The Crypt Bitcher

[Kaos]

They had our signals!! 

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2014/09/bill_snyder_says_auburn_had_ka.html#incart_more_sports

Stupid old bitch. 

[The Prowler]

Oh, there's another talking point. So, add that with KSU's missed field goals...and that'll keep the inbred bammers from talking about Auburn beating a Top 20 ranked team, on the road and being the only college game on TV (meaning, everyone was watching Auburn, including HS prospects).

[The Prowler]

KSU Penalties:
Stephen F. Austin @ KSU
3 - 15yds

KSU @ ISU
10 - 77yds

AU @ KSU
0 - 0yds

Some fat pockets going around Bill Snyder's stadium...I think Coach Snyder wouldn't like for someone to look into the possible situation of fixing games.

[AUChizad]

KSU Penalties:
Stephen F. Austin @ KSU
3 - 15yds

KSU @ ISU
10 - 77yds

AU @ KSU
0 - 0yds

Some fat pockets going around Bill Snyder's stadium...I think Coach Snyder wouldn't like for someone to look into the possible situation of fixing games.

Auburn had 6.0 penalties per game before last night (and still do).

KSU had 6.5 penalties per game before last night.

Auburn had 6 penalties last night. KSU had zero.

[WiregrassTiger]

Auburn had 6.0 penalties per game before last night (and still do).

KSU had 6.5 penalties per game before last night.

Auburn had 6 penalties last night. KSU had zero.

What percentage decrease is that for KSU? Also, what is the mean and mode?

[Godfather]

Here's a hand signal he can steal.

[The Prowler]

Here's something funny...
KSU Total Yards per half:
163 Total Yards (1st half)
122 Total Yards (2nd half)

So, we had their signals in the 1st half?

[jmar]

Here's something funny...
KSU Total Yards per half:
163 Total Yards (1st half)
122 Total Yards (2nd half)

So, we had their signals in the 1st half?

The old fucker was probably having a flashback from when he was an assistant.
Iowa State already had 'em.

[The Prowler]

Que Thamel & Evans to write a "investigative" piece in 3, 2...well damn, they didn't even let me go to 1 (Thamel & Evans have written a "investigative" piece in SI, stock full of unnamed sources.

[GH2001]

Que Thamel & Evans to write a "investigative" piece in 3, 2...well damn, they didn't even let me go to 1 (Thamel & Evans have written a "investigative" piece in SI, stock full of unnamed sources.

please to be posting link?

[AUChizad]

please to be posting link?

It's here, but don't click it --->http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/09/29/auburn-stealing-signals-michigan-brady-hoke-devonte-fields

SI's Andy Staples breaks down the top stories from Week 5 of college football action.
BY THAYER EVANS & PETE THAMEL

Mon Sep. 29, 2014

During the national title game in January, Florida State staffers held up white towels in the second half to shield their offensive signals from Auburn’s coaches. When Auburn played Kansas State on Sept. 18, Wildcats coach Bill Snyder spiced up his halftime interview by mentioning Auburn had figured out K-State’s signals.

Those two incidents in Auburn’s last two high-profile games have put the Tigers at the forefront of a growing conversation in college football about the cloak-and-dagger world of stealing signals. The Inside Read interviewed a dozen current and former coaches about the prevalence of stealing signals, and a majority consider the espionage a high-stakes game within the game. Most programs have staffers with binoculars in the press box peering at the signals being sent in on the opposing sideline. This has left coaches rife with paranoia. While the extent of some teams’ sign-stealing operations can raise ethical questions, the practice is so common it may soon prompt rule changes to curtail it.

“It’s a delicate balance,” Memphis coach Justin Fuente said. “I know that it happens a lot. If your signals are out there and people want to look at them, it’s hard to fault them.”

It’s important to note that no one accused Auburn of doing anything illegal. Tigers coach Gus Malzahn denied stealing Kansas State’s signals. The only mention of stealing signs in the NCAA rulebook comes from a Spygate-inspired rule that prevents recording signals with audio or video. If anything, the public accusations of Auburn’s sign stealing may simply be an acknowledgement that the Tigers are really good at it.

• STAFF: Saturday Snaps: Breaking down Week 5 in college football

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher conceded at the time that stealing signals is “part of the game” and said he had “no problem” with what Auburn did. One SEC assistant told The Inside Read that his team will change their signals and use wristbands before playing Auburn this season. Another SEC assistant said the bigger the staff of the school, the more he’s concerned. “I worry about Alabama more than Auburn to be honest,” he said.


