Penalty for taunting? Points taken away

During last season’s game between LSU and Ole Miss, Rebels wide receiver Markeith Summers dove into the end zone to cap a 65-yard touchdown pass that gave his team a 36-35 lead with just a few minutes remaining.

LSU rallied for the victory, keeping alive its slim BCS bowl hopes.

Had Summers made that leap under this season’s rules, the Tigers might be able to breath easier because that touchdown likely wouldn’t have counted.

Because of a rules change, one of several in effect this season, if a player is called for unsportsmanlike conduct before he scores a touchdown, the six points will come off the scoreboard. In the Summers example, if the official determined that Summers was taunting, and not diving to avoid a tackle, the ball would be spotted 15 yards from where he dove, and the Rebels would have a first-and-10.

Officials who called that penalty, commonly referred to as a taunting foul, before this season enforced it on the point-after attempt or the kickoff. However, this season will be the first in which officials can eliminate scores. Dead-ball instances or instances committed by someone on the sidelines will be penalized as dead-ball fouls on the point-after attempt or kickoff.

“I think this will be something obviously the coaches will be talking to their players about,” SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw said. “What we desire the outcome to be is we’ll see less of this.”

Shaw’s ACC counterpart, Doug Rhoads, said officials don’t want to take away from the players’ excitement. However, they want to make sure that the acts are spontaneous and not choreographed or extended and not directed toward the other team.

Diving into the end zone when no defenders are around is considered planned, for example. A kicker jumping around and celebrating a game-winning field goal likely would be OK, as long as it’s not an extended celebration. Taunting fouls can’t be reviewed.

Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said he doesn’t expect any of his players to be flagged. After they score, Tech players usually hand the ball to the nearest official. Rhoads said there were few instances of taunting in the ACC last season.

“We’ve talked about it already, but we haven’t had that problem in three years,” Johnson said. “Our guys understand that’s not acceptable. I don’t think they’ll want to do anything to hurt the team or anything in that way.”

Georgia wide receiver Tavarres King agreed.

“When you do things like that, it takes away from the game,” he said. “You can celebrate on the sidelines when you get back with your teammates. And that’s what it’s really all about. It’s a team game.”

The Bulldogs already have started to punish players who showboat during practices by making them do a drill in which players run in place and, when told, drop flat to the ground. The players must then bounce back up quickly without their knees touching their ground and resume running in place.

“I actually got flagged for it earlier in camp,” tight end Aron White said. “I was joking around with a teammate. It was nothing I’d ever do in a game. But coach [Mark] Richt ran up to me and said don’t start bad habits.”

It’s not the only rule change for this season. Here are a few of the more important:

• Coaches working in the boxes now will be able to see TV feeds that will help them decide if they want to challenge a play.
• If there's less than a minute left in a half and either team commits a penalty that stops the clock, the opposing team can choose if they want 10 seconds to come off the clock. They can choose the penalty and the time, the penalty without the time, or neither. If the penalty occurs with less than 10 seconds remaining the game is over.
• Blocking below the waist was changed to try to make the rule easier for players to understand. Players who line up more than 7 yards away from the ball on the line of scrimmage may block below the waist only players opposite of him as long as the direction of the block is straight downfield, or players that are toward the nearest sideline.

Running backs not on the line of scrimmage but within 5 yards of either side of the center, Georgia Tech’s A-backs for example, may block below the waist in any direction. Players within the tackle box — running backs and fullbacks — may block below the waist in any direction. Players in motion at the snap may block only below the waist either straight ahead or toward the adjacent sideline.