Lane Kiffin 'glad' SEC is implementing punishments for faking injuries

There has been a rise in teams apparently faking injuries to slow down the flow of a game and create a kind of advantage. Amid the rising criticism of the tactic, Ole Miss and head coach Lane Kiffin are often cited as examples.

At the start of November, the SEC announced it would begin implementing punishments for faking injuries. This is a move that Kiffin says he’s happy about.

“I’m glad,” Lane Kiffin said. “I know some people say, okay, that sounds weird coming from me. We’re a tempo offense. I’ve been saying this for years, okay, that faking an injury hurts us more than anybody — us and Tennessee — probably more than anybody in America.”

Earlier in the season, broadcaster Sean McDonough pointed out that one of the Ole Miss went to the ground in an SEC matchup against Kentucky, seemingly faking an injury. However, rules analyst Matt Austin said there was no rule specifically against such a move at the time.

“Happens to us more than anybody. Happened last week. Over and over again,” Kiffin said. “So, it may not surprise you, I was very happy for that. We issued a statement weeks ago about this.”

Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin are far from the only team and coach to be called out for potentially faking injuries. It’s a growing issue throughout college football to counter tempo offenses. Now, it will be interesting to see if punishments slow down that trend.

Greg Sankey issues warning to SEC coaches about faking injuries, including penalty, suspensions

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey issued the memo to coaches about faking injuries at the start of November. In it, he warned about potential penalties.

“When defending against a ‘hurry up’ offense, you are to use the allocated team time-outs if you need to stop play, or you may allow the play to continue with the personnel and defensive play call in place. When on offense, if the play clock is running out, you are to use a team time-out or accept the delay of game penalty. Creating injury time-outs in these circumstances is not acceptable and is disrespectful to the game of college football,” the memo states.

“As of this date, it is presumed that every member of your football program – coaches, staff, student-athletes, medical staff, and all others – is aware of and understands this policy. Play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense.”

For faking injuries, coaches may be fined $50,000 for a first offense, $100,000 for a second offense, and suspended for a third offense.