After watching a few games, does anyone else think that the focus on excessive celebration is a little too much?  To me it takes a lot of the fun out of the game, for both fans and players.  Its even worse than the NFL cracking down on endzone celebrations.  I understand not letting celebrations get personal, but celebrating for a second after a big sack (end of the pitt game) doesn't seem like it should give the other team 15 yards and first down.

Agreed. But if all referees aren't strict across the board and allow stuff after sacks, or a big catch, etc. go without a penalty, the rule because more subjective than it already is.

der said

After watching a few games, does anyone else think that the focus on excessive celebration is a little too much?  To me it takes a lot of the fun out of the game, for both fans and players.  Its even worse than the NFL cracking down on endzone celebrations.  I understand not letting celebrations get personal, but celebrating for a second after a big sack (end of the pitt game) doesn't seem like it should give the other team 15 yards and first down.

Ask Washington about that rule lol. Washington scored a TD against BYU and they were pumped they scored a TD, they were flagged 15 yards for excessive celebration. They kick the XP but it's blocked and BYU wins. I think the rule is ridiculous! These kids are in college, let them have some fun. It should be monitored to an extent but if they scored an important TD like that I have no problem with it

I think that the celebrations had been getting a bit out of hand over the years (mostly in the NFL though).  It seems that the officials have swung the pendulum too far the other way on this one though.  Whats next, making the players kneel and place the ball on the ground in the endzone after a score like in the old days?  They need to lighten up on this one.

The call in the UW/BYU game was ridiculous.  The clip I saw showed him celebrating with his teammates, which was the whole spirit of the rule – celebrating with your team, not individulally, was supposed to be ok, as long as it's not a planned or choreographed celebration.

(For that matter, I don't know how Tebow gets away with what he does on the field, except that he's Tebow.  Looks like he's doing Gastineau's Sack Dance sometimes.)

I'm not convinced that call affected the outcome, though.  That kicked would have been blocked from anywhere on the field.  But that doesn't make up for it being a horrible call.  We need some clarification on this now.

I agree that the pendulum has swung too far, giving refs far too much discretion. Games should be won and lost by the players. The rule(s) regarding excessive celebration should be made more specific (and more uniform). What is judged excessive for one school in one conference should be judged the same way for all schools in all conferences. To leave the interpretation so loose is to invite the disgusting showboating and inconstency of officials in the NBA, for example, into college football. No place for that, please.

The said

The call in the UW/BYU game was ridiculous.  The clip I saw showed him celebrating with his teammates, which was the whole spirit of the rule – celebrating with your team, not individulally, was supposed to be ok, as long as it's not a planned or choreographed celebration.

(For that matter, I don't know how Tebow gets away with what he does on the field, except that he's Tebow.  Looks like he's doing Gastineau's Sack Dance sometimes.)

I'm not convinced that call affected the outcome, though.  That kicked would have been blocked from anywhere on the field.  But that doesn't make up for it being a horrible call.  We need some clarification on this now.

The celebration call was for throwing the football into the air.  That is clearly defined in the rule and subsection of said rule.

The "Miami" rule does suck and is not called evenly throughout CFB.

I believe the whole excessive celebration thing was more a result of taunting the other team (in your face type celebration). I would bet hundred bucks if you asked that kid what did you do after he hit end zone he couldn't tell you. He was focused on getting into the end zone and saving the win. The only thing that kid should have been penalized for was being extremely excited and happy.

SigEp77 said

The said

The call in the UW/BYU game was ridiculous.  The clip I saw showed him celebrating with his teammates, which was the whole spirit of the rule – celebrating with your team, not individulally, was supposed to be ok, as long as it's not a planned or choreographed celebration.

(For that matter, I don't know how Tebow gets away with what he does on the field, except that he's Tebow.  Looks like he's doing Gastineau's Sack Dance sometimes.)

I'm not convinced that call affected the outcome, though.  That kicked would have been blocked from anywhere on the field.  But that doesn't make up for it being a horrible call.  We need some clarification on this now.

The celebration call was for throwing the football into the air.  That is clearly defined in the rule and subsection of said rule.

The "Miami" rule does suck and is not called evenly throughout CFB.

Well ok, if that's the rule, then that's the rule, but I agree with Hotel – we've swung the pendulum too far the other way.

When I was doing baseball umpiring (and hope to again someday), they made a point to emphasize how things need to be called consistently, because when the teams get to the playoffs, they're probably going to be dealing with unfamiliar crews.  So some kid gets a balk called on him and complains that they didn't call it that way wherever he's from.  Well, same thing.  Apparently, whatever conference called that game – probably MW? – called it by the book.  But there are some conferences that are quite lenient, and that's when you have problems.  SEC lets Tebow do a lap around the field when he makes a play.

The Miami Rule… rofl… Randall Hill dancing in the tunnel at the Cotton Bowl.  Clown.

Stupid call, these kids aren't getting paid to play(not like the NFL), they need to at least have fun as long as it is not taunting.