FanNation - The Republic of Sport

A rule is a rule and officials can only enforce, not interpret the rules. You should know that the rules are basically written by the Coaches from all Levels of NCAA with very little input from the officials who are on the spot to enforce the rules. We may agree or disagree with you, but it's our job to enforce the rules as they are written, even when it may seem a disadvantage to a team or player. No one knows what the Supervisor of the officials who called the Washington/BYU game told his officials to call as relating to Taunting or calling attention to oneself in the heat of the game. Football is truly a team sport and not an individual sport. If the coaches don't like the rule(s), they can change them. The unnecessary and repeated criticism from especially the ESPN Media places the total blame unfairly on the officials. We accept responsibility for our mistakes because we do make them, but the Media attacks are not warranted nor necessary nor helpful to the great game we all love.

No one to blame but themselves. The coach should make sure his players understand the implication of celebrating. The rule as written does not give the refs any room for interpretation.

It was their QB that violated the rule. Their O-Line that left them block the XP. Sorry, refs were just doing their job.

The refs did their job. However, it is the rule that is just plain wrong. The NCAA wanted to take the judgement out of the call, basically to make it a black & white call. But obviously, it NEEDS to be a judgement type penalty. Any of us who has played any sport knows how hard it could be to control your emotions when you have passion for the game. What Locker did was celebrate a great play, he did NOT taunt at all

The call was BS. Any attempt to defend the call is ridiculous. If the rule is not a judgment call, then we should have seen at least a dozen more calls during last week's games. The difference is that in many of the other games, the officials used better judgment in not making the unsportsmanlike conduct call.

Of course the Pac-10 coaches are upset! Don't the conference refs know they're supposed to be homers?

I know there are rules they are supposed to follow, but I bet there was a worse celebration during that same game that was not called. The call was BS. Let the kid enjoy himself just a little.

Jake Locker --> Nick Saban will not put up with that next year when he's your coach at washington!

A rule is a rule... they even announced before the season they would be calling it more this year. THE NEW FORMAT SUCKS!!!

I don;t like the new foramt either; but the call sucked as well.

I agree, "The rules need to reevaluated to allow for spontaneous celebrations." "Let it be real," he said. "Hopefully we can figure it out."

It's time to let it die. It should never have gotten to this level in the first place. He broke a rule he about BEFORE the game started.

I don't see why anyone hasn't asked why they couldn't execute a 35 yard field goal attempt?

Jeez, let it go already.

Bunk call
Not loving format either...

Dumb rule but:

1) Would we even be discussing this had the kicker made the extra point?
2) Where did these PAC10 refs come from, everyone knows you never flag your team!
3) Everyone has a say so on this but it's easy to say a rule is a rule and they broke it, when it's not the team you root for. What if it were say a USC with national title hopes?

It's a rule but I think refs use their judgement on several calls and this definitely should've been a time to do so.

I agree what another writer said... Ask 100 people to "Throw a ball high into the air" and not one of them likely will do what Jake Locker did. That call should have never been made. Poor judgment. The PAC 10 officials are under a microscope and deservedly so.

Typical Hair-bag: "Duh, I haven't seen it. Duh."

rules are rules, but theres no way a game should be decided by something as stupid as this.. absurd i say.

As a Pac-10 and California football fan, I generally feel that Pac-10 officiating is terrible and the worst in the country, not only in football, but also in basketball.

The argument that the refs had to enforce this is ridiculous. The way the rule is written, requires that the refs make a judgment (what rule isn't?), and the spirit of the rule was to stop taunting and show boating. This was neither. If the refs enforced this to the letter, then any player that didn't hand the football to a ref or place it squarely on the ground without moving immediately after the TD, would be called. So in that case 3/4ths of all touchdowns should get a penalty. Bottom line is that you cannot penalize emotion. The rule has to be loosened up in order to focus on the real intent, which is to discourage taunting and showboating. To change the flow of a game and possibly the outcome with a call like this is inexcusable.

Rules are made to influence behavior on the field. While the end of the play was in no way a taunt towards the other team, it did break the rule book. The refs are encouraged to use situational judgement when making calls and in this case, I feel that the rule was enforced incorrectly.

I can't believe all these idiots that go along with the excuse that it's the rule and there is no room for interpretation. Have you ever heard the it said that holding could be called on every play? Holding occurs much more often than it is called. The rule book very clearly states what constitutes holding but officials use their judgemennt on every play to determine whether or not the rule should be applied. If the holding occurs away from the play often it is overlooked.