The power and potential of artificial intelligence threatens to fundamentally reshape countless aspects of modern society — including, evidently, college football.
On Friday, Oct. 23, a report from the Austin American-Statesman included a comment from Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte in which he cited a fourth-down decision in the Longhorns’ Week 7 loss to Florida as an example of the program using an AI-driven data analytics platform.
On the play in question, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian opted to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the Longhorns’ own 47 down three midway with about 8:30 remaining in the fourth quarter only for Arch Manning to be dropped for a three-yard loss on a designed quarterback run. Texas would go on to lose the game, 20-17, for its second-consecutive loss. In the story, Del Conte described the failed decision as “a pivotal embrace” of AI.
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Del Conte’s comment drew ire from some Longhorns fans and mockery from elsewhere across the country, but according to him, Texas’ relationship with AI wasn’t exactly as it was presented.
Hours after the initial story published Friday, Del Conte issued a clarification, saying that the fourth-down decision was an example of what the AI platform could suggest, not what it actually did.
Del Conte’s original comments came the same day that Texas unveiled a new AI data analytics initiative, Bevo Lab, which the university said will "serve as higher education's premier sports intelligence platform and living laboratory." Named for the school’s live mascot, Bevo Lab will be part of an academic and research center in Texas’ McCombs School of Business that “combines business education, on-field/on-court performance analytics, applied research, and industry participation.” The school said all 21 of its sports programs and their 500 athletes will participate in the hub for analytics and research.
In interviews with the Statesman, Del Conte described it as “earth-shattering” while deputy athletics director Drew Martin said it will “fundamentally change how college athletics programs look at data and utilize data.”
The initiative is happening with the help of Dell and Google Cloud, both of which are headed by Texas alums.
As part of the project, the school will have a unified data warehouse that consolidates sports-specific data such as game film and wearable technology into a single platform, starting with football, and a “transfer AI” function for roster evaluation that is designed to give coaches actionable insights for game strategy, scouting, and player development.
Just don’t expect it to help Sarkisian script the opening drive for today’s game against Ole Miss.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did AI tell Texas to go for it on failed fourth down vs Florida?