Universal Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalties

[Bobref]

In Saturday’s Florida-Missouri game, a cheap shot on the Florida QB on the last play of the 1st half sparked a massive brawl, that ended up with multiple players from both teams being suspended, and Florida coach Dan Mullen being fined $25K for “instigating” the fight by running onto the field and yelling at Mizzou players. When the dust cleared, one of the techniques employed by the officials was to assess an unsportsmanlike conduct foul against every player on both teams. That way, any subsequent unsportsmanlike act would result in disqualification.

What do you think of this strategy? Obviously, there were some players on each team that did not act in an unsportsmanlike manner, but the officials painted with a really broad brush. Is this justified? Fair? What alternatives are available? Better?

[Impartial_Observer]

I think it was a brilliant piece of officiating. Part of being a good official is being able to assess a situation that may or may not be covered in the book and coming up with a fair and equitable solution. This was an extraordinary situation and needed an outside the box solution. 

[JustRules]

1 hour ago, Impartial_Observer said:

I think it was a brilliant piece of officiating. Part of being a good official is being able to assess a situation that may or may not be covered in the book and coming up with a fair and equitable solution. This was an extraordinary situation and needed an outside the box solution. 

NCAA started using that philosophy/rule 3-4 years ago so it wasn't unprecedented. They are guided to do this if an incident involves most of the players from both teams. It does result in the ejection of any player who had received a UNS earlier in the game or receives one later.