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Todd Graham defends program after Mike Leach says he still thinks ASU steals signs

Nick Bromberg
College football and motorsports writer
Todd Graham (R) and Mike Leach give each other their teams' signals before a game in 2014. (Getty)
Todd Graham (L) and Mike Leach give each other their teams’ signals before a game in 2014. (Getty)

Remember the sign-stealing accusations Washington State coach Mike Leach made against Arizona State and coach Todd Graham in 2015? It’s a topic once again as ASU and WSU prepare to play each other Saturday.

Leach, who said there ought to be an investigation into Arizona State’s sign-stealing practices last year, repeated his call again when asked about sign stealing Monday.

“I think they still steal signs,” Leach said. “We’ll have to keep an eye on it. That’s certainly the reputation. And I think they have a certain amount of technology and expertise on the subject which if they ever go to a different conference or something I’d certainly like them to share it with us.

“But yeah, you’ve got to keep an eye on it because they’ll steal signs and they’re pretty clever about it. And it’s like breaking the enigma code with them … I think they ought to do a full on investigation to see how they’re doing it and make sure it’s within the rules.”

Graham admitted last year that his team steals signs — and that others do too. The admission that signs are being stolen in college football isn’t anything new or shocking. Why do you think teams disguise their signals in the first place? And the practice of sign-stealing itself isn’t illegal, though it certainly falls in the unwritten rule category.

Tuesday, he said that he found it “ridiculous” that the integrity of his program was questioned. Leach said he had heard “rumors” there were field microphones and close cameras at Sun Devil Stadium (where Saturday’s game is held) to help with the practice.

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“How we do things here, we take a great deal of pride and we do everything — make this perfectly clear — we do everything exactly by the rules. Period.” Graham said via ABC 15. “And obviously we take a great deal of pride in the integrity our program has and obviously I’m not going to get involved in things like that that are ridiculous.”

Leach isn’t the only team in the country who was concerned about Arizona State stealing signs last year. Look at what Oregon did at Sun Devil Stadium below. Maybe we’ll see WSU do something similar, as Leach remarked that the team “will have to do what we can to defend ourselves against it.”

Washington State scored 28 second-half points against ASU to win 38-24 in 2015. Saturday’s game in Tempe kicks off at 10 p.m. ET.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!