Lincoln Riley Acuses Utah Of Stealing Signs

There has been a sign-stealing epidemic in college football

The biggest story in college football right now has been the sign-stealing saga that is swirling around the Michigan football program.

The NCAA are now involved in investigating what has been revealed to be an intricate plan by an analyst to scout possible future opponents of the Wolverines. Something that has caused a stir since in-game sign-watching is a commonality, but doing so in person when your team isn't playing someone is against the rules.

However, USC head coach Lincoln Riley recently brought attention to Utah after their loss to the Utes thanks to a last-second field goal, and it wasn't to talk about his team's struggles on defense against a pig farmer at quarterback. Instead, when asked about his unique sign-relaying system to Caleb Williams on offense that included having a screen shielding Riley, the Trojan head coach revealed it had nothing to do with Michigan, but more so to do with Utah. 

Riley explained that Utah "does a good job of trying to grab signals."

He did reiterate that sign-stealing like what Michigan is doing isn't new though.

"That kind of stuff has been going on forever," said Riley. 

It is worth noting that Riley is 0-3 against Utah after this past weekend, blowing double-digit leads in the first two meetings, and allowing the Utes to charge down the field in the final couple minutes during this past meeting to set up a game-winning field goal. He and his staff have been under fire as of late, as the Trojans have fallen all the way to No. 24 in the rankings, and have little to no chance at making the College Football Playoff.

USC has a chance to bounce back against a struggling Cal team, while No. 13 Utah is hosting No. 8 Oregon in what is a game that will decide the fate of the losing team's season. A loss for either team will essentially knock them out of Pac-12 title contention, and dash any hopes that they had of making the College Football Playoff due to the fact it'd be their second on the year.