Will the 'Horns Down' be in the EA Sports College Football 25 video game?
Always a subject of controversy, the "Horns Down" signal will apparently not be a feature of the forthcoming EA Sports College Football 25 video game when it's released this summer.
EA did not include the gesture meant to enrage Texas Longhorns fans and the game will only feature any hand signals that belong to a player's own team, according to The Athletic's Chris Vannini.
Horns Down is a reversal of the well-known "Hook 'em Horns" hand gesture used by Texas fans, where you hold your ring and middle fingers down while extending your index and pinkie fingers up.
The original sign, which reputedly dates back to the 1950s after being coined by Texas student Henry Pitts, resembles a Longhorn steer, the well-known mascot of Texas football.
"Horns Down" is meant to be a disrespectful inversion of the sign made by rivals, when you bend your wrist downward so that the "horns" aim down instead of up.
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While the "Horns Down" won't be featured in the College Football 25 video game, it's still likely to be seen on the field as the Longhorns enter the SEC this season.
But will it be a penalty? It depends.
SEC coordinator of football officials John McDaid said a flag will be thrown if they see the symbol from players, but only in certain circumstances.
"There's a difference between a player giving a signal directly in the face of an opponent, as opposed to doing it with teammates celebrating after a touchdown or on the sideline," McDaid said last summer. "To net all that out, every single occurrence is not an act of unsportsmanlike conduct."
(Athletic)
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JAMES PARKS
James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.