ACC fines Syracuse $25,000 for feigning injuries vs. Clemson

On Monday, the ACC announced it is issuing a $25,000 fine and public reprimand of Syracuse for the “feigning of injuries” in the Orange’s win over Clemson on Saturday. The ACC provided further details regarding its decision in a statement.

“With 9:25 remaining in the fourth quarter, Syracuse violated NCAA Football Rule 3-3-6-b, which addresses the feigning of injuries by players, declaring it ‘unethical and contrary to the spirit of the rules,'” the statement read.

“The actions by the two players – especially with the concurrent action by the coach in the team area – were a clear attempt to gain an unmerited advantage by stopping the game in order to secure an injury timeout.”

After feigning injuries grew in popularity last season, the NCAA Football Rules Committee addressed the issue this offseason. This season, if a player on the field appears injured after the ball is spotted for the next play, that player’s team will be charged a timeout. If the team does not have timeouts remaining, a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty will be assessed.

Teams were previously telling their players to feign injuries, in order to stop play and gain an unfair advantage over their respective opponents. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik called out Syracuse for feigning injuries after the Tigers’ 34-21 loss.

“Props to them, they stopped us on some third downs at certain times and then, you know, they have an injury, or something like that, when we really got going,” Klubnik said. “That’s up to them if they wanna be honest about that, but you know.

“That was definitely tough for us to really get in a rhythm. We’re playing fast, and then, unfortunately, they have a guy get hurt or something … I feel like we came out really healthy and hopefully they did too so.”

Syracuse was also accused of feigning injuries in its season-opening loss against Tennessee on Aug. 30. In the second quarter of the game, Syracuse defensive back Demetres Samuel Jr. fell and grabbed at his ankle after Tennessee reached the red zone.

Tennessee fans rained down boos on Samuel. ESPN’s Bob Wischusen and Louis Riddick also questioned the legitimacy of Samuel’s injury. Syracuse wasn’t fined for the incident.

Alas, just three weeks later, Syracuse is now the first ACC team to be fined for feigning injuries. The fine is the maximum allowed by the conference’s bylaws. The money from the fine will be placed into the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.