If you celebrate at all on the field before scoring a touchdown in the NCAA, it is a 15 yard unsportsman like conduct penalty. I’ve got no real objection to that. Before this year, that penalty was applied on the kickoff, so teams would kick off 15 yards farther back than normal. Now, if you get called for unsportsmanlike conduct before scoring a touchdown, the TD is taken away, and it is a 15 yard penalty from the spot of the celebration. It’s ridiculous. The penalty is so far out of proportion from the crime. The punter from LSU got nailed on it today when he ran a fake in for a touchdown.
Mark my words. One day in an important game, a player is going to make a play to win a game, and then see it taken away for a celebration. The outrage will be tremendous, and the rule will be changed back to the way it was. It’s unfortunate that someone is going to have to suffer to demonstrate the utter retardedness of this rule.
I usually don’t get too exercised about unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, but taking away the TD is ridiculous. If you have to have the penalty, put it on the kick off.
They did. It didn’t work. 15 yards on a kickoff isn’t significant enough. Most players laugh at such penalties and gladly accept them so they can stylize their play. If the NCAA wants to curtail the behavior, they have to make the penalty meaningful. Taking away a touchdown will do that and I guarantee that once the rule has “settled in,” only the occasional Leon Lett type player will be doing it.
Why? If a player commits any other kind of foul (other than a dead ball foul) before scoring, the subsequent score doesn’t count. Why should pre-goal line celebration be treated differently? The rule change was actually made to make it consistent with the other penalties. The thought process is that while celebration is normally a dead ball foul (since it occurs after the completion of the play), celebrating during the play can’t really be a dead ball foul since the play is live.
I actually made a mistake in the OP. The penalty used to go on the extra point. It usually wasn’t a big deal, but it did have implications. Jake Locker threw the ball up in the air after scoring a touchdown, putting them within 1 of the tie. The extra point kick was low and blocked.
I just don’t see this huge problem with taunting in college football. For example, Locker made a great play and celebrated by throwing the ball up in the air. It’s the natural reaction. When you make a great play, you want to celebrate. It isn’t a funeral.
Whether or not it creates an advantage is not relevant. It’s still a penalty. I never could figure out why that 1 penalty would not wipe out a TD when any other penalty would wipe it out. All they have done is make the playing field level for all penalties.
I think the penalty is ridiculous just because how much a judgement call it is. I just watched the clip. Why is it that a bunch of players mobbing isn’t a celebration but a guy sticking his arms out for half-a-second is?
Locker’s action was after the touchdown and was a celebration (it was penalized only because it was excessive [according to the officials]). Officials are usually very tolerant of moderate post-touchdown celebrations (high fives, spikes, body slams, etc.). Wing’s action was not a celebration but a mocking of opposing players which many people, including myself and apparently NCAA administration, find very unsavory and detrimental to the spirit of amateur competition.
Hitting a player out of bounds or after the whistle doesn’t give the offender an advantage but is penalized none-the-less.
That’s because a late hit is, by definition, a dead-ball foul. If the play was still live, the hit wouldn’t have been late.
But (for example), if a QB throws the ball and then is ‘roughed’ (ie, late hit, but live ball) and the pass is intercepted and run back, then yes, the defensive TD would indeed be negated.
I agree with the OP. The fact that the penalty is subject to a ref’s discretion and liable to change from on ref to another is one big problem. As the OP says, someone will eventually lose an important TD and it will probably be due to ridiculously poor judgment as to what constitutes “taunting.” Furthermore, I agree that celebrating or taunting, while it should be penalized to some extent, does not give any unfair advantage to the scoring player, unlike holding or clipping.
Right, because a roughed QB is now at a disadvantage for the rest of the play. So the entire play should be negated and the down replayed. Contrast that will taunting. Taunting confers no advantage during the play, and generates no cause to replay the down.