If coaches were left alone long enough, they would adopt the completely sneaky practice of faking injuries.
It’s not even worth calling it gambling anymore. The idea was born behind the scenes in coaching meetings where anything is agreed – regardless of legality – to gain any advantage.
For those of you who don’t have buried noses Home vs. NCAA In settlement court documents or in College Football Playoff automatic qualification scenarios, players faking injuries have become the No. 1 discussion of the college football offseason.
This practice, designed to slow down infractions, has become like spilled coffee on a white carpet – an ugly stain that is difficult to clean. The NCAA Football Rules Committee will make injury simulation its main topic when it meets this week in Indianapolis.
“We’re at an inflection point,” said Steve Shaw, head of that committee as the NCAA rules secretary-chief editor. “We must do something“.
As it stands, college football has become the lowest common denominator of entertainment – professional wrestling – that threatens the integrity of the game. And that credibility has eroded enough of late.
College football’s credibility hangs in the balance as Big Ten and SEC aim to tighten their grip on playoff access
Dennis Dodd
Start with the fact that coaches and players have become so blatant and fraudulent about this. You’d at least think they would refine that kind of cheating during a training period or something. What we get are college productions with worse actors.
THE The SEC has intervened and will penalize coaches found guilty with a public reprimand and fine, or even suspension, if necessary. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey sent a memo to league members calling for an end to the “nonsense.” But this is a conference in a large and complex space.
The American Football Coaches Association has officially proposed the most detailed solution to date. If there is a medical timeout, the player in question would be expected to miss the remainder of the series. If the player is later medically cleared, a team could use a timeout to return that player to the field. There would be exceptions so that players with headset communications (quarterbacks, linebackers) could return after a play.
This all seems logical and workable, but some lingering issues remain. Am I the only one curious that the coaches responsible for the epidemic collapsing… are the ones cleaning up? This casts a wide and unfair net over AFCA. Its executive director, Craig Bohl, has been proactive on the subject, but there is another aspect that has barely been discussed.
The Rules Committee is at least aware of the health and safety aspect of the AFCA solution. There will be injured players who feel obligated to stay on the field so as not to miss playing time. Don’t think that won’t happen now. In my research on head injuries over the years, experts have often mentioned that players ignore or hide the symptoms of a concussion in order to avoid being knocked out. It’s dangerous.
Judge this how you will: There will be no medical officials in the room with the rules committee when the flop is discussed this week, a source told CBS Sports.
“If there’s an unintended consequence of players playing with an injury…shame on the coaches for creating a risk where there hasn’t been one before and jeopardizing the health and well-being of an athlete,” retired Oklahoma Hall of Fame coach Scott Anderson told CBS Sports.
That’s the complicated part of what the rules committee needs to consider during this inflection point. You can’t delve into a player’s soul to determine their true intention.
Fake injuries have evolved in the college game because of these fast-paced offenses. This problem does not exist in the NFL because teams generally group together. No one took it into account, but since the emergence of fast-paced offenses, it would have been about 15 years since injury simulation was present.
Remember Nick Saban’s famous line: “Is this what we want the game to be?” » regarding no-huddle offenses? That was in 2012. Two years later, Saban hired Lane Kiffin as offensive coordinator and installed the zone read spread, which led to the recruitment of elite offensive players. Nationals continued to come to Tuscaloosa because Saban had joined the lively crowd.
Coincidentally, Kiffin remade his career and led Ole Miss to unprecedented heights. His players are among those who have been accused of falling as if they were assigned under suspicious circumstances. Kiffin and Ole Miss, of course, are not alone: They are just a symptom of a larger problem.
There are currently more questions than solutions. In the NCAA rulebook, flopping is officially called “feigning injury.” This is considered a violation of the “Football Code”. Rule 5B under the heading “Time Out for Injury” states that “faking an injury” is dishonest, unsportsmanlike and unethical.
Now try to eliminate all of this from the game.
“I’m as curious as anyone to see how the committee views the situation,” a Power Four official said.
This is also part of the problem. The 12-person rules committee is mandated to be made up of people from all three divisions. Half of this group is from Division II and Division III, and they don’t necessarily have the same problems as Division I. This was proven in 2023 when Division III refused to adopt the first-down rule. (In 2024, however, the DIII adopted the rule.)
The flop has been around for years. The fact that it took this many years to figure it out is a reflection on the problem, those who perfected it, and those who can’t seem to erase it. It is high time to eradicate this scourge.
“We’re kind of at a crossroads,” Shaw added. “If we don’t do something… I know some people think the situation could continue to get worse.”
Well, there are always those college productions.