Photo: Ray Carlin/Icon SMI
Auburn co-offensive coordinator Dameyune Craig, a former FSU assistant, stood next to the Tigers' defensive coaches during the first half of the title game. Seminoles receiver Kelvin Benjamin, visibly annoyed as FSU’s offense sputtered during the first half, was caught during a timeout on the television broadcast saying, “Dameyune calling all the plays.” Auburn led 21-3 in the second quarter and 21-10 at halftime. FSU adjusted and outscored Auburn 24-10 in the second half to win 34-31.
“[Craig] was giving him everything that he thought he knew,” said a person familiar with Florida State’s game plan against Auburn. “They were right in a lot of instances in the first half. In the second half, Florida State covered the signals and kicked their ass.”

Simply glance over at the sideline during any college football game and you’ll see how prevalent sign stealing has become. Mississippi State uses four signalers to throw off opponents, leaving them looking like they’re street mimes signaling for tips. Then there are the big boards with pictures of everyone from Scott Van Pelt to the Caddyshack gopher that have become as much a part of sideline scenery as Gatorade cups and ankle tape.

Terry McAulay, the American Athletic Conference coordinator of officials, said a point of emphasis this offseason was to enforce a rule for players and coaches to stay out of the six-foot “white area” on the sideline came because of the proliferation of signalers.

When does gamesmanship veer into an ethical gray area? Gerry DiNardo, the former coach at Indiana, Vanderbilt and LSU, admitted he had a graduate assistant on his staff dedicated to stealing signals. He recalled a 41-10 Vanderbilt win at Army in 1991 where his team had stolen Army’s signs so thoroughly that the tight end stood up and raised his arms in exasperation when a Vanderbilt assistant called out a tight end pass before the snap.

“It’s expected,” he said of opponents stealing signals. “If you don’t have a good signal system, you are going to get read.”

DiNardo said video taping the signalers -- as opposed to relying on picking them up off the game film -- is where he draws the line.

Memphis’ Fuente referenced a 1964 Supreme Court ruling on obscenity when asked what is unethical in the world of signal stealing. “I’m not sure how to define it,” he said, “but I’d know it when I see it.”

Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman said the Buckeyes don’t have a specific staff member assigned to trying to break the code of the opposition’s signals. He did say that he’d pass on tendencies of signals to his players if he picks up, for example, the MIKE linebacker’s signals on film. Ohio State attempts to prevent others from stealing signs by having three Buckeyes staffers signal in plays. Herman always reminds his starting center before the game to tell him immediately if the MIKE linebacker says something like, “Watch for the screen,” and that’s the play OSU has called. That hasn’t happened, but the vigilance persists. “I think it happens all the time,” Herman said of opponents stealing signals. “I don’t have a problem with it.”

One defensive coach told The Inside Read that in the no-huddle era, the stealing of defensive signs has become more commonplace. He said in a recent game against a perennial Top 25 team that the offense wouldn’t call a play until the defensive coordinator signaled. The defensive coordinator waited so long a few times he could hear the quarterback yell to the sideline, “Guys, I need a play! I need a play!”

“I wanted to turn around to the press box and hold up my middle finger,” the assistant coach said.

The coach argues that an offense intercepting a defensive signal is more useful, comparing it to a poker player knowing who has pocket aces. He said it’s much more difficult to communicate a stolen offensive signal to 11 defensive players as opposed to sending in an audible to the quarterback. If an offensive coach gets tipped on a signal for a corner blitz or Cover 2, he can easily call a counter play. “It’s literally how we’re calling the game,” the defensive coach said. “There’s a lot of guys running around we’re calling [offensive] gurus, and that’s really what they’re doing.”

An SEC assistant added that one of the nuances of halftime adjustments is that it gives coaches a chance to take a breath and discuss which signals may or may not being intercepted. He said, essentially, one of the unspoken tenants of halftime coaching acumen -- such a hot topic among commentators -- comes down to figuring out what’s been stolen.

