As the Michigan scandal continues to tumble through college football, a new accusation has surfaced.
In a story about the sign-stealing prevalence across college football, ESPN's Alex Scarborough and Adam Rittenberg reported that LSU believed Clemson attended its games in the SEC Championship and the Peach Bowl semifinal ahead of the two teams' meeting for the 2019 national championship.
When LSU played Clemson in the 2020 College Football Playoff, sources said the staff suspected Clemson of sending people to scout them in the SEC championship game and Peach Bowl.
Now, a few caveats here:
1) Brent Venables, Clemson's defensive coordinator at the time, has long been viewed as one of the game's top sign thieves. Sign stealing in and of itself is not illegal.
2) This is LSU, anonymously and after the fact, suspecting Clemson of scouting its games. No one at this time has presented evidence of a Clemson operative purchasing tickets or attending the games, as is presently the case with Michigan.
Still, the rumor sheds light on two prominent questions bouncing around college football today:
-- How widespread is scouting in the first place?
Thus far, Michigan is the only team formally accused of in-person scouting with the express goal of picking up the opponent's signals, but it's certainly possible others did the same and we either have yet to learn about it, or they were simply better at covering their tracks than the Wolverines.
"Everyone (saying), 'Oh, it happens all the time!' No, it doesn't. I've never heard of that," former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said this week.
-- How big of an advantage is having the opponent's signals anyway?
LSU went three-and-out in its first two possessions, and punted in its first three. After head coach Ed Orgeron purportedly told offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger to "change it up," LSU scored touchdowns on four of its final five first-half possessions, taking a 28-17 lead en route to a 42-25 victory.
Yahoo reported Thursday that TCU was warned of Michigan's sign-stealing propensity ahead of the teams' Fiesta Bowl semifinal last season. TCU won the game 51-45; its defense secured two pick-sixes, and its offense averaged 6.97 yards per play, the most against a Michigan defense over the past two seasons.
Until last week, the most famous sign stealing story in college football was the 2014 BCS National Championship between Auburn and Florida State. The underdog Tigers jumped out to a 21-3 lead on No. 1 Florida State, at the time one of the most dominant teams in college football history, but the source of Auburn's intelligence was no mystery.
Auburn co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Dameyune Craig was Florida State's quarterbacks coach from 2010-12, and the Seminoles did not change their signals before the game. "That's our fault," then-FSU head coach Jimbo Fisher said after his team rallied for a 34-31 victory.
The Michigan scandal is in parts black-and-white, and in others shades of gray. The LSU-Clemson rumor adds a new shade of gray.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.