Syracuse first to get caught faking injuries under new rule, fined 25K

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00:00Props to them, they stopped us on some third downs in certain times,

00:03and then they have an injury or something like that when we really got going.

00:08Well, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnick made clear in his postgame interview

00:11that he was not buying the injuries suffered by Syracuse defenders

00:15in his team's upset loss to the Orange on Saturday.

00:19And the ACC agreed with him.

00:23The Atlantic Coast Conference has fined Syracuse $25,000 on Monday

00:28and publicly reprimanded the school for faking injuries in a 34-21 road win over the Tigers.

00:35Conference officials called Syracuse's actions unethical and contrary to the spirit of the rules.

00:41The incident took place as Clemson was driving in Syracuse territory with 9.25 left in the fourth quarter.

00:47Syracuse freshman defensive lineman Nisi Ogbibor slowly dropped to the ground

00:53and laid down after a big pass completion by the Tigers.

00:56Defensive lineman Kevin Jobity Jr. also went down.

01:00The league said there was action taken by a coach on Syracuse's sideline

01:03that indicated they were instructed to pretend they were hurt, according to video they reviewed.

01:09The ACC said there was a clear attempt to gain an unmerited advantage by stopping the game

01:14in order to secure an injury timeout.

01:16Klubnick agreed, despite the fact that Clemson scored a touchdown on the next play.

01:21That's up to them if they want to be honest about that, but, you know, that was definitely tough for us

01:27to really get in the rhythm when we're playing fast, and then, you know, unfortunately they had to have a guy get hurt

01:31or something, or a timeout or, you know, something like that.

01:35So, you know, hopefully everybody, I feel like we came out really healthy, and hopefully they did too.

01:41Eliminating fake injuries is a priority for the NCAA, as S.A.N. reported in August.

01:46Starting this season, if a player goes down injured after the ball is spotted by an officiating crew

01:51and medical personnel go onto the field of play, the player's team will be charged to timeout.

01:57If the team has no timeouts left, officials will assess the five-yard delay of game penalty.

02:03The two Syracuse players went down before the ball was spotted, so the team was not penalized during the game.

02:09The school responded to the punishment with a statement acknowledging the violation.

02:13Syracuse University Athletics acknowledges and accepts the reprimand and the fine issued by the ACC.

02:20We remain firmly committed to upholding the highest standards of sportsmanship

02:23and competitive integrity across all 20 of our varsity programs.

02:28The win over Clemson is perhaps the program's top moment under second-year head coach Fran Brown,

02:33who referred to the university's statement during his press conference on Monday.

02:37So those things happened in the last game.

02:40We put the statement out, and I just want to stick to everything that was in the statement

02:43and get an opportunity.

02:45That's why I'm thankful that our athletic director and everybody made sure that we got a statement put out

02:50because they want us to move on and get ready for our next opponent.

02:53That next opponent is Duke, and it could be a much tougher road ahead for Syracuse because of a real injury.

02:59Star quarterback Steve Vangeli, who was leading the nation in passing,

03:03ruptured his Achilles during the game, and will miss the rest of the season.

03:07For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis.