In College Football, there has been a significant issue with players faking injuries to slow down the game intentionally. A team is basically given a free timeout to regroup or stops momentum by doing this – which severely hurts the other team a lot. However, in 2025, this will change thanks to a new rule.
Punishing Fake Injuries Will be Enforced in 2025
Teams Will Be Punished Harshly for Faking Injuries
If a player goes down with an injury after the ball has been placed on the field, then a team will be charged with a timeout. In an age of no-huddle and tempo offenses, it is almost always the defense that will do this and slow down the game. In addition to this already great penalty, if the team no longer has a timeout, then it is an automatic five-yard penalty for a delay of the game.
Overall, an injury timeout is still possible, but only after a play, not before one. This really stops a team from doing anything to stop a rolling offense. A team will still sometimes actually use timeouts to slow a team down, but since a timeout is so valuable, most college football teams won’t and probably still won’t. As a result, a team will almost certainly be careful to fake injuries.
Defense Punished More with New Rule Changes
Overall, the fake injury is not the only rule that will hurt the defense. The defense now cannot clap or manipulate the offensive line by moving. If any of these happen, then the defense is punished and the penalty is a five-yard delay of game. Only the offense has the ability to clap, while the defense has the ability to say move and stem. If the offense uses either move or stem, it is a five yard false start.
Really, CFB has become harsher on the defense by not allowing the D-Line of other positions to disorient the offense as much. The O-Line has always been at a disadvantage, especially on the road. One false start has the ability to derail an entire drive. It is definitely nice to see the NCAA even the playing field much more than before.
One last interesting rule change is now a player attempting to recover a football is now considered a defenseless player, much like a QB, kicker, and a wide receiver. This makes recovering fumbles much safer, considering it can cause significant injuries.
Rule Changes Improve College Football
Sometimes, rule changes are considered ridiculous and just overall not good. Like the NFL last season and the kickoff changes, many people may not like these changes. However, these rules implement some pretty good balance to the game. Delaying the game can also be significantly annoying, which is why this fake injury change is brilliant. Maybe not all of the injuries suffered during a good drive are fake, but falling on the ground right before a play just doesn’t really make sense. In other words, it is in all means very purposeful. Before, nobody could do anything about this, but that will now change.
This season will be the second season of the new College Football Playoff era. This era of CFB might not be good in the eyes of many, especially with a bunch of NIL and transfer portal madness. A 12-team playoff can also seem unorthodox compared to historical college football. However, these additions are actually really good additions to the sport.
In many sports, things that losing teams do can be annoying and definitely purposeful. With this new rule change, teams will think twice about faking injuries. Or perhaps not think at all with the punishment being severe.
Main Image: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images