CBS Sports: Connor Stalions fires back at Sonny Dykes, says Michigan knew 'almost every signal' against TCU and Georgia

[Mean Purple]

well, there is some common signal usage here, to his point.

"Stalions detailed how Air Raid offenses, like Dykes' philosophy at TCU, all share the same principles and similar signals from the play-caller relaying information to the quarterback, and then from QB to his receivers.

"Similar to Ohio State 'changing their signals,'" Stalions tweeted. "They changed their route concepts & some run concepts — not their formations and pass protection signals, which is all I cared about."

there is also the reality that we were just the better team.

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

We still kicked your A$$

I would say squeaked by.

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

well, there is some common signal usage here, to his point.

"Stalions detailed how Air Raid offenses, like Dykes' philosophy at TCU, all share the same principles and similar signals from the play-caller relaying information to the quarterback, and then from QB to his receivers.

"Similar to Ohio State 'changing their signals,'" Stalions tweeted. "They changed their route concepts & some run concepts — not their formations and pass protection signals, which is all I cared about."

there is also the reality that we were just the better team.

So they knew the gist of what we were running on any given play, yet still gave up 51 points to us? Wonder what the score would have been had they not had a basic gist.

 

[Mean Purple]

So they knew the gist of what we were running on any given play, yet still gave up 51 points to us? Wonder what the score would have been had they not had a basic gist.

I think they assume what the air raid does. However, and this may explain in part why what we saw the last two seasons was different, what the Frogs actually did in that package was different from what Sonny would like to do with a full air raid package. So it could be that those michigan folks didn't consider the nuances of what the Frogs were doing play by play. (To his credit, Sonny was making big time adjustments through the season). May also be why we confused folks during conference in that season.

All that said, Sonny seems to want to run the ball more. And he got on Cook about not running north south.
Heck, we may see some new thing emerging. Sonny could go riverboat gambler like Spurrier and Bowden did back in the day.

 

[hfhmilkman]

TCU won because they were the better football team on that evening. JJ McCarthy threw 2 pick sixes, there was a fumble on 1st and goal at the one, and Jim Harbaugh called a strange statue of liberty play on 4th and goal. That was the difference in the game.

There is no way for Stallions to do anything because supposedly his method of intercepting signals was to have people at games. There is no way that Stallions could have anticipated having to play TCU. The games Stallions allegedly paid people to attend, are known. None of them included TCU.

In my opinion, sign stealing is overblown. College staffs traditionally share this information. If you have a contact on the other staff and they are not a rival, you will get the full intel. Bagmen when they were not handing out cash in their region attend games with their iphones.

The entire thing is contrived when the better HS leagues in Texas have wireless headsets making signs obsolete. The rules remained because the blue bloods saw it as an advantage as they had the resources to hire a dedicated sign stealer.

This is the reason why Connor Stallions was on the CMU bench. He was not there to steal signs against MSU for UM. MSU was already known to be an afterthought of a team incapable of putting up any resistance. Stallions was in Mount Pleasant because he was a friend of the HC. CMU as a MAC team had a real opportunity to beat MSU. Unfortunately for CMU, their QB was epically bad. If CMU had an average MAC QB, they might have had a chance as MSU was that bad.

 

[ShreveFrog]

So they knew the gist of what we were running on any given play, yet still gave up 51 points to us? Wonder what the score would have been had they not had a basic gist.

14 of our points came on pick 6’s but still had a good offensive night against a huge opponent in a huge setting.

 

[Mean Purple]

TCU won because they were the better football team on that evening. JJ McCarthy threw 2 pick sixes, there was a fumble on 1st and goal at the one, and Jim Harbaugh called a strange statue of liberty play on 4th and goal. That was the difference in the game.

There is no way for Stallions to do anything because supposedly his method of intercepting signals was to have people at games. There is no way that Stallions could have anticipated having to play TCU. The games Stallions allegedly paid people to attend, are known. None of them included TCU.

In my opinion, sign stealing is overblown. College staffs traditionally share this information. If you have a contact on the other staff and they are not a rival, you will get the full intel. Bagmen when they were not handing out cash in their region attend games with their iphones.

The entire thing is contrived when the better HS leagues in Texas have wireless headsets making signs obsolete. The rules remained because the blue bloods saw it as an advantage as they had the resources to hire a dedicated sign stealer.

This is the reason why Connor Stallions was on the CMU bench. He was not there to steal signs against MSU for UM. MSU was already known to be an afterthought of a team incapable of putting up any resistance. Stallions was in Mount Pleasant because he was a friend of the HC. CMU as a MAC team had a real opportunity to beat MSU. Unfortunately for CMU, their QB was epically bad. If CMU had an average MAC QB, they might have had a chance as MSU was that bad.

oh, that's just too simple and won't work for ESPN.

but, yes, we were the better team. even though we tried to flub it up twice in that game.

 

[Mean Purple]

14 of our points came on pick 6’s but still had a good offensive night against a huge opponent in a huge setting.

had we not gotten a star running back injured near the end, who knows how it would have worked out for the next game. no choice really, needed him on the field. just a bad turn of events on that play.

 

[Wexahu]

14 of our points came on pick 6’s but still had a good offensive night against a huge opponent in a huge setting.

