Boulder79......You're certainly entitled to your opinion that Von Miller wasn't faking last year, but I contend that possibly he was. Probably only Miller knows. Why would a supposedly premier star in condition athlete have that many problems just when the Sooners were bringing it on uptempo and gashing the Ags? You watch aTm real close. When they're playing a conventional offensive team, this doesn't happen with the frequency it does with uptempo. Now, I don't necessarily believe it's specifically coached, but anybody on the team can connect the dots that to break the uptempo's stride, this is one way. It's hard to question it. Just for the reason you say Miller wasn't faking, I say he could be. Reason is, why not have your star fake it? It would bring less suspicion from the refs for the very reason you say. Surely, the refs would think in their mind, their star wouldn't fake it. I've known a coupla High school officials & here's how I think it'll eventually be handled. Once an astute ref senses it's happening, he goes over to the coach. Let's him know he's got concerns. If he can't keep healthy players on the field, some of those holding calls that could be called just about every play will start being called on his team. The refs can put a stop to it & they're close enough to know what's going on. Certainly us watching TV aren't.
Because even aTm coaches are not stupid enough to have their best player miss plays at a critical part of a game. Players cramp because they have worked their muscles at full output for too many reps and depleted their ATP system. The ags had not rotated Miller enough and were paying for it in the 4th. But what they were doing was taking the maximum possible time they could to get him off the field so he could recover enough for another play once he sat out for one. Cramps are not injuries, but are treated as such and there is nothing that can be done about it. The ags were making the best of a bad situation - using the rules to both slow us down and milk as many plays out of Miller as possible.
Technically, I guess he was faking if you agree that cramps are not the same as injuries. But I believe he truly needed to sit out a while until they subsided. He took his sweet time getting off the field to limit the number of plays we could run while he rested. But regardless of what folks think about the practice, it's within the rules.
There's no reason to hide what you are doing because it's not against the rules. So no reason to use your best player to deflect suspicion. ^This
Unless they were deeper there. The fall off between Miller and his backup may have been smaller than the fall off 'tween other positions. He came off the field a few times but, if I recall correctly, there were others doing it too. Otherwise, how would get back on the field with OU's up-tempo offense? If I'm OU and see Miller go out then I don't sub or give them time to sub again.
The NFL does it. Any injuries at that occur toward the end of a game forces a team to use up a timeout, or take a penalty.
Doesn't have to be for a full series; why not just specify that the injured player must stay out until the next first down or change of possession, whichever comes first? If a defense is getting rolled by an up-tempo offense, it seems most likely that fakery would come on a first down (or second and short, perhaps). If the defense makes a play or two to get the opposition in a third-down situation and then wants to take a dive (thereby giving the offense more time to come up with something as well), fine by me.
Aggie prez came out & said they don't fake injuries. Their defensive depth must be incredible this year with all those nasty injuries he witnessed. I don't know whether to believe Aggie or Sand Aggie about the bus deal, however it would've benefited both schools to to have swept this incident under the carpet especially if the buses were cleaned up before any aggie players witnessed them. IMO, Byrne needs to keep off the 'net and use official channels to complain. I know the Meer-kat hurry-up O is a benefit for us, but personally I'd like to see CFB adopt the Pro type of play calling where you can only signal the play in once, and then the QB has to make the adjustments at the LOS. All of these spaz hand signals from 2 or 3 coaches on the sidelines or these ridiculous huge signs are imo BS.
I was at the OU - A&M game last year and I saw the Tech and A&M game this year. A&M definitely was faking injuries during both games when the hurry-up offense was clicking down the field. Don't know if any of you saw the Rams - Giants game on MNF a couple weeks ago. Sam was taking the Rams down the field in a hurry-up offense, and the Giants got caught faking injuries to slow down the offense. It was very obvious. Two players fell down. Here's the video: http://video.search.yahoo.com/video...7ijacm&newfp=1&tit=Deon+Grant+fakes+an+injury
