they bought that.”
Next year QB’s will have the ability to have a headset in their helmet so no more signals are needed. Wipe their hands and move onto more conference realignment talk in the offseason.
Le sigh…yeah, you’re probably right.
One interesting difference from the Astros is that this was brought to light mid-season. With the whole country watching, will the NCAA/Big10/playoff committee let Michigan into the final 4 (assuming they win out)? I don’t have faith in any of those groups to do the right thing, but they have the ability to pull the switch before it gets too far.
I agree with you I don’t think they will do the right thing. I do think they will get bailed out by an upset over the next couple of weeks and not have to make the “tough” decisions.
Some rumors swirling, which all rumors have been kind of true I feel like on this, that a former staffer leaked this whole thing. Some reports are is that it is Gattis. The similarities to the Astros is ridiculous.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/mlb/news/astros-scandal-timeline-sign-stealing-punishment/zbe6j4yoi1g21ia0say31zv3n
Ya Michigan losing would solve a lot of problems for the organizations in charge. How paranoid will Michigan be about Big10 refs making calls against them the rest of the way. And maybe rightly so.
Chances are that someone giddy with its success and feeling invincible placed bets.
I think we should come up with something better than StalionGate. AnythingGate is soooo played out.
ScUMmy behavior indeed.
Cheater Thee Stalion
Maybe Filmer Thee Stalion is better? Workshopping this.
What about Bay of BIGs?
Beat Up Waiter
Jim Harbaugh when he’s trying to deny knowing anything about this:
Connor Stallion?
When you consider yourself a big college football fan, but find out that the other big college football fans have 550 page manifestos
I think when we’re talking “having manifestos” v “not having manifestos” – the latter is the team to be on 100/100 times.
I need to take care of something…
It’s bad enough to have a manifesto. Once you’re “closer to 1000 than 100 pages” in the drafting stage, you need an intervention
He wouldn’t be the first Michigan Man to have an overly long manifesto
I did see that they released a sketch of the alleged ringleader.
Do the right thing, College Gameday. Go to Ann Arbor when they host Purdue next Saturday.
They should follow Big Nude Saturday to Lawrence and give Dez a pair of binoculars to read off of Brady Quinn’s teleprompter
A very informative article from the Washington Post late yesterday. Apparently, a private investigator uncovered the files on Michigan computers. These files were available to many people(coaches,players). They turned these over to the NCAA. This may be the true smoking gun!
Things are getting wild. I saw on a Michigan site that there is a rumor UM scouted Tenn in case they played them in the playoffs, then gave the info the SoCar to help them beat UT. That rumor makes no sense at all, but I am loving the entire country pouring it on.
In a galaxy brain way it actually does make sense. If Michigan had managed to lose to OSU despite cheating, Tennessee would’ve had a very good case to go to the CFP instead of Michigan. Hence, help someone else take them out.
Honestly that part might be the most well thought out part of this whole thing so far.
I mean, yes, it would have been better for them and given their lack of caring about ethical standards, I could see them absolutely helping another team try to win in a way generally seen as sketchy. But it would make no sense for them to share illegally gained information.
Although, the whole thing was executed so stupidly that maybe they just are that dumb. Or maybe everyone really truly bought in to the Scalifesto.
And taking over USeC for one game to beat UT is something I definitely would have done in NCAA video games to make sure I got the best matchup possible.
haha I’ve thought about that and that’s kind of what this whole thing is when you break it down. I remember being 12 and about to lose so I switched over to the other team and made a bad play call that I knew I could stop so I would get the ball back. Worked like a charm.
Also on the South Carolina front. Did you see that the the Tenn/SoCar game was the first time all season that the defense wore wrist bands with the plays on them. ESPN even did an in-game shoutout of it. It’s all so amazing. Plus Beamer also used the Wake Forest plays back in the day so he wasn’t above cheating.
Now there is reporting that UM’s cheating was such an open secret that TCU used dummy signals to bait Michigan into bad defensive schemes. Hilarious.
https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-tcu-knew-of-michigans-sign-stealing-scheme-prior-to-cfp-game-used-dummy-signals-to-dupe-wolverines-224848698.html
Oh this is delightful
Michigan should be penalized by the NCAA or BIG for being stupid at cheating. The Michigan minion purchasing Venmo tickets in his name so people could see his ticket history and labeling the game for the ticket. Drug dealers and gansters are laughing their asses off. Creating a database whose history and record of who accessed it, really? Sylvester Stalion with a slush fund to pay for the tickets and his contracted minions with generous payouts? On the sidelnes with the coaches all sending in the same signal?
In the book, Overtime (2019 pub date) about Harbaugh and the admirable Michigan program, their scouting director of recruiting, Matt Dude said “Look we know there are people who don’t operate on the same moral ground that not only Michigan expects, but that coach Harbaugh demands.” It’s just difficult to imagine Khaki Pants evolving from an archangel and pinnacle of ethical standards to a Sargent Schultz who knew nothing, nothing.
So if I am Penn State, which is the only away game left that Michigan plays, I would dedicate one Big Board to Michigan’s sideline for the entire game. Might be a good idea to have everyone stand in silence and direct the entire stadium to point their cellphones at the Michigan sideline in silent prayer for forgiveness and salvation for the Michigan football program to work their way back to that moral high ground – or listen to those drug dealers.
From Football Scoop:
Big Ten blasts Jim Harbaugh, Michigan for trying to “delay accountability”
Michigan lawmakers beg Big Ten not to punish Wolverines (Nov 8)