Joe Kinsey
Just when you thought you’d seen it all in the Big 12’s war on players taunting Texas players with a ‘horns down,’ along comes Big 12 Coordinator of Officials, Greg Burks, to make things worse by using “probably” when trying to clarify the league’s sportsmanship rule.
When asked at Big 12 Media Days about the rules, Burks told media members that if an opposing player taunts Texas players with a Horns Down, it will “probably” be a penalty.
What?
Greg, are you high? What does “probably” mean, bro? Is it a penalty or not?
He’s not finished. A Horns Down by a player to his own fans “probably” won’t be a penalty. Seriously. This all came out of Greg’s mouth, and it’s on video. Greg added that it is always a possibility that it will be a foul.
And these people make really good money to be this dumb. Probably six figures. Maybe. Probably.
Big 12 Coordinator of Officials, Greg Burke, Clarifies rules regarding the #HornsDown penalty #Big12mediadays @OUNightly pic.twitter.com/koUyOUW6j1
— Madisyn Daddario (@madydaddariosp1) July 15, 2021
Big 12 coordinator of officials Greg Burks said that if an opposing player does a Horns Down to a Texas player, that will probably be a penalty. But doing a Horns Down toward your own fans "probably won't," be a penalty, although he left open the possibility that it could be.
— Jason Kersey (@jasonkersey) July 15, 2021
Remember when Texas “probably” gained 4-5 extra seconds to help the Longhorns beat Kansas in 2019? It appears the Big 12 is setting up a scenario where a Horns Down foul will be used in a subjective way to make sure the league doesn’t lose money. Let’s say somehow (it’s not going to happen, but let’s pretend) Texas is undefeated going into its final game of the season against Kansas State on November 26 and headed to the College Football Playoff.
Now let’s say K-State is leading late and Texas is in desperation mode. Then some K-State player throws up a Horns Down. Yep, that’s a penalty. The Big 12 has too much money to lose in this scenario. 15-yard taunting penalty!
Just wait.
Big 12 coordinator of football officials Greg Burks confirms Texas gained 4-5 seconds on this play late in its win vs. KU. "We missed, I'm going to guess, 4 seconds there that should have come off the clock," Burks said. " … We did acknowledge that to coach Miles and Kansas." pic.twitter.com/xuGj9AXk10
— Jesse Newell (@jessenewell) October 28, 2019
and people wonder why Neb, Colorado, TAMU, Mizz left the B12. The favoritism and status of Texas is just so obvious and clear. What a clown show.
NEVER forget U-TX was invited to join the SEC before TAMU… Like Florida St., they thought they’d be better-off in a cupcake conference rather than having to compete with the Big Dogs… Now it’s pretty obvious that TAMU is the premiere athletic college in TX…
Typical mealy mouthed Big 12. My God, what a joke. Truth be told, most Texas people don’t give a damn about the Horns down thing. Not sure why the league cares about it one way or the other.
Only school in the universe that can have a story like this. The power they wield is on full display. HOOK EM
For those of us that went to Big12 schools Texas is kind of like the Biden Administration, they make the rules and you can’t question them or you are a racist and bigot, Jim Crowe and some other BS. I lost faith in my Cowboys when Gundy apologized for wearing a T shirt, ridiculous.
The rest of the Big 12 schools should play the race card here and make this silly rule go away, you may be asking yourself what the race card is here and I dont know (just like every other time its been used lately)
Texas is a snowflake football program. Simple. Massive amounts of money and influence is why you cannot challenge them or demean them without the conference rushing to their aid. What a joke.
Does every other Big 12 school get protection from taunting? I already know the answer. Sigh. Honestly the other teams just need to make a joke out of it and start the game with a horns down sign constantly drawing flags until it is so disruptive the refs have to stop throwing them or call the game. Equity for all, right? Or are some animals more equal than others?