Syracuse faked injuries in win over Clemson, fined by ACC

Jeff Hauser

Syracuse faked injuries in win over Clemson, fined by ACC image

Syracuse picked up a key 34-21 win over Clemson on Saturday. However, the victory didn't come without controversy. The ACC wasn't pleased with Syracus e and fined the school $25,000 Monday for faking injuries, calling its actions "unethical and contrary to the spirit of the rules."

In a statement, the conference said the Orange violated an NCAA rule to prevent slowing down play. With 9:25 left in the fourth quarter, the ACC said the action of two players and a coach "were a clear attempt to gain an unmerited advantage by stopping the game in order to secure an injury timeout."

Syracuse defensive linemen Nissi Ogbebor and Kevin Jobity Jr. are both seen falling to the ground after a 23-yard completion from Clemson QB Cade Klubnik to Tristan Smith for a first down to the Orange 9-yard line. The game was stopped so trainers could attend to them. 

According to the ACC, the action "violated the spirit of the injury timeout and fair play and was done in a way to circumvent the new injury timeout rule to avoid the team being charged a timeout."

Klubnik accused Syracuse of faking injuries after the loss."We were playing with tempo and props to them, they stopped us on some third downs and then they have an injury or something like that when we really got going," Klubnik said. "That's up to them if they want to be honest about that.

Syracuse returns home to face Duke on Saturday (Noon ET, ACCN). 

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Jeff Hauser

Jeff Hauser is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He has over twenty years of experience and is a two-time Emmy Award winner, Heisman Trophy and Biletnikoff Award voter. Among the events he has covered are the Super Bowl, College Football Playoff, World Series, World Cup, and WBC Boxing. Hauser is a regular guest on FOX Sports and ESPN Radio. He previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, SB Nation and Athlon Sports.