Why Lane Kiffin is 'glad' about the SEC's new punishments for teams faking injuries
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Lane Kiffin was sitting in the room just off the visiting team’s locker room underneath Razorback Stadium glowing about his team’s 63-31 win over Arkansas when he finally got the question most were probably waiting for.
After taking questions about No. 19 Ole Miss bouncing back with its second straight Southeastern Conference victory he fielded a question about the bigger news that happened a couple days prior.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey issued a memo to all 16 teams in the league about faking or feigning injuries during a game. The memo also came with a penalty structure for teams and coaches who continue it beyond Sankey’s statement being issued.
Ole Miss and Kiffin unwillingly became the poster child for this issue over the last couple years but the fifth year head coach might have been doing so to force Sankey and the SEC to finally give him what he wanted.
“I’m glad,” Kiffin said succinctly
“I know some people say, ‘Okay, that sounds weird’ coming from me. We’re a tempo offense. I’ve been saying this for years. Faking an injury hurts us more than anybody, us and Tennessee, probably more than anybody in America. Happens to us more than anybody. Happened last week (against Oklahoma), over and over again. May surprise you, I was very happy for that. We issued a statement weeks ago about this.”
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That statement Kiffin referenced is the one Ole Miss put out on October 11, the night before the Rebels took on LSU in Baton Rouge.
There have been other noticeable moments this season where teams have had a player fake an injury, that the Rebels were not playing. One time occurred during the Alabama – Tennessee game.
The SEC’s punishment tier is laid out in Sankey’s memo which sees head coaches will receive a public reprimand and a $50,000 fine on first offense. A second infraction will lead to another reprimand and a $100,000 fine. A third offense will see the head coach of the team suspended for the next game.
