Sam Amico
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Apparently, faking injuries is a thing in college football. Or at least enough of a thing that the American Football Coaches Association has asked the NCAA rules committee to address the issue when it meets in March.
“Our ethics committee, which suggests rules changes to the NCAA, said by unanimous consent that this has got to stop,” AFCA executive director Todd Berry said, via ESPN. “So they asked the rules committee to do something about it. It’s bad for football.”
Today, rules regarding player injuries don’t address the possibility of faking them. Instead, it merely states that when the clock stops for an injury, the injured player has to sit out one snap before returning.
“Rules need to have teeth,” Berry said. “And if there’s no teeth, there’s no impact.”
The committee did discuss the topic at least year’s meeting, but no changes were made. So the possibility of using injuries to stop the clock as an extra timeout remained under question this past season.
“It’s time,” Berry said. “… There needs to be a harsh deterrent.”
I mean, we all don’t like players who fake injuries, usually to slow down an offense that’s on a roll, but do we really want refs deciding if someone is actually injured? The PAC12 refs can’t even spot a ball correctly.
Instead of one snap if they have to stop play for you the player must sit out the rest of the drive or maybe even quarter?
How on earth are officials going to determine whether a player is truly injured or not? Are we going to wait for a doctor’s diagnosis then throw a flag? Officials can’t call penalties because they’re unqualified to assess injury. They’re not doctors, and neither are coaches. There’s no coherent or consistent way to enforce a rule here more than is already in place. The player must come off the field for one play. This is just part of the game. Adding rules here would do more harm than good. It doesn’t happen that much to begin with.