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Football: Did Cal fake injuries?
By Jonathan Okanes
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 9:45 pm in Football, Last game tidbits.
I know this has been a hot topic since the Oregon game and kind of got lost on my end a little bit just because of the amazing nature of Saturday’s game and then going right into Big Game week. But The Oregonian quotes a source within Cal’s program that faking injuries was part of the Bears’ game plan Saturday night.
A handful of defensive linemen went down with apparent cramps, but there is damning video of backup nose tackle Aaron Tipoti looking to the sideline and moments later hobbling around and falling on the football.
As you’ll read in the Oregonian story, there is a quote from Jeff Tedford denying his players were faking injuries.
Cal isn’t the first team accused of faking injuries against Oregon this season to try to slow down their breakneck tempo on offense. But the Tipoti video really brings Cal to the forefront of the accusations.
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November 17th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
JO, whether they did or did not is irrelevant. The offense of UO is a gimmick, you need to use whatever is legal to counteract. This is not the reason Oregon only scored a SINGLE touchdown. What was more concerning to me was the play made on our CB…an illegal hit behind an official that resulted in an injury…an illegal pick. That is what needs attention, not this rubbish.
November 17th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Tedfurd should sign up his players for Drama classes instead of the Social Welfare, Sociology, American studies, courses they normally take. God knows they could use some lessons. That was the poorest acting since Freddie Got Fingered.
November 17th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Here’s the deal, UO’s gun/pistol produces at least 30% more plays and without breaks. Players cramp up. That’s what I saw at the game, lots of cramping up. It looked like Owusu at DE was down a lot…well the guy is close to 300lbs and that’s going to happen if he’s flogged.
Oregon should just shut up, they’re number 1 for petesake. Seriously, the last game at Memorial with the rain, UO fans complained forever about that…but forgot Cal played in the same and on the same field.
November 17th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Oh please! Stop crying “Nike Ducks”. You won the game and didn’t get called for cheap shots, illegal blocks and the use of your fabulous “student athletes”. Take the victory and enjoy it because once the book is written on your freak show offense then you’ll be relegated to your rightful place, back in the middle of the pack!
November 17th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Love how bitter Cal fans are! You got caught cheating on TV, end of story! It’s embarrassing.
November 18th, 2010 at 1:22 am
faking injuries is dishonest and dishonorable. if you would lie to win a game you would lie to get anything. it shows who you are and what your program stands for. too bad..i respected cal before this.
November 18th, 2010 at 5:31 am
Bottom line is: who cares if they did. S happens Oregon deal with it.
November 18th, 2010 at 6:11 am
In a normal game, a cramping Tipoti would look to the sideline and signal his need to be replaced, and the transaction would be made without anyone noticing or commenting. With Oregon’s sped up offense, he has to go down on the field for an injury timeout; otherwise, the team will have to continue a player down. Nothing suspicious here.
November 18th, 2010 at 6:11 am
Of course Cal faked injuries. And Oregon turned off their lights to stifle Cal momentum a few years back, not to mention their use of illegal pick plays to free up their receivers.
Let’s call it a wash and move on.
November 18th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Except that he doesn’t just dive at the point where he gets the signal from the sideline. He actually walks over and then dives on the ball. HAHAHAHA. You can’t fault Tedfraud for coaching down on that one.
Your program will lose recruits because of this nonsense. Mano y mano is what football is about. If I were Moala I would have taken one look at that and walked for the exits. When will it be his turn to take a dive in front of a large stadium.
USC was the only Pac 10 team not doing that against Oregon. We play with pride and we lose with pride.
November 18th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Let’s move on people. This is ridiculous. Duck fans were scared last Saturday. Like any near-death situation (like a major car crash) people look for faults of others and re-live the event over and over in their heads. They forget that they were driving badly, blindly thinking about their destination at hand (in this case, the Oregon’s road to the NC), and they drifted off their path and ran into a guard rail. “that darn guard rail! what a stupid place to put that!”. Never mind, he was driving wrecklessly and hitting people and small animals along the way. MOVE ON!
November 18th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Southsean’s got it exactly right. If you have any ailment that causes you to leave the game you have to go down to leave the field vs an offense that will snap the ball immediately. If you do not hit the ground there is no chance the D unit will be ready to defend. There is no rule against doing that just as there is no rule against the gimmick junk UO does on offense. People can cry about all kinds of stuff no matter the game. All that matters is if you win or lose. UO is 10-0, their gimmick offense will be figured out, just not this year. You would think they would just enjoy the ride.
