ASU football's Todd Graham: Yes, we steal signals but so do others

Arizona State coach Todd Graham on Tuesday came clean.

"Do we steal signals? Yeah, we do,'' he said. "Do people steal our signals? Yeah, (they) do. Do you see our signs and all the things we do – it's our responsibility to make sure our signals are safe. By rule, you can't video somebody else's signals. You can't record their audio, right? That's it. There's nothing illegal about that."

Over the last two weeks, three Pac-12 coaches have talked publicly about ASU's signal-stealing habits, and not all so favorably. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham and his players were the first to do so after the Utes' 34-18 win over ASU on Oct. 17.

This week, just a few days after beating ASU 61-55 in triple-overtime, Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost questioned the Sun Devils' methods, while Washington State coach Mike Leach said the conference should investigate just to make sure ASU isn't doing anything illegal. The Cougars host the Sun Devils on Saturday.

Graham's response: "Let them investigate. We do things by the rules."

A Pac-12 spokesman said Tuesday that the conference has received no formal complaint regarding ASU and signal stealing. Even so, it's strange that three conference coaches have decided to signal out the Sun Devils publicly. The topic was discussed during Tuesday's Pac-12 teleconference.

Said Whittingham: "The onus falls on the guys that are doing the signaling. It's not anybody else's job to look the other way."

Said Leach: "It's one thing to just pick up stuff or just pick up a cue, it's another thing to kind of break it down as a science and film various things and carry it over from one year to the next and do some special analysis of it."

UCLA coach Jim Mora said he loved Oregon's shielding efforts against ASU – the Ducks put up five 8-foot curtains to hide their signals – but he said the term "signal-stealing" in the Sun Devils' case is inaccurate.

"I think they're very good at taking advantage of teams that don't try to hide their intentions or their signals," Mora said. "I thought what Oregon did was awesome. It might have been a little extreme to some, but I thought it was great."

Mora added:

"Listen, there are a whole lot of different ways to steal signals. If you film signals, that's an unethical thing. But if you're standing on the sidelines and you're looking across the field during a game within the 40 seconds between the time a play ends and another play starts, and a team is simple enough that they don't change their signals or they don't have alternate signal callers, then you're just playing the game. I think Arizona State just plays the game, and I think they do it really well. I don't think they steal signals. I think they look across the field, and if they can read something, they do it. It's no different than reading someone's stance or reading someone's formation. It's a tactical clue."

Washington coach Chris Petersen called Oregon's efforts "creative," adding that the Huskies last season had to take similar steps to hide their signals from the Sun Devils. He said he didn't have a problem with it as long as "we're all on the same page (as far as) what the rules are."

"I think it's something that probably needs to be talked about in the offseason, for sure," Petersen said.

Graham said he would welcome putting a radio in the quarterback's helmet, a move the NFL has made to cut down on sideline signals. Until then, the Sun Devils will continue to do what they've always done.

"From the time I've been coaching, we've had guys (in the press box) with binoculars on, getting (the opponents') groupings so you have an idea what their formation is,'' Graham said. "We've had times this year where we've had a quarterback or a tackle or somebody give things away. It's part of the game. I understand all that. We are definitely going by the rules. There's not anything illegal about looking at somebody's signals or looking at somebody's groupings or whatever, so I don't know why we're wasting our time talking about stuff like that."

And if people disagree, so be it.

"I don't really care about what anybody else says. I'm concerned about our program," Graham said. "But if I had a question about somebody else, I'd pick up the phone and call him."

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