Craig Carmoney’s BLOG

By Craig Carmoney

The college football world has been buzzing for months about “Signgate,” the controversy surrounding the University of Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing practices. Depending on who you ask, it’s either the crime of the century or just another chapter in the endless drama that keeps college football in the headlines. But if we step back, strip away the hysteria, and look at the facts, the outrage around Michigan feels wildly overblown.

Let’s be clear: stealing signs—figuring out an opponent’s signals and using that knowledge to gain an edge—is as old as the sport itself. Coaches at every level will admit (off the record, of course) that deciphering an opponent’s signals is not only common but expected. It’s part of the cat-and-mouse game that makes football so strategic. If you’re tipping your plays and your opponent cracks the code, that’s on you, not them.

Here’s the kicker: sign stealing in and of itself isn’t illegal. The NCAA rules prohibit in-person scouting of future opponents and the use of electronic equipment to capture signals. What they don’t prohibit is sideline observation and pattern recognition. In fact, most teams have staff members dedicated to reading signals during games. This has been standard operating procedure for decades.

That brings us back to Michigan. The narrative being pushed is that the Wolverines gained some kind of “unprecedented” advantage through an elaborate scheme. But the truth is murkier. First, there’s little evidence that Michigan’s success is tied directly to signals. You still have to block, tackle, and execute. Second, the outrage rings hollow when nearly every major program has its own staff working to decode opponents’ signals. The difference is that Michigan is in the spotlight right now—and with their recent dominance, it’s no surprise rivals are eager to pile on.

If anything, the blame lies less with Michigan and more with the outdated NCAA system. At the professional level, the NFL eliminated this gray area years ago by introducing in-helmet communication for quarterbacks and defensive signal callers. College football, meanwhile, still relies on giant poster boards, hand signals, and sideline theatrics. Until the NCAA modernizes its rules, coaches will keep trying to gain every edge possible, including cracking the other team’s code.

The bottom line: sign stealing is not cheating. It’s gamesmanship. Michigan is hardly the only program to do it, and to act as though this scandal undermines their accomplishments is disingenuous. Until the NCAA steps into the 21st century, sign decoding will remain part of the chess match on Saturdays.

So let’s pump the brakes on the hysteria. Signgate makes for juicy headlines, but in reality, it’s much ado about nothing.

— Craig Carmoney