SEC to Penalize CFB Teams for Faking Injuries; Includes Possible HC Suspensions

The SEC is cracking down on players faking injuries.

Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported that SEC commissioner Greg Sankey had sent a memo to the conference's coaches and athletic directors that asked the programs to "play football and stop the feigned injury nonsense." The memo also declared that teams would be assessed penalties for offenses.

The penalties include public reprimands for the coaches and fines for the schools for the first two offense's, with the third occurrence resulting in a one-game suspension for the head coach.

Sankey described the fake injuries as "disrespectful" and that the team's need to utilize their allocated time outs instead.

"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," Sankey wrote. "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 also noted that injured players will be give "the benefit of the doubt."

Ole Miss was accused of this specifically by South Carolina in October, with Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer calling it a "bad look for college football," per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.

The SEC institutes the penalties with most teams having five games remaining on the conference slate. It should play a role in several notable games down the stretch and will carry over into the 2025 season.