Report: Ohio State helped warn TCU about Michigan sign stealing before College Football Playoff
Ahead of its College Football Playoff semifinal matchup against Michigan in December, TCU was warned by Ohio State and other Big Ten teams about "Michigan's elaborate sign-stealing scheme," according to a Yahoo Sports report.
Many Horned Frogs staff members, according to the report, received phone calls from coaches across the country, including Ohio State, about the Wolverines' sign-stealing acts.
“Literally everybody we talked to knew,” said one TCU coach. “They’d say, ‘Just so you know, they steal your signals and they’re going to have everything so you better change them.’”
According to one unnamed coach, Michigan "has the most elaborate signal-stealing in the history of the world."
With the information, TCU changed many of its play-call signals before kickoff against Michigan, but also included "dummy signals" to try and trick the Michigan staff. TCU players were told to ignore the dummy signals.
“Sometimes we froze a play before the snap,” one TCU coach told Yahoo Sports. “We’d call a play and then we’d signal in another play with an old signal but we told players to run the original play.”
TCU beat Michigan 51-45 to earn a chance at the 2023 national championship against Georgia. The Horned Frogs lost to the Bulldogs 65-7.
“The guy (Stalions) was wrong a couple of times,” one TCU staff member told Yahoo Sports. “We rewatched the TV version of the game. You can see him standing next to the defensive coordinator. He tells something to the coordinator and he points in the air to mean pass. You can see the playsheet he’s holding with our hand signs on them.”
Former Ohio State football players Dawand Jones and C.J. Stroud said that the Buckeyes "had an idea" of Michigan's sign-stealing scheme during the team's matchup against the Wolverines in 2022.
And according to the Washington Post, Michigan scouts were planning to attend "as many as eight" Ohio State games, spending more than $3,000 on tickets and travel.
Per ESPN, Connor Stalions, the Michigan staffer suspended amid multiple investigations into whether the Wolverines violated NCAA rules in order to steal opponents' signals, bought tickets to at least four Ohio State games, including two tickets for the Penn State game, which went unused.
Ohio State will play Michigan at noon Nov. 25 in Ann Arbor.
Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State reportedly helped warn TCU of Michigan sign stealing
