Faking It? SEC teams warned by league about a practice to slow down high-tempo offenses

Updated Nov. 6, 2024 12:31 p.m. ET

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina coach Shane Beamer had a final farewell for Mississippi last month as Rebel after Rebel went down on the ground with injuries, some serious, some minor, and created stoppages that slowed things down.

“First of all,” Beamer said after the Gamecocks' 27-3 loss on Oct. 5. “I certainly hope all those guys are OK.”

Sincere or sarcastic? Who's to say when Beamer quickly cut himself off and focused postgame comments on other topics. But there's no doubt he and others around the Southeastern Conference are tired of injury interruptions for players who may or may not be hurt.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey took matters into his own hands with a memo to members last week to knock it off.

“As plainly as it can be stated: Stop any and all activity related to faking injuries to create time-outs,” Sankey wrote in the memo, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press.

Coaches happy for reminder

Amen, said LSU coach Brian Kelly, who called the warning shot from Sankey “timely.”

Sankey, Kelly said, was standing out among “people in college football in making it clear that this kind of nonsense, which is a word that was used, needs to stop. It's silly.”

Sankey's memo said creating injury timeouts on either side of the ball is “not acceptable and is disrespectful to the game of football.”

There would be financial punishments for transgressors, Sankey reiterated. First offense costs a head coach a $50,000 fine. Get caught a second time and the fine increases to $100,000. A third offense brings the coach a one-game suspension.

Any staff member is subject to the same punishments if found to signal or direct a player to feign an injury. A player cited in such an incident could receive a public reprimand.

Nothing new about SEC's stance

All this was laid out to teams before the season, Beamer said. He recalled reading the rules to his coaches and players.

"Here's the policy in this league, and I ain't paying the fine,” Beamer told them.

Ole Miss and coach Lane Kiffin have been front and center in the practice. Fans at Williams-Brice Stadium booed loudly back in October whenever a Mississippi player laid out on the field, believing they were play-acting.

Receiver Tre Harris, then leading the SEC in receptions and yardage, got hurt in the first half and did not return. Defensive lineman JJ Pegues, who had two touchdowns on offense for the Rebels, left in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a shoulder injury. The boos were loud during both stoppages.

Both played the following week in a loss at LSU.

Mississippi acknowledged last month the attention it has received for suspected feigned injuries. It said it has “provided relevant medical information” for the SEC to review and will answer questions about recent games.

Faking it in sports

Faking injuries has been part of sports for some time. Think of soccer on the world stage where a player rolls around in supposed pain until running again a minute or two later.

Injury timeouts in college football give that players' team a chance to regroup while slowing a high-tempo offense. Or it can give an offense getting dominated by a defense a few moments for coaches to come up with a counter.

The real world results mean four-hour games, frustrated fans and very little officials can do to halt it.

Kiffin said this week he was glad for Sankey's crackdown.

“I know some people say, ‘OK, that sounds weird,’ coming from me. We’re a tempo offense," Kiffin said. "I’ve been saying this for years, OK, that faking an injury hurts us more than anybody — us and Tennessee — probably more than anybody in America.”

Gaining an edge

Such tactics straddle the line between gamesmanship and cheating, depending who you ask.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning said he purposely put 12 men on the field on defense to draw a penalty — and drain the clock of precious seconds — as Ohio State desperately drove for a go-ahead field goal in the top-ranked Ducks' 32-31 victory last month. The clock ran out on the Buckeyes next snap.

Florida coach Billy Napier said his team does not feign injuries.

“We don't believe in doing it,” he said.

Still, there's video of Gators linebacker George Gumbs Jr. making a tackle against Tennessee, rising quickly and jogging to the line of scrimmage when he appears to look to Florida's sideline and instantly goes down with an apparent injury. A few minutes later, he's up and walking off.

Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack understands the hand-wringing from fans and opposing teams. But a player who's hurt should stay on the field to get assistance and give his coaches time for the proper substitute.

“Our guys need to understand, if they’re hurt in a game, never come off the field,” Wommack said.

Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea was grateful for Sankey's reminder on a tactic he says he won't ever buy into.

“Never do we cross a line of trying to game the system that way,” he said.

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AP Sports Writers John Zenor in Birmingham, Alabama; Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas; Charles Odum in Atlanta; Brett Martell in New Orleans; Mark Long in Jacksonville, Florida; and Teresa Walker in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

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