Former NFL referee left baffled by controversial new college football rule

A controversial new college football rule left a former NFL referee baffled on Friday as he criticized officials in the Georgia Tech-Colorado game for their 'ridiculous' call.

Starting this season, college referees have begun charging teams a timeout if a player goes down with an injury after the ball is spotted.

The tweak was designed to prevent injury-faking, but it's led to some unfair ramifications in the eyes of former NFL official Terry McAulay.

Late in Georgia Tech's matchup against Colorado, the Yellow Jackets were charged a timeout after a player went down with an injury and received medical attention on the field. But McAulay, who spent 20 years officiating in the NFL, didn't feel that was right.

'The Big 12 doubles down on being ridiculously over officious regarding the new injury rule,' he wrote on X alongside a video of the incident, which occurred with the game tied at 20.

'Again, this player was clearly injured at the end of the play, and yet the offense was still charged a TO. What makes it worse, the Replay official can communicate to the field about timing of the injury and somehow failed to note it was well before the ball was spotted.'

As McAulay mentioned, the player - offensive lineman Keylan Rutledge - was clearly limping as he came off of the field.

And plenty of fans agreed with his negative assessment of the new rule.

'That's BS. He was showing that he was hurt before the ball was snapped. Not his fault the refs are terrible,' one wrote on X.

'Stupid rule,' another said.

'There's ways to prevent faking injury but I'm not sold on this one,' a third added. 'The new rule creates a perverse incentive for players to play through legit injuries or be coerced into doing so. On that ground alone it needs revision.'

It's not the first time McAulay has criticized the rule, as he expressed a similar sentiment during the season opener between Kansas State and Iowa State in Ireland.

'We already have an example of why I expressed concerns that this rule would unfairly penalize a team that did nothing wrong,' he wrote in that case.

'This player is clearly injured and yet because he went down after the ball was spotted, they were charged a timeout,' he wrote. 'Even worse, it appears he was demonstrating he was injured before the ball was spotted.'

The rule also requires the injured player to sit out the next down. Furthermore, if a team does not have any timeouts remaining, they are charged a five-yard delay of game penalty.

Ultimately, despite losing a timeout, Georgia Tech pulled off a 27-20 win over Deion Sanders' Colorado as Haynes King ran for a 45-yard touchdown with 1:07 remaining.