A spat between Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and Penn State coach James Franklin earlier this month brought the topic of players faking injuries back into the national college football conversation.
On his weekly SEC teleconference Wednesday, Alabama coach Nick Saban was asked if he had any suggestions on how to reduce players from feigning being hurt to slow down games.
More in sports:
Is Alabama-Tennessee still a rivalry after 14 straight Tide wins?
Alabama finds itself near center of new college basketball landscape
Alabama’s DB speaks daily with best friend, now a Vol, even on Tennessee week
“Not really,” Saban responded. I mean, it really slows the game down, so it’s not probably a good thing for the game. It’s not something that we’ve ever done here.”
Ferentz had suggested some Penn State players did not have legitimate injuries when they came off the field during Iowa’s win Oct. 9. Franklin defended his team by claiming the “strategy” of faking injuries is used to slow down no-huddle offenses, not the slower pace that Iowa uses.
Saban said the combination of fast-paced offenses and long drives can wear players down and potentially invite faked injuries.
“You got to exert a lot of energy to play defense and run to the ball every time, so players get tired,” he said. “When players get tired, they’re more susceptible to getting injured, probably. And you don’t have enough call timeouts to call timeout.
“So I understand why some people do it.”
However, Saban explained that once a player comes off the field after an injury, the play clock is reset to 40 seconds and the game clock starts again on the official’s ready-to-play signal.
“We had a situation in our Florida game this year at the end of the game where we’re trying to take the air out of it and one of their players goes down to stop the clock. And maybe it was legit. I don’t really know,” he said. “The clock gets reset to 40 seconds and starts on ready to play. So it doesn’t affect the time in the game. It does impact the pace of play.
“So I don’t have a solution to it. There’s a lot of good people out there that are above my pay grade. I probably shouldn’t even be trying to answer this question.”
When asked about the topic in 2019, Saban said he did not believe faking injuries was in the “spirit of the game,” although it is hard to dispute a player saying he is hurt.
“I know we want to win games, but we still have a responsibility and obligation to teach values,” he said at the time.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
"do it" - Google News
October 20, 2021 at 11:58PM
https://ift.tt/3ncD9St
Nick Saban on faking injuries: ‘I understand why some people do it’ - AL.com
"do it" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2zLpFrJ
https://ift.tt/3feNbO7
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Nick Saban on faking injuries: ‘I understand why some people do it’ - AL.com"
Post a Comment