Ohio State’s Alleged ‘Unauthorized Access’ to Rival Practice Films via Catapult Sparks NCAA Investigation

Who would have thought an Australian data analysis company would become the talking point ahead of the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Catapult, the company that handles video footage for college football programs, said on Friday that the NCAA is conducting an investigation into an allegation that an unnamed college football program gained unauthorized access to its materials. Meanwhile, a recent update puts the Ohio State team under the scanner as the team allegedly behind this breach.

It’s a case of another breach of conduct as the college teams look to gather unfair advantage. While the Michigan Wolverines already paid the fine with their sign-stealing controversy, the Ohio team can also go down the same path, if the allegations prove to be true.

After November’s “sign gate” NCAA looks into fresh allegations

The controversies keep on coming in the current NCAA season. There was the sign-stealing fiasco in November that led to the downfall of the Michigan Wolverines. There was also an incident of robbery during that particular Colorado Buffaloes-UCLA game. Now, the NCAA finds itself investigating allegations that a college football program, reportedly Ohio State, has gained unauthorized access to its materials.

While the company largely made the name anonymous, the Ohio State Buckeyes are being reported for the same. As per ESPN, the Catapult is working in tandem with local authorities and the NCAA. In a statement, they said, “We will continue to support the ongoing investigation with the NCAA and local authorities. At Catapult, we hold ourselves to the highest of standards, and safeguarding customer information is of utmost importance to us.” Catapult has actually denied any breach of its system. “We have conducted an internal investigation and have not found any security breach in our systems,” Catapult said.

A report by Yahoo Sports also confirmed the NCAA’s investigation into the “unauthorized access” of team footage with at least one school being implicated, though the name is not revealed, Michigan is not the school. Michigan has been investigated and penalized for violating its sportsmanship policy by allegedly stealing opponents’ signs using methods banned by the governing body but the program is in the clear in the latest scandal.

Catapult is a long-established company that offers the software to share practice film and video clips to the coaches and the players for study. However, there’s also a case of conflict of interest at Catapult.

Interesting details reveal the conflict of interest at Catapult

As the media company looks to find the loopholes in their system and confirms the team responsible for undue access, there’s another piece of interesting news. The video and data analysis company has employed both former Buckeyes Ohio State Director of Football Video and Assistant Football Video Coordinator as senior engineers at the firm.

ALSO READ: Wrapping Up 2023 – Top NCAA Controversies of the Year

Some conflict of interest right there! Both the state director and assistant football video coordinator have been previously associated with the team for more than three years and are now in administrative positions at a firm that hosts their rivals’ data. Still, we are awaiting an official confirmation from the NCAA about which program was involved. Interestingly, the Michigan Wolverines did accuse the Ohio team of partaking in such things but there was no evidence back then to support their claims.

The next 24 hours could be life-changing for the Ohio team!

WATCH THIS STORY: Governor’s mansion commission splurges over 13,000 on college football teams extravaganza.