New Rules: Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Periodically, Rogers Redding, the national coordinator of College Football Officiating, will provide insights about rules changes and the mindset of college football referees. The CFO is the national professional organization for all football officials who work games at the collegiate level.

The 2011 season introduces a new rule for sportsmanship. Coaches on the NCAA football rules committee remain concerned about sportsmanship, particularly behavior that shows disrespect for the opponent and demeans the game. In 2010 the committee adopted a change to take effect in 2011 as a way of putting teeth into the rule for unsportsmanlike conduct. 

In the past the penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct was enforced as if the foul had occurred after the ball had become dead---whether or not it actually occurred during the down. If a player scores a touchdown and then, say, kicks the ball into the stands, the penalty is enforced on the extra point or the kickoff; this has not changed. 

But consider a break-away runner who gets to the 10-yard line and makes an obscene gesture at the opponents before crossing the goal line. This is a live-ball foul, but in the past the penalty has been enforced as if the player had already scored. That is, the touchdown counted and the penalty was enforced on the extra-point attempt or the kickoff. But no longer. 

Starting this year if the player fouls before the ball is dead the penalty is enforced as for any other live-ball foul. In the example of the player fouling at the 10-yard line, the touchdown does count. Instead the 15-yard penalty is enforced at the spot of the foul-in this case, the 10-yard line-so instead of scoring a TD the team will have first and ten at the 25-yard line.

The rules committee believes that forcing the player to make a choice between scoring a touchdown and behaving in a demeaning fashion will help restore some good sportsmanship to the game.