If a loophole in the rules exists and there's an advantage to be gained from it, coaches are among the best profession in the world at finding a way to take full advantage.
One of the more obvious recent examples of that has been with the utilization of fake injuries by defensive players in an effort to slow down an uptempo offense. One more recent example that has popped up the past year or so is teams faking an injury after giving up a big play on defense to slow offensive momentum and to allow for quick corrections to be made or subs to go in without using a timeout.
Coaches have been pounding the table for the issue to get addressed for years now, and the NCAA is finally stepping in with what they view as a solution.
Under a newly approved rule, if medical personnel enter the field to evaluate an injured player after the ball is spotted by the officiating crew for the next play, that player's team will be charged a timeout. In the event the team does not have a timeout in their pocket, a 5-yard delay of game penalty will be assessed.
That part in italics is important, because while the NCAA may feel they've addressed the rule, I contend they've just slightly tightened the loophole. The fact remains that defensive players can still go down and take full advantage of a stoppage of play, they just have to do so before the ball is spotted by the officiating crew.
With the amount of staffers in college football at an all-time high, getting a player to go down with a feigned injury right after a play is finished should be an easy adjustment for college coaching staffs that I would fully expect to get utilized this fall.
Most coaches seem to be in favor of if a player goes down with an injury, they've got to stay out for the remainder of that drive, but that approach has failed to gain traction with the NCAA Football Rules Committee.
Changes were also made to timeouts during the overtime periods. Previously teams were given one timeout each overtime period. A new rule change states that if a game reaches a third overtime each team will have one timeout beginning with that third overtime period until a winner is decided in an effort to keep the action moving.
Other rule changes set to take effect, including the Dan Lanning rule regarding 12 players on the field and Beielema/Beamer rule on the "T signal" we've previously covered, can be seen below.
Would love to hear your thoughts on if the NCAA's stance will stop teams from faking injuries in the comments.
