File – Steve Shaw, then SEC representative, will speak on July 16, 2019, NCAA College Soccer Southeastern Conference Media Days in Hoover, Alabama (AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)
The NCAA Football Rules Committee announced Friday it would propose that the team be charged with a timeout if one of the players falls to the ground on the field due to obvious injuries after the ball is discovered for the next play.
Injury outfits have become tactical defences, sometimes with coaching guidance, as a way of attack to slow tempo crimes or avoid game penalty delays or get extra timeouts.
The committee’s proposals stop the shortages of those submitted by the American Football Coaches Association. Currently, players need to go out for one play before re-entering.
Under the committee’s proposal, if there is no timeout remaining for the injured player’s team, a 5-yard game delay penalty will be evaluated.
All proposed rule changes must be approved by the NCAA Play Rules Monitoring Panel, which is scheduled to discuss the football rules on April 16th.
Faking injuries have been attracting attention from the Rules Committee in recent years. Since 2021, schools or conferences have been permitted to request post-match video reviews led by authorities coordinator Steve Shaw for suspicious behavior, including injuries. If it is determined that a player has disguised an injury to manipulate the rules, the meeting of the problem team will be notified of the possibility of disciplinary action.
Shaw said the committee did not want the players to sit down with the rest of their possessions as it would be best to be evaluated on the field rather than trying to get injured if the player is truly injured.
“If you watch the videos of these plays, they don’t usually happen at the end of the play. There’s a delay in time. Many of these injuries were presented after the ball was found,” Shaw said. “If we can eliminate all of those, I think that’s going to clean it up.”
Overtime timeout
The committee proposed that if the game reaches a third overtime, each team should have the rest of the game one time. Currently, teams are assigned one timeout per overtime period.
The rationale is that at the start of the third overtime, if the team alternates two-point plays and only two plays per extra period, the game should not be stopped due to a timeout.
Play decision terminology
The committee recommended that when the decision to instant replay was announced, the judges only stated that the call on the field was “supported” or “overturned.” The terms “confirm” and “stand” are not used. Shaw said the committee believes it will take too long during reviews trying to decide whether to “check” or “stand” the phone.
12 men in the field
The committee recommended that officials manage a five-yard penalty if the defense commits fouls with more than 12 players on the field after a two-minute timeout in either half and participates in the play. Attacking teams have the option to reset the game clock at the start of play. If the 12th player is about to leave the field and does not affect the play, the defensive team will punish 5 yards without adjusting the game clock.
The proposal officially formalized the committee’s seasonal guidance in October after Oregon coach Dan Lanning admitted that his team had caused an illegal alternative penalty late in his 32-31 regular-season victory in Ohio.
Just before Ohio State snapped the ball, the Oregon defensive back walked over to the field and gave the ducks an extra defender. Ohio failed to complete a pass against Oregon’s 12 defense on the next play, and the duck was flagged for an illegal alternative penalty. Ohio State scored five yards in the penalty, but lost four seconds apart as the penalty was considered a live ball foul.