Shoot if we were 10-0 I’d be doing back flips and could care less about anything else.
November 18th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Of course we did.
And so what?
You may call it unsporting, but there is no rule against it and it’s therefore part of strategy. Change the rules if you don’t like it. It’s okay with Oregon to complain – that’s how rules get adjusted.
I like the way the prior poster pointed out the subtle (or not so subtle) pick on (ramming into) our DB. Accident? Or part of the flow of the play (as designed) to get their WR Weihl open? Or a combination of both, the OU guy just screened our DB too hard – and Tipoti didn’t fake hard enough… Same difference.
What’s most disturbing about all this is that Tedford would say that they didn’t talk about going down and taking a rest at certain points of the game. One thing you always want, win or lose, is honesty and integrity. That JT doesn’t freely admit it shows he’s lacking something there. And that really bugs me.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:06 am
People are saying that Tipoti looking to the sideline is “proof” that it was planned. I think it is a load of bull. Take out the propaganda and watch the video. Over half the team is looking to the sideline is well. In fact, in any football game defense on the field will often look the sideline (usually to see if they are being subbed).
The accusation that he dived on the ball, again, is biased. Tipoti is a nose tackle so he’d be lining up in front of the ball. He was getting for the next defensive play and took a three-point stance in his position.
Now he may have dived. He may have exaggerated. He may also have had cramps and he’s been fighting injuries all season. No one will know how he TRULY felt. But I think this accusation against Tedford and trying to sully his name and our program is a straw man.
I think Oregon fans cannot stand that the Cal defense shut them down. And, instead of giving them due credit, they want to make a mountain out of a mole hill. The implication is that a “clean” program couldn’t stop Oregon and, therefore, Cal had to play dirty.
That’s really sad. I think it’s also sad to see that Kelly is OK with Oregon fans booing players that are really injured. That shows a lot of class.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Remember when the forward pass was considered a gimmick? Please people, this is just old school option principles packaged in modern era shotgun formations. The faked injuries are what they are. Faked, bush league, and lame, but there isn’t anything to do about it. That strategy has been around a long time too. Complaining about a poor pick route? Yes the way it was executed, it should have been flagged; but have any of you ever played the game of football?! Pick routes are a part of almost any offensive playbook. What a joke, two whining fanbases
November 18th, 2010 at 9:30 am
And when he came off to the sideline and the players were smiling was it because he was suddenly OK or was it because of the dive?
November 18th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Congrats on a great game! I don’t think most Duck fans really think this is anything new, it’s the vocal minority that are complaining. That being said, the one positive side of this getting attention is that it might discourage other teams from doing it. The real reason Oregon fans don’t like it is because it’s effective. Stanford disrupted a couple of drives that way. (At least that’s what it looked like, you can never really know.) I’ll say this about the tempo being a gimmick. That may be true to some degree, but There are a lot of top teams doing it. Auburn for one. It may or may not catch on, but they’ve (Oregon) been fun to watch this year! Good luck in a great game against Stanford this week, I’ll be watching and cheering for both sides.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Is anyone noting the irony that “the unnamed source” is being reported by the Oregonian? Why is nobody making this guy produce his source? Why hasn’t anyone asked if the alleged faked injuries happened at critical points in a drive? (they didn’t) Oregon is just diverting attention from the fact that they almost got beaten by a mediocre team. If Oregon were really interested in fair play they’d suspend Lavasier Tuinei a game for the pick that injured Anthony. Oh wait, Chip Kelly called the pick. That must make it ok.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:48 am
Who Cares? It’s all gamesmanship. Sure some guys probably faked injuries and some guys weren’t…Deal with it…
November 18th, 2010 at 9:49 am
While there seem to be a lot of Cal Bear fans being apologists for their team’s behavior, there’s no need to try and attack Duck fans. If you need to rely on blatant cheating because you can’t keep up, just admit it and deal.
I think it speaks volumes that Cal, by their actions admit they couldn’t keep up with the Ducks. It’s really too bad because their defense was playing a hell of a game. Just sorry to see those blatantly illegal tactics used in a game.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Faking injury after looking to the sideline for the que is an outright statement that the Duck offense has worn out the defense. Nothing more than that. It doesn’t make me mad, it’s good to see.
Hey, a win is a win is a win. 10-0.
