College football offseasons are inevitably marked by dissension, with the two teams finding opposing views on a topic and spending the days until September in a fog of argument and discord.
This offseason is no different. The months since Alabama beat Clemson to win the national championship have been defined by the debate over satellite camps, a shared disagreement along geographic lines that has particularly agitated members of the Southern Conference- East, who denounced these invaders who were making incursions into the country. the most successful recruiting area in the country.
Two years ago, another debate – that of “pace of play” – pitted teams against each other along more philosophical lines: defensive-minded coaches suggested slowing down the game to limit the risk of injuries, in particular, and Offensive counterparts questioned the true motivations behind the decision. a potential rule change intended to remove an offensive advantage.
In this context of dissent, it can be refreshing to find consensus.
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Coaches and administrators may have found common ground with the idea that their sport would benefit from the implementation of headset technology, which would allow communication between a coach and an individual offensive and defensive player at the during a match.
“I would definitely support that,” Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi said. “That’s what all the coaches say. There is no question.”
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There is consensus on the benefits of such technology, used by NFL teams for more than two decades; the league allowed coach-quarterback communication starting in 1994 and implemented the same technology between coaches and a defensive player in 2008.
Coaches who discussed the topic with USA TODAY Sports were universal in their desire for similar technology in the college game, if only as a way to combat a secondary pursuit: stealing an opponent’s offensive or defensive signals , what Alabama coach Nick Saban called “one of the biggest problems in college football.”
The problem has grown with the proliferation of no-huddle offenses, which use coded symbols and signals in plain sight on the sidelines. Under NCAA rules, teams can attempt to decode opposition play calls during live action, although there is a regulation prohibiting the use of video to capture signals.
“It’s certainly frowned upon, but it’s not illegal,” Houston coach Tom Herman said of sign-stealing.
The tactic entered the public conversation last November, when Arizona State came under scrutiny for attempting to steal signs from another Pac-12 conference contender — although the Sun Devils nevertheless lost to the two teams most public in their disapproval, Utah and Oregon. “We’ve had a lot of problems with stealing signals and information,” Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said, leading the Ducks to “change the way we do things” in terms of offensive signals.
“It used to be the coach would stand there and tell the receiver what the play was and he’d run it in there, tell the quarterback, and they’d call the play,” Virginia Tech coach Justin said Fuente. “Well, since almost no one does that anymore, it absolutely has led to more (sign stealing). Some people go to great lengths, others go to medium lengths, and others don’t bother trying to hide the footage.
There would be a more concrete advantage to communicating with the headset. In addition to eliminating the possibility of sign stealing, the addition of this technology would allow coaches to literally speak to an individual player during an offensive or defensive series; This would be particularly useful on offense, as coaches can not only cue their quarterbacks on defensive tendencies, but potentially schedule multiple play calls in advance — a likely advantage for offenses whose success depends on pace and tempo.
“The immediate benefits would be being able to communicate with my quarterback in the middle of a drive. It’s really cool,” Herman said. “And being able to tell him things other than the play we’re calling, even if he just hears my voice or (offensive coordinator) Major Applewhite’s voice saying, ‘Hey, calm down,’ giving him some form of instruction in the middle of a ride, I think it’s pretty critical.
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Helfrich said Pac-12 football coaches discussed the idea of coach-to-helmet communication and “it was supported pretty much unanimously.” But even if coaches favor the use of technology, many questions remain to be answered on the subject. The NCAA Football Oversight Committee plans to discuss the issue next week and then make a recommendation to the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Committee on what should be further explored.
For starters, the technology must not only be usable but also affordable for every FBS team. Although the quarterbacks are in communication on the offensive side of the ball, the question remains which defender would have access to the technology — even though most defensive coaches would pick a linebacker, Narduzzi said. There would also be the question of how long the communication would last before each individual game.
According to NFL rules, the coach-to-player system is interrupted when the game clock “reaches 15 seconds or the ball is snapped, whichever comes first” and teams are “allowed to have more than one player on the field with a speaker in his helmet.
And whether headset technology would actually address the most pressing problem mentioned by coaches — that of signal theft — remains up for debate. Communicating plays directly to a quarterback is one thing; This doesn’t necessarily do much for no-huddle teams, who then have to send signals from sideline players located away from the ball, such as wide receivers.
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“You still have to find a way to get to the other guys on the perimeter” of the court, Herman said. “Whether it’s the coordinator calling his play at the quarterback and waving to the wide players or the signal is coming from the sideline, the risk of your signals being stolen will always be there.”
Yet those concerns pale in comparison to the benefits of using coach-player technology — a rule change so rooted in common sense that it ensures unity during college football’s dissent-rich offseason.
“Why are we 20 years behind the NFL putting a device in the quarterback’s helmet, right, or in the defense signal caller, where you just talk to the guy for up to 15 seconds on the (game) clock?” » Saban said. “To me, that would be the most basic thing to do to help the game.”
Contributor: Nicole Auerbach, George Schroeder, Daniel Uthman.
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