Whittingham addresses sign-stealing after USC, Oregon both took steps to avoid it

SALT LAKE CITY – The sign-stealing allegations at the University of Michigan have become by far the biggest story in college football outside of actual games being played.

As that saga plays out in the middle of the Wolverines' potential march to a national championship, the notion of poaching signs from opposing sidelines has bled into the University of Utah's season. To be clear, no one has alleged the Utes have done anything illegal, or even distasteful, but the topic has come up multiple times in recent days.

In the days following Utah's 34-32 win at USC on Oct. 21, Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley said Utah was "an opponent we've played against multiple times, an opponent we know that does a good job trying to grab signals." This, after USC used a screen in front of its signals.

During Saturday's 35-6 loss to Oregon, the Ducks used a similar sideline tactic to protect its incoming signals.

On Monday morning, the topic was broached to Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham.

"If your signals are being stolen in game, it's your fault," Whittingham said during his weekly press conference. "If you're that simplistic, that easy to read and that easy to decipher, that's your problem, that's not the opponent's problem. I would never have a problem with teams trying to steal our signals. You've got guys looking at signals and trying to gain any advantage you can. That's like telling your defenders, 'Hey, close your eyes when they come out in the formation so you don't know what information is.'"

There is, of course, a night-and-day difference between Utah, or any program for that matter, trying to steal and decipher signs in the middle of a game vs. a program doing what Michigan is accused of: buying tickets to games, then using video equipment at those games to illegally study up on potential opponents ahead of time.

Stealing signals in-game is not against any on-the-books NCAA or Pac-12 rule.

"You want every bit of legal and above-board advantage that you can get, and if you're so simplistic that you're just giving it away with your signals, then you better take a look at your signals," Whittingham said. "I would never, ever personally feel that somebody that does that to us is out of line because if they're doing it, then congratulations to them and we've got to fix things."

Sione Vaki will continue to go both ways

If there was any chance that budding two-way threat Sione Vaki would begin focusing solely on offense, that ship has apparently sailed.

"I think we're in a position now where we're settled in, and we're about a 70-30 split, 70% defense and 30% offense," Whittingham said. "I think that's where we'll continue to stay."

Vaki played approximately 65 total snaps against Oregon, with only 12-14 of those coming on offense, a manageable workload for a player being asked to go both ways. Vaki ran wild against Cal and USC, but the Ducks neutralized that threat, limiting him to just five touches — all rushes — for 11 yards on a day where the rushing attack and the offensive line struggled.

"Now, he wasn't feeling up to par, but he's a warrior and he was out there," Whittingham said. "I think you could tell he wasn't his usual self, but yeah, we should have, could have and should have done a better job of that (throwing Vaki the ball)."

Utah-Washington placed in six-day hold

Utah's Nov. 11 trip to the University of Washington did not receive a kickoff time Monday morning, 12 days out for the game, and was instead placed in a six-day hold.

In layman's terms, a six-day hold means the networks want to see how games this weekend pan out before setting a kickoff time for Nov. 11. Such a move is commonplace at this time of the season as games become higher-profile with teams jockeying to reach the Pac-12 championship on Dec. 1.

The other high-profile Pac-12 game on Nov. 11, USC at Oregon, was also placed in a six-day hold. The Utes, Huskies, Ducks and Trojans are all in contention for the conference championship game as November arrives; but similar to last season, Utah, with two conference losses, will likely need to win out, plus get significant outside help to advance back to the title game.

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