BYU students wearing 'Horns Down' shirts vs. Texas asked to remove them
“Horns Down” continues to dominate headlines in the Big 12 following a fiasco two weeks ago after Texas coach Rodney Terry highlighted the issue in a post-game handshake line against UCF. It made more headlines on Saturday.
In a game between BYU and Texas, some BYU fans got creative in the student section and coordinated shirts with letters painted on them that spelled out “Horns Down.”
Harmless enough, right?
Only, according to BYU insider for KSL Sports Mitch Harper, the students were asked to remove the shirts following the first media timeout of the game. Now we know who made the request to remove the shirts, too, with BYU officials doing so.
Harper later reported comments from BYU coach Mark Pope addressing the issue in his postgame press conference.
“They were taken off before the game started, right?” Pope said. “And from The ROC and from our players and from our student body, that’s just not us. That’s not how we roll. Just a miscalculation on a couple eager kids, which we love the eagerness of these fans. But it’s not what we do here, so we love all 18,000 people in this gym. They were incredible tonight. Just so you know, that’s not something that we’re supporting.”
Regardless, the more folks push back on “Horns Down,” the more they seem to invite future instances of them being flashed, worn, etc.
Rodney Terry addresses criticism over Horns Down comments
There was a good deal of blowback from Terry’s tirade about Horns Down, and the first-year head coach opened up on some of that in the days that followed.
“There’s always gonna be different things you have to deal with in life,” Terry said. “I think you have controllables in your life in terms of what you’re able to control in terms of what happens. I always tell our guys there’s always consequences to any actions that you may have. I had no intentions of trying to show up anyone or offend anyone in terms of what occurred at the end of that game.
“(UCF coach) Johnny Dawkins is a good friend of mine. He’s a really good coach. He has a good program. They’re having a good year. Personally, if I offended him or his program or anyone for that matter, that was not my intention. I’m a God-fearing man. I lean heavily on my faith and there are no obstacles in front of me that I can’t ever overcome because God never leaves me no matter in good times, bad times. He’s always with me. So I think again, you control what you can control.”
Texas had rebounded well from the UCF loss, which sparked the initial Horns Down saga. The team had won back-to-back games over ranked Baylor and Oklahoma squads.
But BYU had the last laugh on Saturday, shirts or not, knocking off Texas 84-72.