Michigan football: Clemson accused of sign-stealing by SEC coach

The headlines surrounding Michigan football for the past few months have almost solely revolved around Connor Stalions and his alleged sign-stealing ring, despite the fact that the Wolverines have arguably the best team in the nation right now (13-0, Big Ten Champions, ranked No. 1). This week, SEC coach Bobby Petrino (OC, Arkansas) — who used to coach at Louisville — came out and accused the Clemson Tigers of stealing signs.

Clemson Tigers accused of sign-stealing amid Michigan football Connor Stalions scandal

Now, before I say more, there are two things that I need to get out of the way here. One — sign-stealing is not illegal; how Connor Stalions is said to have gotten the signs is illegal. There is a lot of grey area on the rules and punishment surrounding what Stalions is accused of doing, but we won’t get into that here. And two — the argument that “everybody does it” is not something that I subscribe to. I think all winning programs do something, but that does not mean that breaking the rules should be accepted by any program.

Former ACC and SEC coach Bobby Petrino weighs in

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get into what Bobby Petrino, the former head coach at Arkansas in the SEC, Louisville in the ACC, and now newly hired OC at Arkansas (again), had to say about Clemson Tigers football and its sign-stealing.

“I don’t know anything about, you know, (Michigan football) and what they did or any of that,” SEC offensive play-caller Bobby Petrino said, per Brad Crawford. “I honestly didn’t pay any attention to it. But I do know when you went and played Clemson that they were going to have your signals. They had guys on the sidelines standing there with a sheet of paper with your signals on it. And that was tough.”

New Arkansas OC Bobby Petrino says Clemson used to steal signals all the time on the sideline … pic.twitter.com/J1BWd1jfT5

— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) November 30, 2023

NCAA to add electronic communication devices?

Bobby Petrino added that there have been hold-ups in college football from moving to in-helmet communicators — the same technology that is used in both high school and NFL football. With all of the Michigan football sign-stealing and Connor Stalions buzz, it almost feels like the NCAA will be forced to allow one-way communication devices going forward.

“I think that they should’ve done that a long time ago, you know,” Petrino said. “The SEC and the ACC have talked for years about putting the piece in the ear. And one of the issues that you always have in the NCAA is everybody has a vote. So there are a lot of schools that play football that can out-vote the major conferences that don’t have the money for that technology to be in their helmets. So that’s why they’ve got to do something about it.”

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