If Ole Miss is faking injuries, it’s a ‘bad look for college football,’ Shane Beamer says

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer pressed his lips together for a moment, then let out a breathy “whew.”

He’d just been asked the question on every USC fan’s mind after their team’s 27-3 home loss to Ole Miss. The Gamecocks’ opponent caused double-digit stoppages Saturday due to defensive injuries that may or may not have been genuine, or a scheme for free timeouts.

Boos rained down every time a white jersey fell to the ground, including some repeat offenders.

“First of all, I hope all those guys are OK,” Beamer said. “For sure. We had some guys that had some injuries as well. Boogie (Huntley) and (DeAndre) Jules went down a couple times, and I hope they’re OK.”

“Um,” Beamer continued, then paused for four seconds. “I hope they’re OK.”

Now that he’d wished everyone well, Beamer was free to let more thoughts slip out.

“It’s remarkable to me how many — maybe it’s something their stre — ” he cut himself off.

Rather than theorizing about Ole Miss’ strength and conditioning regimen, Beamer backed off and reflected on his own team for a couple sentences.

”I got my own problems,” he acknowledged. “We just got our butts kicked 27-3.”

But...

“But it’s fascinating to me how many injuries occur for them after the opposing offense makes a first down or has a big play.”

Saturday didn’t feel like an isolated incident either. Beamer cited Ole Miss’ games versus Wake Forest and Kentucky where certain players seemed to go down with injuries a lot. The same certain players each contest.

A clip of Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart motioning toward running back Matt Jones — who was upright and seemingly in no pain at the time — went viral last weekend when Jones suddenly plopped to the ground and grabbed at his right hamstring after seeing Dart’s signal. Even the ABC commentators criticized Jones’ performance.

“Matt Jones, fortunately, survived to walk off the field,” play-caller Sean McDonough said drenched with sarcasm. “Just a blatant fake injury.”

Kirk Herbstreit sounded off on faking injuries last month, calling it “unethical as hell.” College football rules analyst Matt Austin said the NCAA rule book doesn’t explicitly label the practice as against the rules, leaving officials with no power to punish such an incident.

Beamer acknowledged in his answer Saturday night that referees aren’t able to do much about fake injuries during games but also said he plans to look at the tape and “discuss with the people above us as well.”

The timing of Ole Miss’ several injuries just left Beamer uneasy.

“It’s a really bad look for college football,” he said firmly. “And it’s not what this game is about. If what it looks like is what’s accurate.”