Following Auburn's 20-14 win over Kansas State last night, Wildcats head coach Bill Snyder accused Auburn of stealing signals, causing K-State to switch things up at halftime. "They're getting our signals," he told ESPN sideline reporter Samantha Ponder during the game.
Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn quickly and flatly denied the accusation after the game.
To be fair, Kansas State is not the first team to accuse Auburn of stealing signals recently. Jimbo Fisher said the same thing following January's BCS National Championship, and The Big Lead built a pretty convincing case that he was telling the truth.
That's two coaching staffs independent of each other, both from different conferences, neither with an extensive history of playing Auburn, making the same accusation. There's a greater than zero chance it's probably true.
And if it is: so what?
Ty Duffy of The Big Lead said it best today: "The point of signals is to mask what you are doing. Failure to do so is your own fault."
The Wildcats didn't lose that game because Auburn hacked the mainframe. They lost because their kicker missed three field goals, their best player allowed a touchdown pass to bounce from his face mask into the opponent's arms, and their quarterback fumbled deep inside his own territory. After all, Kansas State scored seven points in the first half, when Auburn was allegedly onto its signals, and seven points in the second half, after the Wildcats supposedly adjusted.
Kansas State was the reason Kansas State lost that game.
You know who agrees with that statement? The man who accused Auburn in the first place.