That's not why the rule was put into place. It goes back to when Texas was playing Tech awhile back, and a Texas player did finger guns and got penalized. Mack Brown complained, saying that he expected opposing teams to get penalized for doing horns down if Texas was going to get penalized for what they did. The Big 12, rather than telling teams to just not do it or let it go, decided to make it a penalty. I'm not sure where you're getting that "UT alums" were involved. Regarding the AD's office, the main issue there is trademark protection. And even still, a word is rarely said about it. The schools just get a bill in the mail for using our logo on a shirt. Otherwise, do y'all really think the main people at Texas are just calling BYU, Tech, and TCU and telling their administration to stop students from wearing horns down on a shirt or whatever else they're doing? It's absurd.
Horns down was made into a penalty in 2019, looooooong after Mack Brown was gone from UT. UT isn't going to complain about something they don't care about, and the B12 isn't going to make something a penalty just because - they both did so because they got pressure to do it. If no one at UT cared about horns down, there wouldn't be any complaining and it wouldn't be a penalty.
Horns Down penalty is dumb but people CRYING about Horns Down when it happens is even dumber. BBALL coach needs to grow up. ****ing baby.
My pie-in-the-sky, don't-ask-too-many-questions-because-I-haven't-thought-about-it-too-much idea is that college football needs to create a premier league with promotion and relegation. Each season there are x teams in CFPL that play 1-2 games per year outside of the premier league in order to maintain historic and regional rivalries. For example, Alabama will always play Auburn regardless of whether or not they're both in the PL. Outside of this, the regional conferences will exist and their conference champions will get promoted to the PL each year while the bottom y teams get relegated back to the SEC, ACC, etc. This would also allow every other sport to remain conference- and region-based. It's insane that Stanford tennis players are about to travel to New Jersey to play for a weekend all because the networks and conferences are chasing football money.
If that's where it goes, that's fine. I already find myself creating distance from college football. I don't like what it's become of late and I'm not particularly fond of where I think it's going. I made my peace with that a while back now it seems. I'm insanely in love with college hoops though...and I'd be heartbroken if they mess that up.
I also think it sucks and this idea, at least in my mind, would do something to preserve what makes college football special. There's really no reason that schools like Rutgers and Indiana should be grandfathered into this new system while others that have actually invested and competed for years are left in the cold. The premier league idea gives us the natty-or-bust system that the media loves while also attaching stakes to conference championships.
College Football is just like the Minor Leagues. It has a limited appeal to a few hard core fans, who truth be known, only root for the laundry.
The intent of the penalty wasn't just to penalize schools who play Texas and stop them from doing horns down. It was put into place to stop all players from doing hand symbols in other players' faces or in the faces of fans. The rule is an extension of taunting and only became specified because the media went ballistic in carrying on the horns down narrative every chance they got. Players, fans, and in your opinion, the UT administration, take the bait to keep it going. There's this narrative included in the horns down media hype that the Texas administration knows and tries to stop it every chance we get. We aren't that competent beyond the legal department, which I mentioned before is a trademark issue.
I dunno - I consider the head coach of the men's basketball team and the head coach of the football team to be part of the administration.
I'm glad this is all over with in the SEC, and everyone can just get back to calling 7 or 12 schools a bunch of confederate pig****ers.
So I'm hearing WAH! Were not Petty. WAH. Even tu could do it the way you claim without a specific rule about one school's upside down double middle fingers.
Insults should be available to all schools equally. We now have a culture where you can insult me, but no one else dare insult you. And we have so much more material to work with.
