About time.
Finally, somebody is doing something about the trend of faking injuries in college football. The Southeastern Conference has taken on the issue head on, announcing that they would begin to fine or even suspend coaches who are found guilty of the practice.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey sent a memo out to all teams in the league on Friday afternoon. ESPN obtained a copy of the note shortly after.
“If somebody’s injured, we need to take that seriously,” Sankey said. “But creating the questions — and I mean this all across the country — needs to stop.
“As plainly as it can be stated: Stop any and all activity related to faking injuries to create time-outs.”
Sankey announced a punishment system consisting of three tiers.
- 1st offense — head coach receives a public reprimand and a $50,000 fine.
- 2nd offense — another reprimand and a $100,000 fine.
- 3rd offense — another reprimand and the coach will be suspended for his program’s next game.
A staff member found guilty of being involved will face the same punishment. The player faking the injury may also find punishment.
Tennessee has been one of the main teams suffering from this loophole. Thinking back to 2021, games against Ole Miss and Purdue stand out as some of the first times we had seen the strategy work. The Volunteers operate at warp speed, and dropping to the ground stops the tempo and allows substitutions. It’s been happening for years, but nothing has been done until now.
Heupel has even taken advantage of the (lack of a) rule following extra points after quick scoring drives. An injury to an offensive lineman after the kick gives his defense just a little extra time to catch their breath.
“I think there needs to be a rule change, yeah,” Josh Heupel said following his loss in the Music City Bowl to Purdue. Heupel also said after the game that even the officials admitted something needed to change. Keep in mind, this was nearly three years ago.
Tennessee has been dealing with the issue ever since, with most teams hopping onto the trend. The most recent example came against Alabama, where an assistant coach literally shoved a player back onto the field and demanded he go down. That one was so obvious that it may have been the example that forced Sankey’s hand. Lane Kiffin’s overuse of the practice certainly pushed things along as well. Ole Miss was even forced to release a statement on the issue a few weeks ago.
It will be fascinating to see how this is enforced as the conference now must use judgement to determine what’s fake and what’s real. But let’s be honest, we’ve gotten to a point of where it’s extremely obvious. Still, someone is going to push the envelope.
Let’s see if we get any questionable injuries today.