NCAA Reveals New Plan to Combat Fake Injuries in Football

The rule change will go into effect with the 2025-26 season.

The field at the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan 19, 2025. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The NCAA on Thursday announced a new college football rule change intended to cut back on the number of players faking injuries.

Under the new guidelines, which will go into effect this fall, a player's team will be charged a timeout if medical staff come onto the field to evaluate a player after the ball has been spotted. If the player's team has no timeouts left, the team will receive a five-yard penalty for delay of game, instead.

"The injury timeout proposal was made by the NCAA Football Rules Committee after many in the college football community raised concerns about strategies in which players fake an injury to stop the opposition's momentum or to avoid using an allotted timeout," the NCAA said in a release. "The impetus for the rule change next season is to provide an in-game mechanism that can curtail the faking of injuries because Football Rules Committee members think these actions negatively affect the overall perception of the game."

Though fake injuries have been an issue for NCAA football for some time, the problem took on renewed import in 2024. Two SEC schools—Oklahoma and Ole Miss—took some heat for alleged faking last fall, before conference commissioner Greg Sankey then issued a formal statement condemning the "practice" and outlining consequences.

In addition to the rules intended to curtail pretend injuries, the NCAA approved some additional changes in its meeting, including alterations to instant replay calls and overtime timeouts. You can see those changes here.

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