8:23 am April 16, 2010, by Tony Barnhart

The NCAA got it right on the change in the taunting/excessive celebration/unsportsmanlike conduct rule.
Yes, you read that right. I was as critical as anybody in the country last year with the horrendous excessive celebration call on Georgia’s A.J. Green against LSU. At the time I wrote that it was one of the worst calls that I had seen in 30 years of covering college football because the call did not have to be made and that the official saw something that simply wasn’t there. The SEC agreed that there should have been no penalty on the play.
I was just as critical two years ago when Washington’s Jake Locker was called for flipping the ball over his head after a score in a game with BYU.
I still believe the rule, which is well-intentioned, is applied inconsistently from conference to conference. The SEC, to its credit, had some internal conversations about the way its guys were calling that penalty last season. I don’t want to abolish the rule. I want officials to call it consistently and save it for the most excessive behavior—stuff that is obvious.
That is why the NCAA rules committee is correct in changing the rule so that a taunting/unsportsmanlike foul that is committed during a touchdown play negates the score.
“Oh, they are taking points off the board!” I heard someone cry on the radio.
No, the points are never on the board unless you have an excited scoreboard keeper who is not paying attention. What all of us who follow college football want is for the rules to be consistent and for the officials to apply them consistently. If a block in the back or a hold occurs at the five-yard line with a player running in for the score, the score does not count. The penalty is marked off from the spot of the foul.
Same thing here. If a player at the five-yard line slows down and looks back to a defender and shows him the ball and taunts, then that is where the foul occurred. Previously, the other team had the option of taking the penalty on the extra point or the ensuing kickoff. That’s inconsistent.
So now that rule is consistent with other penalties. It’s the application of the rule that will be the trick.
Trust me when I tell you there will be some serious coaching on this issue. If a guy costs his team a touchdown because of this there won’t be a doghouse big enough for him.
But in my experience coaches emphasize the things that are important to them. This will be important to them. Betcha Nick Saban will only have to say it once.
Here’s my prediction. In the hundreds of Division I-A games played in 2010, this penalty will be called on a scoring play 10 or less times. We’ll check back in December to see.
There are spring games on Saturday at Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee, N.C. State and Wake Forest. Check back on Monday and we’ll see what we learned.
Have a great weekend.
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NCAA got it right on taunting rule | Mr. College Football