College football is tweaked every year to try to put the best product on the field. In the past, the NCAA has experimented with a better kickoff and overtime system to provide fans with the most enjoyment, while protecting the safety of players whenever possible.
When the rules are laid out for all to see, some creative minds can spot flaws in the system and can create an advantage. One of the most commonly called out flaws was that teams could earn extra timeouts due to injuries. Some injuries were real, but there were countless times when it felt like the injury may have been faked to secure an extra breather, or to stall an opponent's momentum.
To address this issue, the NCAA has introduced new rules that penalize teams if a player is deemed to be faking an injury. The challenge, however, is that referees now have to decide whether a player is truly injured or pretending, and that judgment could create a new set of complications. For the time being, though, the officials’ calls on such matters will be final.
Here's more on the fake injury penalty in college football.
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Fake injury penalty in college football
NCAA secretary-rules editor Steve Shaw discussed the thought process behind the changes in a press release.
"The mission of the Rules Committee is to develop and evaluate rules changes that will enhance the sport, protect the image of the game, and enhance the student athlete's health and safety," Shaw wrote. "Player safety has been the highest priority of the committee for many years now resulting in significant changes that have improved the game in terms of mitigating injuries."
Shaw called the fake injury epidemic an "inflection point" for the sport and said that they had to develop something to prevent players faking injuries.
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College football injury timeout rules
The penalty applies when a player goes down with an injury. If the player hits the turf after the ball has been spotted, their team is charged a timeout. If the team has no timeouts remaining, a delay-of-game penalty is assessed instead. Additionally, the injured player must leave the field and sit out the following down.
The player is also unable to return to the field until they have been cleared by medical personnel. All of this is in an effort to prevent faking injuries or the "flopping" that many have been accused of in the past.
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What happens if you fake an injury in college football?
At this point, the penalty is still mild for faking an injury. If the refs suspect that a player is faking the injury, they will charge their team a timeout. If the team doesn't have a timeout, the player will be assessed a delay-of-game penalty. The player will have to come off the field and be forced to miss the next play.
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When did fake injury rule start in college football?
The fake injury timeout rule started in 2025. It was the culmination of several years of claims that players were faking injuries to halt momentum and no-huddle offenses.
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Do football players fake injuries to stop the clock?
Players are unlikely to admit if they’ve ever faked an injury, and officials cannot officially say for certain if a player did so. With that said, there have been many instances where it appears coaches are signaling players to go down, or a player seems unharmed before suddenly falling to the ground.
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