How the NCAA rules committee plans to curb feigned injuries as concerns grow over hot-button issue

The NCAA Football Rules Committee proposed modifications to injury timeout rules during the 2025-26 season in an effort to curtail feigned injuries that slow the tempo of a game. Among the proposed changes would be an automatic timeout assessed to teams that have medical personnel enter the field of play after the ball has been spotted by officials. 

If the offending team is out of timeouts, it will be assessed a five-yard delay of game. The proposed rule change must still be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is scheduled to meet April 16. 

Players faking injuries has been a hot-button issue for offseason discussion as modern offenses skew further towards up-tempo, no-huddle schemes. Often, a player will flop to the ground well after a play is over only to return to the game after a brief period on the sideline.  

Normally, teams are not charged a timeout when the game is halted due to injury, though it often takes at least a few minutes for medical personnel to assess a player and clear the playing field. 

“The committee identified the time period after the ball has been spotted as the most egregious violations of the injury timeout rule and is addressing the issue this way,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who serves as co-chair of the NCAA Rules Committee, said in a statement. “Having a set time frame of when the game is stopped for an injured player should hopefully help curtail the strategy of having players fake injuries.”

This is the first major proposal that the NCAA has put forth to address the growing issue, though individual conference have taken some initiative in recent years. In the middle of the 2024 season, the SEC announced that it would penalize coaches that employ fake injuries with a public reprimand and a fine, scaling with the number of offenses. A third offense could result in suspension. 

It remains to be seen if the NCAA will reevaluate how it defines “flopping” or “feigning injury,” given concerns over legitimate injuries that may be devalued due to the time at which they occur.