There’s an easy way to curtail the culture of signal stealing in college football. McAulay, who has refereed three Super Bowls, is a vocal advocate of sideline-to-helmet wireless communication. The NFL has used the technology with quarterbacks since 1994 and added it for a defensive player in 2008. “A lot of us believe right now that college is ready for that,” McAulay said. “The technology exists, and the money is there. Why don’t we allow that type of communication?”

That wouldn’t eliminate all the sign stealing, as Herman noted that if he called in a play to his quarterback, there would still need to be on-field signals to the receivers in OSU’s no-huddle offense. But every coach interviewed agreed that the wireless communication would reduce the culture of sign stealing and accompanying sideline nonsense.

Rogers Redding, the secretary-rules editor of the NCAA football rules committee, said that the committee has not formally discussed sideline-to-helmet wireless devices. But he acknowledged there is an appetite for it. “I would be surprised if the NCAA rules committee didn’t consider it,” he said.

Until then, the cat-and-mouse game of spying from the press box and elaborate games of signaling charades will continue. When is a team stealing signals? You’ll know it when you see it.

[WiregrassTiger]

Thayer Evans & Pete Thamel-- They used to be AU beat writers, didn't they? I haven't heard from them in a while.

[Snaggletiger]

No problem with the piece except the actual need for it in the first place.  Sounds like most coaches acknowledge it's part of the game.  I'll say it again..and Jimbo Fisher admits it not only is part of the game but he also has no problem with it.  If you have over a month to prepare and you know your former assistant will be on the opposing sideline....and you don't change your signals. 

Yep, that's Coach of the Year material right there.

[GH2001]

Thayer Evans & Pete Thamel-- They used to be AU beat writers, didn't they? I haven't heard from them in a while.

Yes, along with Joe Schad.

[djsimp]

No problem with the piece except the actual need for it in the first place.  Sounds like most coaches acknowledge it's part of the game.  I'll say it again..and Jimbo Fisher admits it not only is part of the game but he also has no problem with it.  If you have over a month to prepare and you know your former assistant will be on the opposing sideline....and you don't change your signals. 

Yep, that's Coach of the Year material right there.

To add, I would imagine the reasoning for Benjamins ranting would be that Craig was his position coach and also recruited him to FSU. Of course Craig knew their plays. Its not called "stealing" when something is given to you.

[djsimp]

Yes, along with Joe Schad.

I think I have the Schads this morning so bad its making my Thamel hurt.

[WiregrassTiger]

'We've got a foolproof system' to prevent teams from getting signals, Gus Malzahn says
http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/index.ssf/2014/09/weve_got_a_foolproof_system_to.html#incart_story_package

Joel A. Erickson | jerickson@al.com By  Joel A. Erickson | jerickson@al.com   
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on September 29, 2014 at 9:15 PM, updated September 29, 2014 at 9:49 PM
AUBURN, Alabama -- The art of deciphering an opponent's signals has been a hot topic the past couple of weeks, ever since Kansas State's Bill Snyder told ESPN he thought Auburn was getting the Wildcats' signals in Manhattan.

Snyder made it clear that he doesn't think reading signals is stealing, but the topic has persisted, enough that Sports Illustrated briefly examined the topic on Monday.

An Auburn fan asked Gus Malzahn on Tiger Talk Monday night if the coach felt the play cards, signs and signals his team uses are safe.

"I'll tell you this, I believe we've got a foolproof system," Malzahn said. "We've got the colors and the signals and all that."

Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee chooses the images on the play cards Auburn's quarterbacks hold up, which come from a wide range of pop culture references, along with other signals the players use on the field.

The point, beyond disguising Auburn's signals, is to make it something the players can instantly recognize.

Malzahn himself isn't even sure how some of the images use tie into his play calls. 

"Coach Lashlee and the young guys are very creative," Malzahn said. "I couldn't tell you what half of them mean, just once I call the play, it's right."

With so many former assistant coaches and people who've come in contact with the offense in nine years at the college level, the cards, which have four images on each of them, help the Tigers keep other teams from getting a heads-up on what Malzahn wants to run.

"We've been doing this for a while, trying to disguise the signals and disguise things and all that," Malzahn said. "We think we've got a foolproof system."

[jmar]

Gary Patterson-Crypt Bitcher Part Deux... yeah, even in victory.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/24737988/boykin-patterson-say-ous-baker-mayfield-was-reading-tcu-signals

*TCU goes bear hunting in Waco this week (7) and then entertain Oklahoma St. the week following.