USC tests new helmet audio, but ‘cat and mouse’ game protecting signals continues

USC coach Lincoln Riley will be able to communicate with his quarterback via headset rather than hand signals during the upcoming football season. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

The gray screen, large enough to obstruct the opposing sideline’s view of USC coach Lincoln Riley, wasn’t exactly subtle. But against Utah, a team he knew to be adept at intercepting sideline signals, Riley decided to take additional security measures. So last October, on the heels of Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal, out came that gray screen, held in front of Riley like a beacon of passive-aggressive football paranoia.

To Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, its presence alone felt like a provocation.

“If your signals are being stolen in-game, that’s your fault,” he later told reporters.

Riley, meanwhile, insisted the screen was just a necessary precaution when sign stealing was still such a constant in the college game.

Read more: Lincoln Riley brushes off criticism, insists USC is still a power at Big Ten media days

“Just a way to try and protect a few of the things that we do,” Riley said.

Of course, both coaches knew there was a better way — one that didn’t involve silly signal deciphering or a low-level staffer following them around with a comically large screen. Most college coaches had been calling for in-helmet communication for years, similar to what the NFL has had since 1994. But the NCAA football playing rules committee had dragged its feet on doing anything about it, for reasons reportedly related to competitive equity and helmet manufacturer liability.

Riley couldn’t understand the hold-up, when he was asked about it last October. “It’s a remarkably easy fix,” he said of in-helmet communication. “It’s amazing we haven’t gotten there to this point yet.”

A sign-stealing scandal, it turns out, has a way of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/usc-tests-helmet-audio-cat-210352280.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-08-14 21:03:52

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