Brian Kelly addresses concerns about fake injuries entering Ole Miss matchup

Brian Kelly knows LSU vs. Ole Miss is one of the biggest games of the weekend but there’s a concern about faking injuries.

Teams or players have done it in the past, where they’ll drop to the ground out of nowhere to get a stoppage. It’s either a reset for the offense or defensive players do it so halt momentum of the opposing offense.

South Carolina coach Shane Beamer already called it a bad look, following their loss to Ole Miss last week. Kelly referred to the SEC’s policy.

“The SEC has a policy regarding it,” Kelly said. “So, there is a policy in place that was implemented by the commissioner relative to sportsmanship and if there was any faking of injuries in a deliberate action, the SEC would take action on that. I can leave that up to the SEC and let them evaluate that.”

Kelly even doubled down, saying the officials shouldn’t be the ones to enforce if someone is faking or not. Sometimes, it can be tough to tell.

“The officials shouldn’t be involved in it,” Kelly said. “That’s not their purview, they got to officiate a game. They can’t decide who is injured or who is not injured… As a coach, you just coach your guys and you try to play through any of those instances. We let our policy from the SEC handle any of those instances.”

Brian Kelly addresses concerns of faking injuries ahead of Ole miss game

Here are Beamer’s comments for context:

“First of all, I hope all of those guys are all okay,” Beamer said. “… I hope they’re okay. It’s remarkable to me how many — I have my own problems, we just got out butts kicked 27-3. But it’s fascinating to me how many injuries occur to them after the opposing offense makes a first down or has a big play…

“The timing on some of the injuries — it’s a really bad look for college football. And it’s not what this game is about if what it looks like is accurate.”

Whether Kelly looked at film and is prepared for it is one thing. Beamer noticed what was going on, even if there wasn’t definitive proof.

When preparing for the game, Beamer noticed a similar pattern from Ole Miss. Watching other big-time games against Wake Forest and Kentucky signaled to South Carolina the strategy was coming from Lane Kiffin’s sideline.

LSU and Ole Miss face off Saturday night in Baton Rouge at 7:30 p.m. ET.