November 18th, 2010 at 9:58 am
Want the definitive word on Cal cheating. Read this article.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/14316401/thanks-to-east-coast-bias-tedfords-cheating-goes-unnoticed
November 18th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Cal doesn’t have the talent, or coaching to hang with Oregon. That’s the bottom line, and why they had to resort to cheating just to have a chance. Enjoy the Vegas bowl…
November 18th, 2010 at 10:19 am
I am not from the pac 10 school area however, i did watch the game. When a coach has to ask his players to fake injuries LIKE THEY DID just to have a remote chance of pulling off a win against a opponent is absolutly UNSPORTSMANSHIP. If that is what the pac 10 officalls are going to allow – without a doubt people across the country WILL NOT watch pac 10 games period. Sorry Cal fans but the actions of your football team this weekend was humiliating to the rest of the country!!!!!!!
November 18th, 2010 at 10:35 am
As a Duck fan I have to say that comparing what #40 did to the supposed illegal pick is apples to oranges. One was premeditated. The other was part of the game. You Cal fans can’t seriously think an Oregon player intended harm to your DB, can you?
As Chip has said, there is nothing that can be done about the scuba effect. Cal’s D played a great game. This caused D Thom to be slightly off. That said, Oregon deserves a ton of credit for sustaining that last drive for 9:25. Ball game.
Good luck in the Big Game. Here’s hoping Oregon goes to the Natty Champ game and destroys an SEC opponent. If it was the other way around I would be cheering for Cal.
November 18th, 2010 at 10:44 am
@PC:
I think you’re exactly right. Oregon can’t deal with the fact that the Cal defense shut them down, so now they’re crying foul.
I think Oregon is also scared that Arizona and OSU (and whoever they play in their bowl game) will look at the Cal gametape and get a good idea of how to stop their offense. Conte was right when he said the rest of the Pac-10 should take note.
If we bring the same intensity on defense against Stanfurd, and if Brock and the WRs can step up, we will beat the tree.
GO BEARS!
November 18th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Right, Mike. Who cares if our guys bought time by laying on the ball.
But let’s at least be honest, no?
November 18th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Why do people keep calling Oregon’s offense a “gimmick”. Everyone runs some sort of hurry-up. Mostly at the end of half or game, yes. Some teams run it often (e.g. Indy Colts) to switch up tempo.
Oregon just runs it as their “regular” offense and they do it well.
Also, during Oregon’s last drive they slowed the pace down to a more normal one. They weren’t in a hurry as they wanted to run down time. Yet, they still produced and marched down the field on the Bears. They were on the Bears’ 12 yard line with over a minute to play and simply took a knee.
So, it seems as though they run a slower paced offense as well as they do the hurry-up.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:06 am
Correct. Let’s be honest. What’s the difference between what we did and what a batter does against a red hot pitcher. In order to break that rhythym the batter will step out the box and fix his gloves, clean his spikes and once in awhile he will exchange bats. Are those dishonest actions? Even if he exchanged his bat for an identical one it wouldn’t be dishonest action.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:07 am
If my team was depending on fake injury timeouts to try to win games, I’d demand a new coach. You’d never beat the Ducks that way anyways, but you should at least be honest about it.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Are you Cal fans really upset about this? Or are you faking it?
Don’t feel too bad, other teams have done it this year too. We just didn’t complain as much because they were blowouts. I’m sure you guys had “injuries” last year at Autzen but nobody cares about a 42-3 game. Cal played great on defense, and faked injuries to slow the game down because they felt that was their only chance. Let’s all move on.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Please provide the address of the injured players as Oregon fans would love to send them flowers and get well greetings.
Poor poor acting, poor performance and poor sportmanship.
Congradulations Cal and Coach Tedford, you took your team down to a new low. Looks like the Toilet Bowl for you…..if you even make it there.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Here is what Oregon is really upset about. Their gimmick offense was finally exposed. A disciplined defense that plays its responsibilities will stop this circus. With even Kevin Riley or Nate Longshore, the Bears would have demolished Oregon last week.
Sadly for the Ducks, they are going to run up against a tough, fast SEC defense and get stuffed. In fact, Boise State would stop them cold, just like they did last year and the year before.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:42 am
USC was the only Pac 10 team not doing that against Oregon.
How’d that work out for the school on probation again?
November 18th, 2010 at 11:48 am
I was most impressed with how quickly Hill recovered from his early knee injury. He was nimble on the td.
November 18th, 2010 at 11:51 am
@ PC:
Duck fans aren’t trying to discredit Cal. Cal played an outstanding game defensively, and they deserve much credit for holding us to 15 points. Further, we’re not suggesting the outcome would have been different had the players not faked injuries–that would be pure speculation.
