‘Unethical as hell’ – College football targeting major rule change fans have been demanding for years

College football has never been more in flux. The sport has undergone changes in the last few years that have completely reshaped the landscape. Ohio State captured the national championship in the first year of the expanded 12-team playoff formatGetty Alignments, expanded playoffs, the transfer portal, NIL, the list goes on and on. It’s a completely different sport than what it was just a few short years ago. And more changes are potentially on the way. This particular change would be found in a tweak in the rulebook. According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg “The NCAA football rules committee has proposed a timeout to be charged whenever medical personnel enter the field to evaluate players after the ball has been spotted for the ensuing play.” And if a team were out of timeouts, they would be assessed a five-yard delay-of-game penalty for each instance, according to Rittenberg, This is a welcomed change that fans of the sports have been wanting for quite some time. If this rule were to pass, it would help prevent teams from having players fake injuries to stop the clock and their opposition’s momentum. This usually occurs on defense when an up-tempo offense is moving the ball at a rapid pace, with a defender to taking a knee or falling to the ground to stop the flow of the game after a play. Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger suggests that another potential change would force an injured player to miss the remainder of the possession, except if a timeout were to be called, where they could then return. Fans don’t want more plays to have to be reviewed by replayGetty This would eliminate the strategy that coaches and players have used for decades. It is usually extremely easy to see when a player goes down with a fake injury as opposed to a real one. But it is out of the power of the officials to determine any wrongdoing. This potential change would help solve that. One man who would be in favor of the rule is ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit — the unofficial voice of college football. He was on the call for Oklahoma-Tennessee last season when the exact situation unfolded right before him. Herbstreit has been one of the game’s biggest advocates for nearly three decadesGetty “It’s not necessarily against the rules, but it’s unethical as hell,” Herbstreit said on the broadcast. Tennessee’s up-tempo offense was driving against Oklahoma’s defense before a defensive lineman went down with an ‘injury.’ “You see it all over against these tempo-offenses, guys just go down, with a quote-unquote injury,” Herbstreit said. College football seems to have finally caught up with the rest of the country. The jig is up… if the new rule passes. Stay up to date with the latest from across the NFL via our talkSPORT Facebook page, and subscribe to our Endzone YouTube channel for news, view and exclusive interviews as we build up to the NFL Draft in April

Mar 4, 2025 - 19:42
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‘Unethical as hell’ – College football targeting major rule change fans have been demanding for years

College football has never been more in flux.

The sport has undergone changes in the last few years that have completely reshaped the landscape.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JANUARY 20: Head coach Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes hoist the trophy after beating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34-23 in the 2025 CFP National Championship at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 20, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Ohio State captured the national championship in the first year of the expanded 12-team playoff format
Getty

Alignments, expanded playoffs, the transfer portal, NIL, the list goes on and on.

It’s a completely different sport than what it was just a few short years ago.

And more changes are potentially on the way.

This particular change would be found in a tweak in the rulebook.

According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg “The NCAA football rules committee has proposed a timeout to be charged whenever medical personnel enter the field to evaluate players after the ball has been spotted for the ensuing play.”

And if a team were out of timeouts, they would be assessed a five-yard delay-of-game penalty for each instance, according to Rittenberg,

This is a welcomed change that fans of the sports have been wanting for quite some time.

If this rule were to pass, it would help prevent teams from having players fake injuries to stop the clock and their opposition’s momentum.

This usually occurs on defense when an up-tempo offense is moving the ball at a rapid pace, with a defender to taking a knee or falling to the ground to stop the flow of the game after a play.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger suggests that another potential change would force an injured player to miss the remainder of the possession, except if a timeout were to be called, where they could then return.

Fans don’t want more plays to have to be reviewed by replay
Getty

This would eliminate the strategy that coaches and players have used for decades.

It is usually extremely easy to see when a player goes down with a fake injury as opposed to a real one.

But it is out of the power of the officials to determine any wrongdoing.

This potential change would help solve that.

One man who would be in favor of the rule is ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit — the unofficial voice of college football.

He was on the call for Oklahoma-Tennessee last season when the exact situation unfolded right before him.

Herbstreit has been one of the game’s biggest advocates for nearly three decades
Getty

“It’s not necessarily against the rules, but it’s unethical as hell,” Herbstreit said on the broadcast.

Tennessee’s up-tempo offense was driving against Oklahoma’s defense before a defensive lineman went down with an ‘injury.’

“You see it all over against these tempo-offenses, guys just go down, with a quote-unquote injury,” Herbstreit said.

College football seems to have finally caught up with the rest of the country.

The jig is up… if the new rule passes.

Stay up to date with the latest from across the NFL via our talkSPORT Facebook page, and subscribe to our Endzone YouTube channel for news, view and exclusive interviews as we build up to the NFL Draft in April