1 of 1- catfishboy
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Lane Kiffin on Texas A&M's defensive injuries . . .
Lane Kiffin on Texas A&M's defensive injuries: 'What are the analytics of that happening?'
COLLEGE STATION, Texas − Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin doesn't think the numbers add up as far as Texas A&M's defensive injuries.
Kiffin's Rebels defeated the Aggies 31-28 at Kyle Field on Saturday behind 390 rushing yards and a bend-don't-break defense. But Kiffin was a little suspicious of the apparent strategies Texas A&M (3-5, 1-4 SEC) took to slow down Ole Miss (8-1, 4-1) when its offense was moving at its fastest. Namely, Kiffin had some thoughts about how many minor defensive injuries caused stoppages in play for Texas A&M when the Rebels were driving.
Kiffin stopped short of accusing the Aggies of faking injuries, but he didn't altogether rule out the idea.
"You guys saw whatever it was," Kiffin said. "At one point it was eight injury timeouts, all on defense. Whatever. It is what it is. There’s no way around the rule. I’m not going to say they did it but I’m into the analytics. What are the analytics of that happening? And then seeing the players a play or two later back out there."
Kiffin's teams are no stranger to this phenomenon, of course. Opponents have used defensive injuries to slow down the Rebels' offense since Kiffin took over in 2020, and Kiffin's team was accused of participating in the same phenomenon in games against faster-paced teams last year, particularly in a close win against Tennessee.
The NCAA rulebook mandates that players who go down with an injury have to sit out one play but may return later in the series. When a player is injured, the referees stop play with a timeout until he can make his way to the sidelines, effectively giving both teams a free timeout to strategize, substitute and catch their breaths. Against fast-paced teams like Ole Miss, those extra pauses give defenses a chance to slow down tempo and take offenses out of rhythm.
Nevertheless, Ole Miss managed to rush for 390 yards, the most Texas A&M has given up in a single game since joining the SEC in 2012.
SOURCE: Nick Suss, Nick. "Lane Kiffin on Texas A&M's defensive injuries: 'What are the analytics of that happening?'." Mississippi Clarion Ledger, 29 October 2022,
Contact Nick Suss at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.
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- olemissjcj
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Re: Lane Kiffin on Texas A&M's defensive injuries . . .
Someone texted me during the game complaining about all of their “injuries”. I told him I couldn’t complain bc we did that a lot last year. I didn’t think about it until today that our DC last year is A&Ms DC this year. Must be a strategy by Durkin.
- MeridianOMRebel
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Re: Lane Kiffin on Texas A&M's defensive injuries . . .
olemissjcj wrote:
Someone texted me during the game complaining about all of their “injuries”. I told him I couldn’t complain bc we did that a lot last year. I didn’t think about it until today that our DC last year is A&Ms DC this year. Must be a strategy by Durkin.
I was thinking the same thing regarding Durkin. The A&M game seemed to be a bit more than we did last year.
- catfishboy
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Re: Lane Kiffin on Texas A&M's defensive injuries . . .
Yes, I thought the same thing about Durkin. There should be a rule that if someone is injured, then they cannot play for the next series, a number of downs, or 5-10 minutes.
With the next series, if it's 2nd or 3rd down, then they may be out only a few plays. With a number of downs, they could be out a certain number of plays or downs, but this could be an added burden to the officials. A set number of minutes would be good, too. If the injury is legitimate, then the player will generally be off the field more than one down. A player who is injured and comes back on the field within 1-3 downs should be penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanship-like conduct.
Maybe these penalties will stop unethical coaches like Jurkin from trying to use loopholes in the rules to give him an advantage.
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