Nick Saban Names 1 Thing Alabama Football Has Never Done

“Fake injuries” has become a major theme of this college football season. Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz called out Penn State players for allegedly faking injuries, even though Iowa has one of the slowest offenses in college football, and those allegations are typically reserved for situations where an opposing defense is trying to slow an offense down. After similar allegations stemming from Tennessee vs. Ole Miss, Alabama head coach Nick Saban has been asked to weigh in.

There were 18 injury stoppages during the raucous Tennessee-Ole Miss game, which also featured some pretty ugly behavior from Vols fans, who threw garbage and other objects on the field, even hitting former UT coach Lane Kiffin with a golf ball. 11 of the injury stoppages came in the fourth quarter.

It’s very hard to figure out if an injury stoppage is legitimate or not. Players exerting a ton of energy can cramp up, legitimately go down on the field, and go back into the game a few plays later. At the same time, it’d be naive to say that no player has ever faked an injury to get an up-tempo offense out of rhythm.

Saban was asked about the issue, and he said he doesn’t really have any recommendations, but did say that it is “not good for the game.” He also said that it is “not something we’ve ever done here” at Alabama.

“When players get tired they’re more susceptible to getting injured probably,” Nick Saban said, per TideSports. “And you don’t have enough timeouts to call timeout, so I understand why some people do it.

“We have not done it here. But you still get a 40-second clock on offense.”

Ultimately, it doesn’t sound like he’s super comfortable trying to suss out whether an injury is legit or not, or figuring out a potential solution.

“There’s a lot of good people out there who are above my pay grade,” Saban told reporters. “I probably shouldn’t even be trying to answer this question.”

Alabama faces rival Tennessee at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday night in the annual Third Saturday in October rivalry game.

[TideSports]

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