No. 6 Ole Miss deserved to lose after second-string running back Matt Jones (no, not that one) clearly faked an injury to gift his team some extra time.

During the middle of the second quarter of Saturday’s game between Kentucky and Ole Miss with the Rebels leading 7-3, Jones appeared to go down with an injury, grabbing at his right hamstring while sitting on the turf. Ole Miss was looking to drive and move out of its own territory, facing a critical 3rd and 8 from the 29-yard line. Jones’ injury allowed for a break in the action, essentially giving Ole Miss a free timeout to draw up a plan.

But Jones (and quarterback Jaxson Dart) couldn’t have made it more obvious that this was a ruse. Upon seeing the replay, the ABC broadcast called out Jones for clearly faking the injury.

“Matt Jones, fortunately, survived the walk off the field. It was just a blatant fake injury,” Play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough said live on the air. In the video below, you can see Dart motion for Jones to go down. Jones, who finished with three rushes for eight yards, also did a pretty bad job of trying to make it look natural.

Blatant fake injury from Ole Miss vs. Kentucky

(via @ESPN)pic.twitter.com/l09rrJ7cA1

— On3 (@On3sports) September 28, 2024

As the rulebook official explained on the broadcast after the incident, what Jones did technically wasn’t against the rules — it’s more of an “unethical”, unwritten rule type thing, which Ole Miss didn’t seem to care about abiding by. So while Jones was well within his rights to fake an injury, it doesn’t mean we all can’t call him out for the nonsense.

“They oughta put something in the book when it’s that egregious,” McDonough added.

They absolutely should. But guess what? The move didn’t even pay off for Ole Miss. On the ensuing play, Dart completed a four-yard pass to Tre Harris that forced the Rebels to punt. It wound up being a major momentum-shifter, too. Kentucky would respond the next possession with a 13-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to take a 10-7 lead at the halftime break. As you likely know by now, the Wildcats ultimately pulled off the road upset 20-17.

This faking of injuries isn’t anything new in the world of college football, but it certainly is annoying. This wasn’t the only instance in the game where a player went down with what felt like a questionable injury (Kentucky was guilty, as well). Some on social media have suggested that an “injured” player is forced to sit out the remainder of a series, which I could see working as the basis of a preventative rule.

But overall, there’s a message we can learn from all of this: cheaters never prosper. Ole Miss had to learn that the hard way.

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