The Ole Miss Football program has become rather famous for allegedly "feigning" or "faking" injuries at a ridiculously high rate this college football season. Any time it might be strategic to have an extra moment to get the right play call in or let the defense take a breather it seems an Ole Miss player just magically needs to fall to the ground. Ole Miss fans and opponents can both admit this freely as this has been entirely too obvious all season long.
So, on Friday, instead of ignoring all the noise and outrage over this deliberate effort towards taking advantage of the in-game injury rules, Ole Miss decided to release a statement on the matter. And it was a rather laughable statement, to say the least.
In true cheeky Lane Kiffin fashion, the statement from Ole Miss acted as though the team was simply working with the proper authorities to make sure that they were in compliance as opposed to admitting anything whatsoever (as you can see in the post below).
"Feigned injuries has become a notable topic in college football, and we realize our program has been part of that discussion. We have been in communication with the National Coordinator for Football Officiating and provided relevant medical information for his review to answer questions about recent injuries. We have also updated the SEC office, and our head coach will communicate with our coaches and players to ensure we conduct ourselves properly and are compliant in this matter."
Quite the hilarious statement from Ole Miss. No admission of guilt or wrongdoing. Just "our head coach [Lane Kiffin]" will ensure that everyone conducts themselves properly and in a compliant manner.
As you can see in On3 Sports' post below, this has been Lane Kiffin's idea of being "compliant" in regards to feigning injuries this season. This particular example is one of the more blatantly obvious fake injuries. Jaxson Dart literally points to the ground when talking to running back Matt Jones. Jones looks to the sidelines, and then collapses.
Why all of a sudden is Lane Kiffin having his players "allegedly" fake so many injuries this season? Is he just now figuring out that this is a fun little edge to exploit in games?
Nope.
In fact, Lane Kiffin had been one of the loudest coaches complaining about this issue for multiple years prior to this season. But Peter Burns of ESPN has a fun little theory on the matter. Burns believes that so many other coaches got away with this against Lane Kiffin in prior years that he's decided he's going to be the worst offender until the NCAA or SEC actually does something about it.
Now that would be hilarious, if true. And if Ole Miss fans (or anyone familiar with Kiffin's track record over the years) are honest with themselves, they would admit that's directly on brand for Kiffin. If you have forgotten just how frustrated Kiffin was with this issue in the past, here's a quote following a game against Texas A&M two years ago:
"I'm not going to go into it, but you guys saw whatever it was--eight, nine injury timeouts, all on defense. So, whatever. It is what it is. There's a way around the rule...And then seeing the players like a play or two later back out there..."
Throughout that entire presser Kiffin was just shaking his head in frustration and disappointment. He was clearly unhappy that the Aggies were able to stop his offense's momentum consistently simply by faking injuries all game long.
We'll see if anything changes on Saturday against LSU, but it seems that Lane Kiffin's gotten his message across to the masses now. Everyone knows it's an issue. Will the SEC or NCAA actually do anything to change the rules moving forward? That's the real question.
Related: Pair of Ole Miss Rebels star players earn Midseason All-American honors from Reese's Senior Bowl
Be looking for more Ole Miss Rebels coverage here at A to Z Sports all year long! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
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