During the 2024 college football season, the Michigan Wolverines made headlines for all the wrong reasons when they were exposed for an illegal sign-stealing operation that ultimately led to some stiff punishment from the NCAA that was announced earlier this year. Now, it sounds like another top program has been called out for stealing signals.

Ahead of this weekend’s SEC showdown between the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners and the No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin had some surprising comments about what Oklahoma does well as he heavily implied that Oklahoma benefits greatly from stealing signals.

Lane Kiffin calls out Oklahoma

During his press conference on Monday, Kiffin called out Oklahoma and head coach Brent Venables a bit as he suggested that they do a good job of stealing signals from their opponents – particularly the team’s defense.

“One, it’s phenomenal prep — a film study of signals,” Kiffin said during his Monday press conference via On3. “They do a great job of that. If you study people really well, you have enough confidence as a coach to go after those. That seems what he does and they’ve got a really good beat on the plays that are coming when they’re called and they do a great job of going and taking those away. Look at the Auburn game. I told Hugh [Freeze] after the game, watching it, he might want to switch his signals. Like, it looks like they have the plays. The middle safety’s running down to steal slants, which is very abnormal.”

So far this season, Oklahoma has one of the top defenses in college football, allowing just nine points per game.

Brent Venables responds

During an appearance on his weekly radio show on Monday, Venables was asked about Kiffin’s comments, and he chose to take it as a compliment for his team.

“I guess coming from Lane I take it as a compliment?” Venables said on his radio show via On3. “Like, he must have watched our guys be really prepared. Cause that’s who they are, man. They’re relentless. Their detail, the time they spend above and beyond what’s required, that’s the proof of how we’re playing right now. That D-line, how they’re able to dominate physically.”

That said, Venables did offer a bit of a denial, pointing out that it’s very difficult to steal signs now that college football allows in-helmet communication, especially against teams that huddle on offense.

“Honestly I don’t know of a team that hasn’t huddled. I think every single team we’ve played the last two years has huddled,” Venables said. “And so between that and the helmet communication, I don’t know how that works, but we got enough to worry about just getting our guys lined up with the right call and things of that nature. But I guess I’ll take that as kind of a weird kind of compliment. Our guys must’ve looked pretty good on film.”

Not against the rules

It’s worth noting that even if Oklahoma were stealing signals, that is not actually against the rules. Michigan was punished for illegal in-person scouting, in which they sent individuals to games against future opponents to record and decipher their signals beforehand, which is against NCAA rules.