Kicking the sham injury can down the road

Surprise, surprise.

To address teams that are awarded an injury timeout through deceptive actions, the committee proposed a reporting and investigation process. Schools and conferences would 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.

“It is very difficult to legislate ethics, particularly when an injury timeout is being used to gain an advantage,” David Shaw said. “The small number of teams that seem to use these tactics should be addressed directly.”

The 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, which is the current rule. 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,” David Shaw said. “This is another step to consider in the future.”

I can’t wait to see the first school levy a punishment against its own head coach for this… although, now that I think about it, it’s probably a good thing McGarity isn’t in Athens now.