NCAA Attempts To Combat Fake Injuries

New rule changes are coming to college football in the 2025 season. Here is what you need to know:

Why the Rule Change

In an attempt to diminish players from faking injuries, the NCAA announced Thursday that its Playing Rules Oversight Panel has approved changes to the injury timeout rules starting in the fall. The rule change stems from concerns that some teams have been using fake injuries to disrupt their opponents’ momentum or to avoid burning a timeout.

This rule change for next season will supply officials with an in-game way to prevent faking. Because Football Rules Committee members think this negatively affect the overall perception of the game, the momentum for the rule change next season is to provide an in-game procedure that can curtail the faking of injuries.

What is the Rule Change

Under this rule, if a player appears injured after the officiating crew spots the ball for the next play, the officials will charge that player’s team a timeout. If the team has no more timeouts left, the officials will assess a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty.

https://twitter.com/On3sports/status/1912868373781741935

What Else Changes

The panel discussed and approved a series of other rule changes. This included the following:

Referees will either uphold or overturn a call on the field. The terms “confirmed” and “stands” will no longer be in use on instant replay decisions.

For officials to consider it a scrimmage kick formation on punts, offensive players must avoid lining up in the snap’s direct path to the potential kicker. If the snapper is aligns at the end of the line, they lose scrimmage kick protection, and the defense can position a player directly over them.

And, after the two-minute warning in either half, if the defense commits a foul with 12 or more players on the field and all the players participate in the play, officials will be a 5-yard penalty enacted.