Steve Shaw Clarifies Confusing Rule

In an article seen in the Montgomery Advertiser, Steve Shaw, head of Southeastern Conference (SEC) officials, clarifies the confusing new celebration rule in college football.  Under the new rule, some touchdowns can be taken off the scoreboard because of early celebrations.  Not all celebrations will result in touchdowns being negated.  If a player celebrates before scoring the touchdown, then that touchdown will not count, and the scoring team will suffer a penalty from the spot of the foul. 

Although some people may think this may be a pretty straight forward rule, but it caused controversy in last week’s USC-Utah game.  During the game, a score was taken away from USC because of an alleged early celebration penalty off a blocked kick.  After the game had ended, the points were given back to USC making them win by nine points as opposed to three.  Fortunately, the rule did not affect who would have won the game.  However, there cannot be a constant confusion about when the rule should be enforced.

According to Shaw, the referees on the field actually confirmed that the touchdown should count.  The officials in the press box working the scoreboard misunderstood what the on-field officials were saying causing the points to be taken off the board.  Shaw says that the rule is only in effect when the players on the field are the culprits of the penalty.  Players that come onto the field to celebrate after a touchdown will only cause a 15-yard penalty after the play which has been the rule for quite some time.

Eventually, the rule will truly affect who wins and loses a game, and true controversy will arise on that day.  A negated touchdown could determine the postseason fate of a team.  In a league where each game is important, one loss could make a team go from a BCS bowl to a lower profit bowl affecting the universities profits.

The author of this article fails to mention any post game quotes from either USC or Utah coaches or players.  This would shed some more light on how the coaches and players felt about what occured during the game.  What if it was Utah that had won the game by three? Then, USC would have won by three after the added score.  Utah would have been in outrage over losing a game after it had ended.  The new celebration rule did not hurt someone this time, but it will not be too long before it does.