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NCAA rules committee considers idea to stop fake injuries, tackles other issues
By Paul Harvey
Published:
The NCAA rules committee is reportedly mulling an idea that would be designed to stop the rash of fake injuries that went on around college football in recent seasons.
According to Chris Vannini with The Athletic, the NCAA rules committee is mulling the idea of having injured players sit out a full drive. This would be designed to eliminate teams having a player fake an injury between plays to stop the clock, only to re-insert that player a few plays later.
There is the possibility in discussions that quarterbacks might be exempted from the rule itself, but the committee appears to be taking the situation seriously.
“There’s a push by the stakeholders in the game saying, on feigning injuries, something must be done,” Steve Shaw, national coordinator of officials and committee rules editor, told The Athletic. “We can’t kick the can down the road once again.”
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Potentially referred to as a “green dot exception,” allowing QBs to re-enter the game is a tantalizing possibility with most players faking an injury falling under the classification of rotational players:
“The green dot exception provides a relief from that and makes the rule more palatable,” said Craig Bohl, the AFCA executive director and former Wyoming head coach. “Because the guys abusing this rule and going down are rotational players, not the quarterback.”
Another potential change being discussed by the rules committee involves instant replay. According to Vannini, the possibility of moving to a coach challenge model similar to the NFL’s is being discussed.
“It’s going to need a lot of discussion,” Shaw said. “This has been a multi-year conversation and it will continue in a way to figure out how we make replay more effective and efficient for our game.”
Overtime timeouts and substitution mechanics are also a part of recent discussions. We’ll see what these discussions yield, but college football could be in for even more changes right around the corner.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
