Louks, along with backup quarterback Chad Manis and assistant coach Aaron Roderick, sends starting quarterback Brian Johnson a flurry of signals when the Utes' offense is on the field.

The three look like mimes on high speed, flashing this way and that with their hands. One signal caller is live, the other two are decoys who hopefully keep the defenses from knowing what play the Utes are about to use.

"We definitely do a good job of disguising what we do," Louks said. "Some stuff is complicated, some stuff isn't. Sometimes we signal all of it, sometimes we don't."

If Louks sounded a little vague to you, then he succeeded in his mission in giving away as little as possible about one of Utah's most protected secrets.

College coaches and players guard their signals with a high level of paranoia out of fear their codes will be broken and their teams will suffer a loss because of the discoveries.

That fear was heightened with the revelation that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick had his opponents' signals recorded on video.

In response to the NFL scandal, one of the rules for college football this season prohibits filming or taping of signals given by opponents. It is a nice safety net, but teams still take their own numerous precautions.

Schools often use a combination of decoy signal callers, dummy signals and wristbands to disguise their calls.

"Now that you can't film or record, it shouldn't be a concern for us," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "But it's still something you think about."

This season, Kentucky coach Rich Brooks accused Middle Tennessee State of stealing signals, something he believed Tennessee has done in the past too.

For Utah, the concern is greatest when the Utes play familiar opponents such as Weber State. With former Ute coach Ron McBride now in charge of the Wildcats and defensive coordinator Kevin Clune a former assistant to Whittingham, the Utes changed some signals for their game this season and paid more attention to the timing of others. It was an issue not only for the offense, but also for the defense.

"I was worried about getting the signals into the defense in time, but not time enough for them to react to what we are doing," Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen said. "There is always some cat and mouse going on."

While most coaches believe videotaping opponents' signals is cheating, recognizing a signal during the due course of a contest is generally considered fair game.

"If someone is out there flagrantly giving signals, we'll take it," Andersen said. "But that hardly ever happens. I'm more worried about what guys are on the field and matching skill for skill."

lwodraska@sltrib.com

No. 8 Utah at SDSU

Saturday, 6 p.m., mtn.