Thanks to the dramatic Nico Iamaleava situation, it’s been quite a wild week in college football.
The NCAA has been facing heat for a lot of different reasons lately. They now find themselves back in the news – but hopefully for a reason that will improve the sport.
To address the long-standing issue of players faking injuries in college football, the NCAA announced that its Playing Rules Oversight Panel has signed off on updates to the injury timeout regulations, set to take effect this coming season.
According to the newly approved rule, if a team’s medical staff comes onto the field to assist an injured player after officials have already marked the ball ready for play, that team will now be charged a timeout.
Should the team have no timeouts left, a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty will be enforced instead.
This rule change stems from ongoing concerns that some teams have deliberately used fake injuries as a tactic to halt the game’s pace, disrupt opponents’ momentum, or preserve timeouts.
NCAA Secretary-Rules Editor/National Coordinator of Officials, Steve Shaw, explained the decision to implement the new rule.
“When you watch that video, action is required,” Shaw told ESPN, alluding to one of the many example of players faking injuries. “Sometimes players may do it on their own because it feels accepted, and that’s what we want to stop. I’m not sure there is a perfect solution, but I think this is a good first step.
“This will have impact to those that are very obvious and are late and looking to the sideline and going down. Coaches do not want to risk a timeout under any circumstances. Those are very valuable commodities in the game.”
Coaches have long expressed frustration over players faking injuries and have been calling for action. Now, the NCAA is finally responding.
There has been broader support among coaches for even stricter penalties.
One widely favored idea is to require any injured player to sit out the remainder of a drive, but that proposal has repeatedly failed to gain traction with the NCAA Football Rules Committee.
In addition to the injury rule, the NCAA has tweaked its overtime policy.
Previously, each team was granted one timeout per overtime period. Now, starting with the third overtime, teams will each receive just one timeout total for the remainder of the game, a move designed to keep overtime sessions from dragging on.
While these changes reflect an attempt by the NCAA to keep game-pace moving and ensure fair play, there are even bigger issues which fans and coaches hope the organization soon addresses.
What are your thoughts on these new rule changes???
