Technologically, college football is lacking behind the NFL. In the professional league, certain players have a radio in their helmets so they can get play calls directly from their coaches.

Before bowl season this year, college football hasn’t had that. College football plays are instead signaled by a quarterback running to the sideline or an array of posters and signals to alert the players.

At least until bowl season this year. The Music City Bow is one of 14 bowl games that will experiment with the helmet communication technology, according to a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger.

Dellenger writes adding the communication features was an already existing desire among college football programs, but this year’s sign-stealing scandal at Michigan made the issue of a higher significance.

So in the Music City Bowl set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, Maryland will use the helmet communications in six of its helmets.

Auburn will not use any.

Why?

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze gave an in-depth answer during his media availability ahead of Auburn’s Wednesday practice at Vanderbilt.

“This is kind of an ‘above me’ discussion,” Freeze said “Truthfully, the idea alone, with us being able to communicate with our quarterback, I like. I think it’s something that will help with some of the signal issues we’re having, and obviously, everybody’s trying to pick off your signals during games. It’s just part of the game. But I do think that can help.”

“However, the stuff that’s above me is: Does it affect the safety of the helmets? What does the SEC want to do as a whole, as a conference, with who they want to go with if we should move in that direction? It was just a lot of things in a short amount of time to try to process. I said, ‘Look, I’m OK. We’ve signaled now for 12 games. I think we’ll be OK for a bowl game.’ It doesn’t bother me at all if Maryland chooses to do that. It just felt like an awful lot of conversations were having to be had, and I was in the middle of recruiting and trying to get ready for a bowl game, and I didn’t want to meet with these different manufacturers. I just said, ‘It’s just not that important to me for a bowl game.’”

As Freeze describes, it’s not clear if helmet communications will become a permanent addition going forward. And if done correctly, Freeze appears to support a permanent addition, aware that it would protect his signs going forward.

The radio would likely be a direct line

But in the short term, the few weeks ahead of the Music City Bowl was not enough time to work in a whole new playcalling system.

Auburn will, however, use tablets on the sideline — similar to the NFL, too. Freeze said the tablets provide instant feedback for him and quarterback Payton Thorne, or any position for that matter, during the game. The tablets will show footage from plays during the drive that just occurred during the game for players and coaches to review on the sidelines and make corrections for the rest of the game.

Naturally, because Auburn is not practicing in front of standard television cameras or against an opponent, the team will not truly practice with the tablets until getting to the game itself.

“So that’s always awkward, for me to feel, like, great about it,” Freeze said. “It’ll be difficult for me to utilize, because I’m flipping back and forth between offense and defense and paying attention to the situations. Our coaches on the sideline will hopefully be able to see things. I do hope that’s something that’s permanent. For sure. I don’t know why anyone would be against that, unless it’s a cost issue for certain conferences.”

Thorne is certainly the one set to benefit the most from tablet use.

As Auburn plans to go forward with him as its starting quarterback into next season, Thorne could have the whole summer to get used to the addition of tablet and possibly helmet communications before Auburn begins the 2024 season — should it become a regular part of college football going forward.

“I think it could be cool for college football,” Thorne said Wednesday. “College is kind of behind the NFL and high school in terms of technology usage. The biggest thing I want is the iPads, or the Surfaces, on the sideline. I think we have that, so that’s what I heard. That’d be cool to see next year for college, but I don’t know where all that stands, to be honest.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]