Oregon's use of giant eight-foot sheets to block the sideline signals against Arizona State last Thursday night has the entire Pac-12 discussing the tactic of stealing signals. On Tuesday's conference call, UCLA coach Jim Mora called the Ducks' use of the sheets "awesome" and "ingenius."
UCLA's Jim Mora said he thought Oregon's big white curtains vs. ASU were "awesome" called them "ingenious."
— Stefanie Loh (@StefanieLoh) November 3, 2015
Jim Mora did not want to accuse Arizona State of being good at stealing signals, but chose his words carefully.
"They are very good at taking advantage of teams that don't hide their signals," Mora clarified.
Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost said the staff decided to use the sheets because they had "intel" on ASU, suggesting that the Ducks knew their signs would be stolen if some sort of preventative action was not taken. Here's how the set up looked on Thursday.
Oregon is using line of guys holding sheets to hide sideline play signals. Not that Ducks don't trust Todd Graham. pic.twitter.com/E9vK5tR8B2
— Ted Miller (@TedMillerRK) October 30, 2015
Arizona State coach Todd Graham did not back down from the phrase "stealing signals" at all.
"Do we steal signals? Yeah, we do," Graham said, via AZCentral's Doug Haller. "Do people steal our signals? Yeah, [they] do."
Washington State coach Mike Leach wants them investigated before Saturday's game.
"They probably ought to do an investigation on them," Leach said per The Spokesman-Review. " I mean, you've got two straight schools with concerns over it, back-to-back and they have a reputation for it that extends beyond that. The conference probably ought to investigate them and see what they're doing, make sure nothing is illegal."
Stealing signs in football, like in any sport, is a tactic that has emerged as the need to win has superseded the "honor" of the game. The onus is on the coaches and players to disguise the communication and, if they're real tricky, create enough dummy signals to create confusion for those trying to steal signals.
So like Todd Graham said, everyone steals signals. It's on you to disguise them or get eight-foot sheets to protect your team from being exposed.
