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ABC broadcast calls out Matt Jones, Ole Miss for 'blatant fake injury' vs. Kentucky

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•09/28/24•

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Ole Miss RB Matt Jones
© Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Late in the second quarter of Saturday’s game between Ole Miss and Kentucky, Matt Jones went down to the turf with an apparent injury. As the ABC broadcast came out of the break, though, Sean McDonough called out the Rebels for a “blatant fake injury.”

“Matt Jones, fortunately, survived to walk off the field,” McDonough said out of the timeout. “Just a blatant fake injury.”

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Replays showed Jaxson Dart appearing to tell Jones to go to the ground as the two teams lined up. McDonough acknowledged it and called in rules analyst Matt Austin for an explanation about whether it was “legal” for such a move.

Austin said the rulebook didn’t have anything specific with regard to penalties for faking injuries. While there’s verbiage about it being “unethical,” he said there wasn’t much the officials could do.

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“There’s actually nothing in the rulebook that says you cannot do that,” Austin said. “There is very strong wording about being unethical to fake an injury at anytime during the game. I know the rules-makers have talked about it several times, but as of right now, there’s nothing you in the book can do about it.”

McDonough quickly called for a change to the rulebook. He argued it was clear and obvious that Dart told Jones to go to the ground.

“They ought to put something in the book when it’s that egregious,” McDonough said.

The officiating became a big topic of conversation in the first half of Saturday’s game. Mark Stoops was clearly upset with the referees after the first quarter, and ABC’s Molly McGrath asked him about it. He said it was a “personal” issue and didn’t get into specifics.

“It’s between us and them,” Stoops told McGrath on the broadcast Saturday. “It’s a personal problem for us.”

Through one quarter, Ole Miss had five penalties for 28 yards while Kentucky didn’t get flagged at all. But Stoops was especially vocal early in the first quarter when UK was called offsides – a penalty Ole Miss declined – when ABC analyst Greg McElroy thought the Rebels weren’t lined up properly on offense. He also had some words between quarters.