During ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast on Saturday morning from State College, PA, host Rece Davis slipped in a veiled shot at the Texas Tech Red Raiders and head coach Joey McGuire.
The GameDay staff was discussing the Iowa State vs. Texas Tech game set for Saturday afternoon in Ames, when Davis, following all the staff members picking the Cyclones to beat the Red Raiders, said, “Let’s see if they can encrypt all of that helmet communication that’s got Joey McGuire all upset.”
Here’s the video.
Related: Iowa State vs. Texas Tech: How to Watch, TV, Odds, Predictions
Big 12 Recalls In-Helmet Communication Systems After ‘Concerns That Others Can Listen In’
Earlier in the week, in one of the most peculiar storylines in college football, The Athletic reported that the conference had instructed its schools to return their in-helmet communication systems so that the league could address some concerns ahead of the Week 10 schedule.
After The Athletic’s report, ESPN’s Max Olsen added that Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt raised the issue with the Big 12, while also requesting an investigation from the Big 12 into whether or not it’s games against Baylor and TCU — both losses at home — were affected by the potential issue.
Less than 24 hours after that report, the Big 12 provided a statement saying that none of the conference’s games had been compromised due to the communications issues, according to their investigations.
“Following the industry-wide concerns surrounding helmet communications, the Big 12 conducted a review of conference games and helmet communications processes to address any issues member institutions raised regarding this matter,” the Big 12 said, according to Chris Vannini. “The review showed that at no point was any Big 12 competition compromised.
“All Big 12 helmet communications programs now have the encryption update from GSC, and schools may use either CoachComm or GSC for coach-to-player communication at their discretion.”
Hocutt responded to the Big 12’s findings shortly after the statement went public, saying he’d accepted the Conference’s determinations.
“We have received a verbal report from the Big 12 Conference regarding our request to ensure the integrity of our recent football games,” Hocutt said. “This request was made after our head football coach received an audio recording on Tuesday, Oct. 29, containing clips from our in-game, coach-to-player communications.”
The Red Raiders travel to Ames to take on the Cyclones with kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT.
