Syracuse defenders appear to fake injuries at the same time vs. Tennessee
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Officials this season have been instructed to crack down on college football players faking injuries in an attempt to stop the clock or slow down up-tempo offenses.
Punishing players for “faking” an injury is difficult to do, as one would imagine. Adjudication ultimately comes down to a judgment call on the part of the official. However, that call is made a little easier when teams are so obvious.
Like Syracuse was Saturday against No. 24 Tennessee.
With less than 90 seconds remaining in the first half, 2 different Syracuse players certainly seemed to attempt to feign an injury to slow down the Tennessee offense in the red zone. Defensive backs Demetres Samuel Jr. and Duce Chestnut both started to drop to the turf, but once Chestnut saw Samuel hit the deck, he broke his fall and stood right back up.
Tennessee scored 3 plays later to go up 31-14.
This season, if a player on the field presents as injured after the ball is spotted for the next play, that player’s team will be charged a timeout.
If that team doesn’t have any timeouts remaining, a 5-yard delay of game penalty will be assessed.
The player who went down must also leave the game for at least 1 play and they cannot re-enter until a medical professional gives the OK.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
