Amid questions about the integrity of in-game communication systems between coaches used in Power 4 college football games this season, the Big 12 is reportedly taking steps to provide encryption and greater protection.

Bruce Feldman, Sam Khan Jr., Justin Williams and Ralph Russo Athletic and ESPN’s Max Olson On Wednesday, it was reported that the conference had instructed its teams to send their helmet communication devices to GSC, the company that provides the system, to receive a software update that encrypts the communication.

Communication has so far occurred on unencrypted frequencies; This means that anyone with a scanner and the ability to find the right frequencies can access them.

Olson reported that Texas Tech asked the Big 12 for a special report on games against TCU and Baylor out of fear it might have been compromised.

The Red Raiders lost both games.

“We have to play a game Saturday afternoon whose integrity will not be questioned in any way,” Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. “We owe it to the 120 young people on our football team to make this happen, to make it a fair competitive game and to follow the same rules.”

The integrity of college football games was a major point of contention when Michigan won the national championship last season despite being embroiled in a sign-stealing controversy that is still being investigated by the NCAA and could lead to penalties.

Following this scandal, this was the first season in which head coach-to-helmet communications and tablets were allowed in the FBS, although such practices exist in the NFL.

However, as Olson noted, the frequency coordinator, who was preparing for a September game between Arkansas and Texas A&M, noticed that the communication was not encrypted and notified the SEC.

“We were aware of the issue and remained in contact with our schools as well as GSC and our colleagues’ conferences,” the SEC said in a statement Wednesday. he said. “We are not aware of any instances of the system being compromised during the Games. GSC has developed an update to resolve the issue and we have informed our schools that they can update their systems at a time of their choosing.”

As for the Big Ten and ACC, no issues or teams voicing concerns have been reported to conference offices.

It is worth noting that the chief of staff of one of the Big 12 was not particularly interested in this issue and said: “There is no real advantage. First, you speak a different language. Secondly, if you are thinking about what to do in real time, they say, and they try to do it in the field, you are delusional.” . You’re just being the stereotypical paranoid football coach, you can’t convey that to the kids fast enough.”

Olson said creating an advantage by gaining real-time access to these communications is “a much more challenging task than side-signaling,” which has previously made headlines.

The Big 12 expects software updates to be available and shipped to teams in time for Saturday’s games.