Will SEC officials call a penalty for Horns Down against Texas? It depends on context

DALLAS — Big 12 officials are off the hook. With Oklahoma and Texas off to a new land, how to legislate the Horns Down hand gesture is now the SEC’s problem. 

John McDaid’s problem. 

After giving a presentation to open SEC media days on Tuesday, McDaid, the SEC’s coordinator of football officials, didn’t get far before he was surrounded by a half-dozen reporters all wondering the same thing: Will flashing Horns Down be flagged? 

“The playing rule that would be applicable is unsportsmanlike conduct,” McDaid said. “We’re gonna read the context in which it is done.” 

McDaid asked his officials to weigh three criteria: 

1. Is it taunting an opponent?

2. Is it making a travesty of the game?

3. Is it otherwise affecting our ability to manage the game?

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It’s a travesty that Horns Down is still taken so seriously, but what exactly is “making a travesty of the game?”  

McDaid: “A travesty of the game is something that offends the senses. Take the act out of a football stadium, go put it in a shopping mall, a grocery store, is it something that would offend the senses of the majority of reasonable people in the area?” 

That last part, “in the area,” could be key. 

Would Horns Down offend the senses at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City? No, it would delight. Would Horns Down offend the senses at an H-E-B in Austin? I expect it would. 

Also, I wouldn’t say football stadiums are filled with “reasonable people.” 

“Giving this signal to me isn’t offensive in that particular context,” McDaid said. “So let’s go back on the field to a player that’s giving it. Is it taunting an opponent or is it making a travesty of the game?

“If an opponent of Texas would score a touchdown and in celebration with their teammates go up the sideline, they’re giving the signal, that’s not an issue. We have that already in the Southeastern Conference. We have teams that have things like the (Florida) “Gator Chomp,” the (Ole Miss) “Shark Fin” for the defense where that thing has been done. Over the years we’ve evaluated it: Is it taunting, is it making a travesty of the game? Is it otherwise affecting our ability to manage the game? If the answer is no, then it’s not a foul.

“Now, if he tackles a player and stands right over him and gives it, now we’ve got taunting, and that’s unsportsmanlike conduct.” 

Using that hypothetical, wouldn’t it be taunting if a player stood over an opponent and used some other hand gesture?

“It very possibly could be,” McDaid said. “I asked my officials to not consider most acts automatic. There are some automatics: spitting an opponent is an automatic, a throat slash is an automatic. But the rest of them, I want it to be evaluated in context.” 

McDaid did his best to seriously answer what should be (but hasn’t been) an unserious issue. 

Yet we’re still left with the same “Horns Down” ambiguity as we had in the Big 12.

So, is it a flag?

It depends.