The ongoing joke for those who have been piling Michigan football in the past week during the alleged illegal sign-stealing scandal is that the Wolverines were unaware of TCU’s signs, which is why the maize and blue lost in the College Football Playoff semifinal. Yahoo Sports indicates there might be something to that.
According to Ross Dellenger, TCU was aware of the Wolverines’ penchant for learning the opposing teams’ signals and thus changed things up in a clever way to hold Michigan at bay, helping lead the Horned Frogs to a surprising victory.
During TCU’s game against Michigan in last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal, trickery was afoot.
TCU coaches, having gained information on Michigan’s elaborate sign-stealing scheme, changed many of their play-call signals before kickoff. However, head coach Sonny Dykes and the Horned Frogs staff had grander ideas than just changing signals.
They mixed in new play-call signals with old ones, using what one TCU staff member described as “dummy signals” in an effort to trick the UM staff. The dummy signals were old play-calls that had since been changed. Players were told to ignore the dummy signals and run the original play as called with the new signals.
“Sometimes we froze a play before the snap,” said one TCU coach. “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.”
While that’s all clever, we have other opinions.
First, Michigan football didn’t execute as well as it certainly could have, especially defensively. There were a lot of missed tackles that could have completely negated any advantage TCU had on any given play. The plays that were called were — curious — as well. A month after Michigan stymied the Ohio State passing offense by keeping the pass catchers in front and forcing CJ Stroud to complete shorter passes, the Wolverines all-out blitzed the Horned Frogs regularly, even when they were deep in their own territory.
Offensively, miscues played the biggest factor for Michigan. The Wolverines went to an ill-advised trick play on the first turnover of the game. After Roman Wilson’s seeming touchdown catch was ruled to be on the one-yard line, Kalel Mullings fumbled on the ensuing play. J.J. McCarthy threw two pick-sixes but threw for 343 total yards on the day.
So did this help TCU? Quite possibly, it’s not quantifiable. But Michigan botching plays, play calls, and execution played a much bigger factor than anything.