According to a report, TCU defeated Michigan in the College Football Playoffs by using their habit of stealing signs.
Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports reports that TCU was aware of Michigan’s practice of stealing signs before their College Football Final matchup on New Year’s Eve last year.
Before kickoff, the Horned Frogs switched up their signs in an attempt to fool the Wolverines. Additionally, the coaches played outdated plays with “dummy signals,” which were signals that were no longer used. Players for TCU have to disregard these signals.
A TCU coach said to Dellenger, “There are times when we freeze something before the snap.” “We instructed players to continue with the original play, but we would call a play and then signal in another move with an outdated signal.”
TCU advanced to the title game, where they were defeated by Georgia, after winning the playoff match 51–45.
The report claims that TCU coaches learned of Michigan’s ability to steal players’ signs not long after the College Football Playoff game versus the Wolverines was revealed.
People who have been following the Michigan football team amid the recent alleged illegal sign-stealing controversy have been making jokes about how the Wolverines lost the College Football Playoff final because they were unaware of TCU’s signage. According to Yahoo Sports, there might be more to it.
Ross Dellenger claims that TCU changed up the game in a cunning way to keep Michigan at bay and helped lead the Fighting Frogs to an unexpected victory because they knew the Wolverines’ propensity to pick up competing teams’ signals.
First off, the Michigan football team performed below par, particularly on defense. Numerous missed tackles might have eliminated any advantage TCU might have had on any given play. Curious were the plays who were called as well.
Just one month after Michigan kept the pass catchers in front of the offense and made CJ Stroud complete shorter passes in order to stop Ohio State’s passing game, the Wolverines routinely outran the Horned Frogs, even deep in their individual territory.
almost the course of the previous three seasons, it is believed that the suspended employee at the center of a Michigan football sign-stealing case purchased tickets to almost 30 games at 11 other Big Ten universities.
Connor Stallions allegedly bought tickets to Michigan’s opponents’ games under his own identity and then forwarded them to “at least three individuals in different areas across the country,” according to an ESPN report.
According to ESPN, in one incident, the owner of the seat that the Stallions had acquired “held his smart phone raised and appeared to be recording the home team’s sideline the entire game.”
Tickets for the Penn State vs. Ohio State game on Saturday were bought by the Stallions prior to the NCAA’s probe into sign-stealing in Michigan becoming public last week.
The Stallions’ seats were “on both sides the stadium diagonally from each bench,” according to the ESPN article. Next month, Michigan, the No. 2 team in the nation, will play both Penn State plus Ohio State.
After Yahoo Sports revealed the NCAA’s probe into illicit scouting last week, the tickets apparently went unsold.
Additionally, according to Yahoo Sports, Michigan was being looked into for potential NCAA Football Playoff opponents.
According to his LinkedIn page, Stallions, a Naval Academy alumnus, volunteered at Michigan between 2015 to 2022 until being employed there full-time as an analyst in May 2022.
According to a Big Ten coach, the Stallions “spearhead” Michigan’s scheme to steal signs, as Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported. Last week, he received a pay suspension.
According to Stallions’ LinkedIn bio, he is skilled at “identifying and exploiting critical weaknesses the centers of gravity during an opponent’s scouting process” as well as “identifying the opponent’s likely line of action and the most hazardous course of action.”