NCAA addresses fake injury issue: 'We considered all options'
The NCAA approved a series of rule changes on Thursday, including fake injuries, which have become a growing problem in college football in recent years to slow the pace of play:
An incident will now be subject to a reporting procedure and investigation process, and the conference will decide how penalties would be handed out, if at all.
It also appears that the rules committee will continue to consider all options to this situation moving forward.
Here’s the NCAA’s explanation:
To address teams that are awarded an injury timeout through deceptive actions, panel members approved a reporting and investigation process. Schools and conferences will be able to report questionable scenarios to the national coordinator of officials, who will review and provide feedback to the conference for further action. Any penalties levied would be up to the conference office or school involved.
The NCAA Football Rules Committee considered several in-game options to address this, including altering the injury timeout rule to remove the injured student-athlete for more than one play. Currently, an injured player is required to sit out one play. This concept was debated at length, but the committee was concerned with the additional issues that could be created and did not want to encourage players to continue to participate when injured.
Committee members discussed how the pace of play appears to be contributing to this concern. “We considered all options to address this issue, including allowing both teams an opportunity to substitute after a first down,” said David Shaw, chair of the Football Rules Committee and coach at Stanford. “This is another step to consider in the future.”