That was such a wild ass game. We actually punted six times and 60% of our possessions ended with no points. A few really big plays and the pick 6's made the difference.

 

[tetonfrog]

That, or they knew we had an OC who had one foot out the door.

OK, so let's say Riley was focused and our offense shows up..........that makes the final score 65-42? Come on. Our D was finished after the semis. We celebrated like we won the national championship after we beat Michigan. We did not show up the nest week at all. It wasn't just the OC - it was everyone.

 

[SW toad]

This Stallions guy is a real piece of work. He still won't publicly admit that he disguised himself as a Central Michigan staffer and was on their bench during a game they played against Michigan State even though there are photos all over the Internet showing him on the sidelines. Plus, Dave Portnoy says Stallions privately admitted to him that he was indeed there in disguise.

What disturbs me the most is that Stallions is a graduate of the Naval Academy and spent five years in the Marine Corps. Somehow, I think Annapolis and the USMC will live this down but it's still a disgrace.

It really should not disturb you. I worked with Naval grads during Hercules and Martin Marietta stints. While most military folks entering civilian life are kosher, you do have a 15% to 25% of them who are still playing war mind games in the civilian world. I had to submit preliminary Libel and Defamation lawsuits to some of these PUNKS to get them to correct their behavior in the late 90s. They complied and STFU.

 

[SW toad]

impossible. there are people on this board who still say we would never win in a playoff system or against the blue bloods or ... yada yada yada.
also, the lower to middle teams in our conference matter in showing how our conference stands up, but only the top teams in place like the SEC matter in showing how they stack up yada yada yada

Anybody who watched the B12 Championship last season knows this ^^^^ ASU, picked to finish last past season takes UT to OT. Because of the Transfer Portal, coaching changes, realignment, etc., B12 decides not to do a pre-season ranking???

 

[The TCU Football Jerk]

The entire thing is contrived when the better HS leagues in Texas have wireless headsets making signs obsolete. The rules remained because the blue bloods saw it as an advantage as they had the resources to hire a dedicated sign stealer.

I had a high school head coach, Mr. Phony we called him. Always talking religion, FCA, what a fine Christian he was, all that. Yet come to find out, he had absolutely no problem the game our coaches were able to intercept the oppositions wireless headsets. We crushed that team. I only found out about it because our o-line coach was fresh out of college and not that much older than us seniors. He ran the weight room so we were always hanging out with him. He spilled the beans to us players.

 

[Frognosticator]

14 of our points came on pick 6’s but still had a good offensive night against a huge opponent in a huge setting.

And 17 of UM's points came off our turnovers. Pretty even IMHO, although it took UM a little longer to score after their turnovers. Duggan had a bad night passing: 14/29 for 225 and 2 INTs. It was Emari Demercado who just took over after Miller got hurt. Emari was 17-150. Against the best defense in college football.

 

[Wexahu]

The entire thing is contrived when the better HS leagues in Texas have wireless headsets making signs obsolete. The rules remained because the blue bloods saw it as an advantage as they had the resources to hire a dedicated sign stealer.

Always wondered why teams don't huddle, break the huddle, and then quickly run their play. I think defenses would be confused as heck because all the film prep and game planning would almost be obsolete. They would have no idea of formation or where personnel is positioned until it was too late to make adjustments or calls.

Instead, offenses don't huddle and everyone runs to their spot and then looks back at the coaching staff for signals. Defensive coaches recognize tendencies and make signals of their own. Advantage, defense.

Makes absolutely no sense to me. I think it's a case where coaches want to control everything, and as a result, control too much.

 

[ShreveFrog]

Duggan had a bad night passing: 14/29 for 225 and 2 INTs. It was Emari Demercado who just took over after Miller got hurt. Emari was 17-150. Against the best defense in college football.

Yes, Emari was huge. But you have to appreciate Duggan's great TD passes under pressure to Barber and QJ.

 

[Big Frog II]

Emari was great but losing Miller changed our offense. We also didn’t have anyone to sub for Emari.

 

[ShreveFrog]

Hmm, where was Bailey? He only had a couple carries vs. Georgia in the NC.

 

[FroggleRock]

And 17 of UM's points came off our turnovers. Pretty even IMHO, although it took UM a little longer to score after their turnovers. Duggan had a bad night passing: 14/29 for 225 and 2 INTs. It was Emari Demercado who just took over after Miller got hurt. Emari was 17-150. Against the best defense in college football.

Here’s a fun question: would we have made the playoffs in ‘22 and beat Michigan with ‘24-25 Hoover?

 

[Wexahu]

Here’s a fun question: would we have made the playoffs in ‘22 and beat Michigan with ‘24-25 Hoover?

Probably not in both cases.

So much went well for us in both the season and against Michigan that the odds repeating that would be very unlikely no matter what. If we replayed the season with Duggan at QB we might generally play about the same and go 8-4. If we play Michigan again we might lose by three TDs. IMO those two outcomes would be entirely within reason because in all honesty I just don't think we were all that great. Almost everything went right that year, it doesn't happen very often but when it does it's awesome. There's people that will say we were a better team than Michigan, and I say that's absolute nuts. Doesn't take anything away from our win because that is all that matters and it can't be changed.