Big 12 shows great hesitancy with ‘Horns down’ rule for Texas football

The discussion concerning the Texas football program and the “Horns down” hand sign was bound to come up at Big 12 Media Days this week. That conversation was ongoing for a few years now, but it looks like there is more clarity on the matter now in the Big 12 than in the past few offseasons.

This topic was front and center for the Big 12 during media days at different points in the last few years. And a piece from Scott Wright of The Oklahoman on July 14 detailed some of the finer points of the details from the Horns down hand sign conversation at Big 12 Media Days this week, specifically with Big 12 director of officials Greg Burks.

Burks reportedly gave a presentation that was more than 30 minutes long at Big 12 Media Days that was capped with the topic of the Horns down hand sign. He specifically noted that the enforcement of any penalty regarding the Horns down hand sign being flashed will depend on the overall usage and intention.

Big 12’s Greg Burks still leaves confusion regarding Horns down gesture for Texas football

It also sounds like if Horns down is directed at any individual Longhorns player in a way that could be clearly categorized as taunting will be flagged, or at least should be.

If that is the case where Big 12 officials will pull out the flag if there is a clear intent for taunting with the Horns down hand sign included, this makes more sense than the interpretation of the rule in years past. But it still seems like there are some that feel the rule is ambiguous, despite the heightened focus on the classification of intent with the Horns down gesture.

It still looks like the Big 12 has some work to do in terms of clearing up the interpretation and enforcement of this. But from our perspective, this feels like the Big 12 is just walking back the level of enforcement for the Horns down hand sign compared to the interpretation of the rule in the last few years.

Burks noted very clearly during his presentation that he has “no ownership” of the Horns up or Horns down hand signs, which is obvious. But the manner in which he mentioned this seems like the Big 12 is trying to get detached from the controversy surrounding this rule. Specifically mentioning that Horns up or Horns down is the “same as all other symbols” clearly misses the point of what the media, fans, players, coaches, etc., are inquiring about from the Big 12 administration.

Burks and the rest of the Big 12 administration will likely still have questions to answer regarding the matter of any enforcement of penalties against those using the Horns down gesture. But with the impending move for Texas and the Oklahoma Sooners to leave the Big 12 for the SEC by 2024 or 2025, it’s not all that surprising that the administration is still pretty vague on this interpretation.