TCU Knew Of Michigan Stealing Signs, Used Smart Trick To Beat The Wolverines: REPORT
TCU reportedly knew about Michigan allegedly stealing signs long before the scandal broke to the public.
Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines are consumed by chaos amid allegations the program used an elaborate and complex sign stealing scheme over the past couple years. Currently-suspended staffer Connor Stalions is believed to have been the pointman behind the alleged scheme.
Turns out the Horned Frogs knew about it nearly a year before the allegations became public, according to Yahoo Sports.
TCU used dummy signals in CFP against Michigan.
TCU gained knowledge of the alleged scheme ahead of the College Fooball Playoff last season, and the team decided to make new signals, according to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.
However, the Horned Frogs also pulled off a scheme of their own against the Wolverines. They kept old signals mixed in as "dummy signals" so Michigan wouldn't grow wise to the fact they'd been busted.
"Sometimes we froze a play before the snap. 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," an unnamed coach told Dellenger.
The Horned Frogs would also purposely signal plays incredibly late on the play clock to make sure Harbaugh's squad didn't have time to make changes. Michigan would lose to the Horned Frogs 51-45, despite being favored by 7.5 in the CFP semi-finals. Let me know your thoughts on TCU's deception plan at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.
TCU reportedly knew Michigan was stealing signs ahead of College Football Playoff matchup. (Photo by Amanda McCoy/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The Wolverines are getting hammered amid sign stealing allegations.
The report also claims "several Big Ten schools" informed TCU what was going on, and Ohio State was one of them, according to the same report. One coach who informed TCU of the scandal claimed Jim Harbaugh's program "as the most elaborate signal-stealing in the history of the world."
The fact multiple Big Ten teams reached out to TCU to knife Michigan over the alleged scandal is a good indicator of where everyone's head is at.
Generally speaking, teams try to look out for fellow conference members when playing opponents out of the same conference. There's serious financial incentives to hope as many teams as possible from your conference win.
The fact "several" B1G programs spoke with TCU to alert them about the alleged sign stealing is a pretty damning indication teams in the conference are livid
Will Michigan be punished over alleged sign stealing scandal. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
The biggest question now is what the NCAA or Big Ten will do about the situation. It appears everything is building up to a boiling point, but what that means remains to be seen. Check back to OutKick for the latest updates and send me your thoughts to David.Hookstead@outkick.com.