SEC fine with Texas opponents using 'Horns Down' taunt

The SEC isn't planning on being too hard on Texas' opponents who use the "Horns Down" mocking gesture this season as the Longhorns transition to the new conference.

"The act itself needs to be offending to the senses," SEC coordinator of officials John McDaid said Tuesday, according to ESPN's Dave Wilson. "If you took that act out of a football stadium and did it in a shopping mall or a grocery store, would it offend the senses to a majority of the reasonable people in the area? That signal would not. You might have some people that share that signal with you if you did that at a grocery store or a shopping mall, depending where you are. We're gonna evaluate it in context."

"It's not taunting, it's not making a travesty of the game, it's not affecting our ability to manage the game," McDaid added.

The signature Texas taunt was often called a penalty in the Big 12, as it fell under the league's definition of unsportsmanlike conduct. The Longhorns are moving to the SEC in 2024 along with Oklahoma.

"We're going to read the context in which it's done," McDaid explained, according to The Athletic's Chris Vannini. "I ask my officials to use the judgment of, 'Is it taunting an opponent? Is it making a travesty of the game? Or is it otherwise affecting our ability to manage the game?'

"If an opponent of Texas scores a touchdown and in celebration with their teammate going back up the sideline, gives the signal, that's not an issue. ... If he tackles a player and stands over him and gives it, then we've got taunting, then we've got unsportsmanlike conduct."

Punishing players for using the "Horns Down" gesture has been a hot topic around college football for years.

With Texas now in the SEC, some of the school's longtime football rivalries will be revived, including matchups versus Texas A&M and Arkansas.