SEC's call out of Aggies will cost Texas A&M, but something doesn't add up

The Southeastern Conference has announced that they are levying a official reprimand to Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko and a $50,000 fine to the university after deciding that an Aggie player feigned an injury against the Arkansas Razorbacks.

This is a new emphasis this year in an attempt to crack down on feigned injuries across the sport, an epidemic that severely needed to be addressed. The statement from the SEC mentions that this decision was made "after review by the National Coordinator of Football Officiating of game video" following A&M's game against Arkansas.

The article goes on to discuss how this penalty came in response to a play where Tyreek Chappell, referred to in the article as "no. 7 for Texas A&M," went down on the field. However, there's something strange about this instance in particular.

The Aggies were indeed penalized by the crew on the field according to the rule that has been instituted— namely, that a player who goes down with an injury after the ball has been spotted will cost his team a time out. This is to cut down on the number of players who take this action in order to provide their defense extra time to catch up with an up-tempo offense, or one that is simply taking them to task.

Texas A&M feels heat from SEC, fine levied after conference calls them out for feigning an injury

This judgment on this instance in particular, one which Texas A&M has gone on the record as disagreeing with, does appear to be askew. The play in question occurs with 12:55 left in the game. Chappell is to the field side on the play, guarding Arkansas's Braylon Sharpe, who makes a simple cut on an in route and picks up a first down.

Chappell looks pretty sluggish on the play, not really following the Arkansas player's route very well and only slightly jogging after him once he makes his cut. After the play is over, you can see on the TV copy that he is speaking demonstratively in the direction of the A&M sideline, gesturing for someone to come onto the field.

The statement put out by the SEC says that a staffer is also signaling back to Chappell while pointing to the ground, which is not visible on the TV copy. Only a play before, interestingly, Chappell had jogged to the sideline following the action, looking as though he was coming out of the game. The TV copy cuts to a replay and then on the play in question, he is lined up opposite Arkansas's Sharpe.

Not seeing the staffer that the SEC statement is referencing, it seems like Chappell wanted a substitution on the previous play but, for whatever reason (perhaps the coaching staff wasn't ready for him to come out and wanted to avoid a substitution infraction or only having 10 men on the field), he stayed in the game. He then is targeted on the following play, is upset that he gave up a reception, and insists that he be taken out of the game again.

Again, it's possible that he could have been feeling some lingering pain for which he needed to receive quick treatment, and therefore the staffer was motioning for him to just go down so the staff could get their ducks in a row and get the proper substitution out there. Chappell, if fully healthy, is one of the last players this defense would want to be without for an extended period of time, so if there was some machination to stymy Arkansas's momentum (they were not moving particularly fast between snaps), it would not have been him that they ask to go down— it would have been a player at a position like defensive line, which they rotate much more often and obviously experience a higher level of contact.

The SEC mentions that Chappell returns on the second play of the ensuing defensive possession (which, in real time, was over 20 minutes after he went down). There's not much you can do to appeal this kind of decision, but I don't really consider this very convincing in a lot of ways.

Texas A&M is now on thin ice, however, as further violations will result in another reprimand of Elko and a $100,000 fine. A third violation will result in his suspension for the following game. This is something that the Aggies now have to watch very closely going forward, even if this is a judgment rendered unjustly.