What we are saying is that faking injuries is a B.S. tactic that takes advantage of the fact that medical necessity confers the benefit of the doubt. It’s disgusting. All we want is to publicly acknowledge and shame the practice. You’d earn our respect for at least being honest–your rationalization for what Tipoti was *actually* doing was not honest, or least not unbiased. Dude was clearly faking. Come on.
Your proposition that CK is ok with fans booing at players who really are injured is, frankly, silly. First of all, that hasn’t happened. We’ve only booed players who obviously were faking (namely Chase Thomas and your four players, who clearly need acting lessons). And if we were to get it wrong, we might owe the player an apology, but that doesn’t make our booing “unsportsmanlike.” We’re justifiably trying to call out behavior that IS unsportsmanlike. The players who do so deserve an earful of boos.
Just to point out the obvious–Duck fans give huge respect to players who actually are injured from opposing teams, like Chris Owusu. We know injuries suck and have no desire to rub it in or make the player feel bad.
November 18th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Wow. Look at all the “duck fans” posting on this message board. It’s definitely Big Game weekend. We all know duck fans are too dumb to figure out how to post here.
Go Bears! RETAIN the Axe!
November 18th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Hey Bears.. scoreboard! I love that Bears fans like Easy Ed sarcastically point to our “student athletes” while conveniently omitting that we had 11 student-athletes honored as academic all-americans to Cal’s 8. Fake all the injuries you want, you still lost the game and, unless you can beat UW, since Stanford is going to crush you, you still will be sitting at home this bowl season while we and our “gimmick offense” are playing for the NC. The only gimmick I saw at the game was your joke of a fan-base. Oregon fans almost outnumbered Cal fans. So enjoy your moral victory of holding our “gimmick offense” to 15 points – unless you get a pity invite to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl that might be the only positive you take out of this season. Deuces.
November 18th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
To all the Duck fans complaining… I understand your frustration. But rather than rail further, why don’t you think about what can be done to the rule book to fix the situation. Seriously.
Otherwise, this is going to happen again and again until defenses nationwide slow you down and beat you. All new offensive strategies necessitate the development of new defensive strategies designed to stop them. And vice versa. It’s the never ending evolution of sport. You can call it unsporting, but so are well disguised “picks” in the passing game. There is so much that happens on the field, this is piddle crap. So, just write the rule that gets this under control, or learn to make yards the old fashioned way. I mean, really, it’s so unsporting of you to make our big hefty linemen, designed to win the war in the trenches, get all tired by running all around the field?
You want to speed the game up and eliminate the 300 pound football player? Hey, that would be a GREAT development! SERIOUSLY! Safer for all and more exciting. But write the rule that gets it done.
November 18th, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Here’s why UO-Niketown-Eugene fans are upset…because any team that faces UO in a bowl game now has a game plan AND game tape on how to stop them…dead cold.
November 18th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Congratulations Oregon, you’ve now turned me into a SEC fan. Rather than root for my conference, I hope Auburn (or TCU) embarasses you. Or better yet, that Oregon State does. You want to complain about integrity? What about the flagrant pick that took Anthony out of the game? Or Dante Rosario’s drop kick a few years back on kickoff coverage? Or the fact that your team’s rap sheet would make Barry Switzer blush?
Whining after you WIN is pathetic and reminds me of Texas Tech (another second-tier school with an inferiority complex with fans that become beyond annoying every time they sniff athletic success thanks to a gimmick offense).
And P.S. – anyone who thinks that Tipoti’s cramp was fake has never played a sport. Cramps: (a) come without warning; and (b) usually happen when you haven’t been active for a while and then start to stress the muscle. If you chumps in Eugene played any sports other than Wii bowling, you might know that.
Go Beavers.
November 18th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
It looked to me like our Bears were submitting to the Ducks. This was once a proud program which could compete with the best teams in the conference. Now our coaches look for a pathetic way just to hang on. The feigned injuries were bad for our program, and bad for the sport. If you’re tired, then sub out next possession or train harder. Don’t turn the game into major league soccer with the flops. Let’s leave the candyass tactics behind, and let’s beat Furd. To my fellow Bear fans, stop supporting this embarrassment because you’re making it worse.
November 18th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Looks to be to be a bunch of bitter Cal fans, play the game with integrity. Illegal blocks, late hits happen most get caught, every team gets away with some, but faking injuries is blatant cheating and shouldn’t happen in any sport. No fan should be proud of this. That would be like me being proud of LeGarrett Blount’s punch last year. Poor sportsmanship no matter if it is your team or not.
