Nebraska football had to 'send back' in-helmet communication over encryption

Power Four conferences have notified their schools that the coach-to-player helmet communication equipment they use during games needs an adjustment to address security concerns with the product before teams play again. On Thursday, Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule confirmed he got that message on Wednesday and that the Huskers have sent their tech in to get the fix.

Earlier this week Big 12 programs sent in their in-helmet communication technology to ensure the frequencies they use are encrypted and unable to be used by outside parties. Shortly after the Big 12 schools did that, the Big Ten and every other P4 conference did as well, Rhule said. 

It's been reported that the in-helmet communication technology Power Four teams are using were unencrypted and able to be listened to. While the Big 12 has said that an investigation shows that no one was listened in, the Nebraska football head coach doesn’t seem convinced it would be very easy to come up with that answer so quickly.

Nebraska football sent back comms tech

"I would think if someone was listening to what we were saying, they probably wouldn't tell us. So it's the first I heard of it yesterday," Rhule told the assembled media. "I know teams have known about it. Some teams have known about it, we didn't. So I don't really know much more other than that, but hopefully nothing happened."

Those comments make it clear that Rhule isn’t happy the Big 12 knew about it and a report didn’t come out until this week. Of course, it’s not entirely clear just how long this has been a known issue.

It’s also not clear if the Nebraska football team, and in turn, UCLA will have that tech back and usable by Saturday afternoon.