NCAA Director Of Officials Weighs In On Faking Injuries In Football

NCAA Director of Officials Steve Shaw had some interesting comments on faking injuries to slow down opposing offenses in this high-speed world of college football.

We see it every single season, teams appearing to fake injuries on defense when an opposing offense is having their way on a drive, and the NCAA has taken notice.

According to a report by Saturday Down South, NCAA director of officials Steve Shaw weighed in on the subject of players faking injuries to slow down offenses.

According to the reports, Shaw made clear coaches will be expected to take control of this issue, or the NCAA rules committee will have to make some changes.

"From an officiating perspective, you have to honor the injury. We don't know if they are feigning or not. Sometimes, we can suspect, but if a player goes down, we're going to stop the clock. We're going to make sure the player gets attention for the injury. You can't just make that judgment on the field on the fly.

"What we're going to do is put this in the coaches' lap for the 2020 season. We expect this thing to get cleaned up. If it doesn't, then we're probably going to change a rule to limit time to a player who gets injured. It is their last shot to clean it up before the rules committee takes action."

One of the more talked about instances of players likely faking injury occurred in a recent game between Auburn and LSU where an Auburn defender is shown on video walking before looking to the sideline and collapsing with an apparent injury.

While it's difficult to know exactly when a player is injured as opposed to potentially faking, some instances such as the Auburn situation seem apparent, and these are the types of things Shaw and the NCAA are looking to remove from the game.

There are no doubts that players get injured, and everyone wants medical personnel to take the time necessary to ensure the safety of those players. Still, when teams intentionally fake injuries to stop play and use this as an opportunity for extra time outs, it becomes an issue.

Auburn's not the only team accused of this, but the video above seems so apparent that it is a quick example of what Shaw and the NCAA are looking to remove from the game.

It's worth following in the coming season-whenever that occurs- to see how coaches and the NCAA respond moving forward.

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