November 18th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
All of you Cal fans are nerd raging because of your loss. Oregon’s offense is not a “gimmick”. Are you stupid? How many players of yours went down. The video clearly shows T looking at the sideline and going down on call.
Anyone else that fakes injuries should be thrown out of the game.
It doesn’t matter anyway. Oregon will steamroll win as usual
November 18th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Tuinei lowered his shoulder on the pick play. How is that not intentional?
Even if Cal players were faking injury, which can’t be proven one way or the other, UO’s fake outrage and indignation over these four plays is even worse than the supposed “fakery” they’re complaining about. You won the game — quit your whining.
November 18th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
44 comments and I’ve yet to hear how Oregon fans suggest opposing teams get their regular defensive subsititutions in in-between plays. It’s simply impossible at the pace you run your offense. Do you think the other 118 teams in NCAA wouldn’t want to substitute players on defense? Anyone sitting in the SEC with 350 pound linemen claiming they wouldn’t do the same is just lying.
The key distinction is this. Tedford didn’t tell his players “hey, if Oregon gets 3 first downs, fall down so we can slow down their drive.” Tedford’s (or Pendergast’s) instructions were more likely “hey, if you need a sub, go down so we can get you out of the game.” Has nothing to do with how well the Oregon offense is rolling (or not rolling) at the time. It has everything to do with players needing subs.
And for the record, it’s not “blatantly illegal” as all of you guys claim. The furthest you can go is to say it’s “frowned upon” but there’s nothing in the rule book making this illegal.
November 18th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Okay UO fans…look for either a rule change on defensive subbing. You guys made a deal out of…and now you guys might get your just desserts.
November 18th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
It is interesting that all of the comments from Cal fans whine about Oregon complaining, get a grip NOT ONE Oregon coach said anything about it, Coach Chip Kelly’s response was let them fall down, get up, and we’ll run another play, we are not going to concern ourselves with what they are doing, we’ll just stick to our game plan. And can someone explain to me how the spread option is a gimmick? You run the ball and pass the ball, isn’t that what all teams are doing?
November 18th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
And why are you complaining about illegal hits, come on you are telling me Cal played a completely clean game? Football is a contact sport and hits happen some are clean and some aren’t on both teams. Get over your pity party Cal fans, you lost, Scoreboard Baby!
November 18th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Cal fans are big babies.
Video is pretty obvious
Get with it and don’t try the intellitual stuff
November 18th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Hey I’m a Duck fan and it was obviously cheating.
Tedford shoud be asshamed of himself. He’s a Duck alumni for God’s sake.
This is football not Cal weenie ball.
Get with it and man up.
That video really told the tale…case closed… with you Cal politically corrects…
November 18th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
The whole point of the speed that Oregon runs at is to wear their opponents down. Not being able to sub is on the defense. The offense dictates how quickly things move. So if the bears wanted to substitute then they needed to have them ready to go when the play ended, not have one of their guys go down and fake an injury. If you look at other sports they all have some sort of delay of game penalty. If the Pac-12 is going to deal with this problem then they need to insert a delay of game penalty. Which will be on the shoulders of the officials to call. When it is called then it should be a 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Now how will they know when to call it. Only the official will know. I will bet you that they will get it right 98% of the time.
The Offense is not a gimmick, if you look around college football alot of teams run the same offense, the ducks just happen to run it at break neck speeds. They take advantage of you being tired. There is no gimmick to it.
If this continues I am sure that the Pac 12 will have a rule inserted and I am sure they will call it the “Tedford Rule”.
November 19th, 2010 at 11:44 am
I must have missed all of the bitter Cal losers because all I read was Oregon whining. Any ass hat that played football at any level knows that if you run a fast offense the opposing team has to slow you down with injuries, faked or not. It’s called football. I’ll agree, a win is a win and Oregon won. So what? Good game, however championship teams forge through adversity and don’t bitch about it. So Oregon didn’t score 60 points like Herbstreet predicted, OFnW. Good luck against Auburn although you’ll probably drop trou like last year against the big bad East Coaster’s.
November 20th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
faking injuries is against the rules. if you admit you faked injuries to the official he can throw a flag. if you lie to the offical you get away with it..but liars are scumbags and of course you know this?
November 20th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
the rules state that the offense must wait for substitutions to come into the game. the problem cal has is that your starting defensive team is quite good actually..some of the starting players among the best in the country. the problem however is their backups are considerably weaker. oregon would have been very happy to slow down the pace if you actually put in one of your weaker players in for us to target. but the offense does not have to wait for substitutes that dont come into the game.