Michigan football was reportedly a target in Catapult film breach
There was a really interesting report that dropped on Friday night just a few hours ahead of the Cotton Bowl between Michigan football rival Ohio State and Missouri.
This report by Dan Wetzel who was the first person to report on the "sign gate" investigation, suggests that a school was using Catapult to access practice film of others and more. Wetzel reports that Michigan football is not the target of the investigation, but that "at least one other school" is.
Catapult, a video and data analysis company used in college football, confirms the NCAA and “local authorities” are investigating “unauthorized access” of footage.
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) December 29, 2023
The investigation is not centered on Michigan but rather on at least one other school, sources tell Yahoo Sports.
I'm not sure why the name of the school or schools being investigated is being withheld. The NCAA surely knows the school in question, so why is it covering? It certainly didn't give Michigan football that same treatment. In fact, the NCAA has repeatedly broken its own rules to comment on an ongoing investigation.
This is in regards to the allegation that a team (not Michigan) had gained unauthorized access to other team accounts through Catapult, which is how programs access their practice film, etc.
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) December 29, 2023
I was told one team shut down their cloud access to players in November because of this https://t.co/WhZKQPNISC
This issue first came to light this week as players from Alabama and Michigan said they had stopped using their tablets to study film. Catapult is the company that many of these programs use to store film and other things. The comments by Michigan football players, who became aware of a potential issue in November, are also eye-raising.
Knowing who Michigan football plays in November makes you wonder about this issue. That's especially true since a spokesman from the school told ESPN that the Wolverines were believed to have been a target of the film breach:
"A Michigan spokesperson said that it is not being accused of the allegation and believed it was one of the schools targeted in the breach. Michigan shut down access to its Cloud and video through Catapult at the beginning of November to prevent any unauthorized access to its film."
Maybe this will have nothing to do with Ohio State or any other Big Ten school. But if it does, it will be the worst nightmare for Tony Petitti. I'm also wondering when ESPN will start the daily reports from Pete Thamel about what actually might be one of the biggest scandals in college footbal history.
Let's hope this story gets the attention it deserves, but after the way ESPN ignored Ohio State stealing signs and colluding with other teams to advance scout Michigan, it's hard to have faith that whatever school it is will get the same treatment Michigan did, which tells you all you need to know about "sign gate" being a concentrated effort to take down the Wolverines.
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