Two outlets, one sack celebration, two completely different moral frameworks
Texas defensive end Colin Simmons made a crude gesture after a sack against Tennessee, and Steve Sarkisian said the program would handle it internally. Two outlets covered it. Yahoo Sports columnist Kirk Bohls argued fines would hit harder than private discipline. Fox News/Outkick went straight to Simmons' Christianity, noting he once carried a Bible onto the field. Same gesture, same player, two entirely different stories about what kind of wrong it was.
Texas Longhorns players face discipline calls after crude sack celebration gestures
2 sources · hover a dot to see coverage
What happened
During Texas's game against Tennessee, defensive end Colin Simmons performed a vulgar sack celebration gesture that drew immediate criticism. A second lewd incident involving another Longhorns player was also reported. Head coach Steve Sarkisian publicly acknowledged both incidents and said the program would address them internally, stopping short of announcing specific penalties. The Big 12 and SEC have rules against unsportsmanlike conduct celebrations, and officials can flag players on the field, but post-game discipline falls to the program. Two outlets covered the story, and the gap between them is less about what happened than about which lens each reached for first.
Yahoo Sports argued for fines; Fox went straight to the Bible
Yahoo Sports columnist Kirk Bohls accepted Sarkisian's internal-discipline framing as the starting point and pushed one step further: fines, he argued, would send a stronger message than private conversations. The column names both incidents and treats this as a program-management question. Fox News ran its piece through Outkick and made Simmons's Christian identity the center of the story, citing the detail that he once brought a Bible onto the field as context for why the gesture was 'inexcusable.' The Outkick piece is not about what Texas should do. It is about what Simmons's faith means for how the gesture should be judged.
What one side told you that the other didn't
Fox named Simmons. Yahoo named the program. Neither named the penalty.
Sarkisian said discipline would happen internally, and neither outlet reported what that discipline actually was or what the program's precedent for similar violations looks like. Bohls pushed for fines without specifying what the program's existing fine structure is. Outkick focused on Simmons's faith without asking whether the Big 12 or SEC would impose its own sanction. The actual consequence for Simmons, if any, is absent from both pieces. Two opinion columns, zero reported outcomes.
The second player involved went unnamed in both outlets.
Sarkisian and Yahoo Sports both acknowledged a second lewd incident by a second Longhorns player. Neither outlet named that player or described what he did. Outkick's piece focused entirely on Simmons and did not mention a second incident at all. With two incidents and one named player, half the story has no face on it, and neither outlet appears to have pressed the program for the second player's identity or the specifics of what happened.
What to watch
Sarkisian said discipline would be handled internally. If Texas announces a specific penalty — suspension, fine, or public reprimand — before their next game, watch whether Outkick updates its piece to address the outcome or leaves the faith-framing as the final word. If no penalty is announced publicly, Bohls's argument for fines will either get a follow-up column or quietly disappear.
See how outlets across the political spectrum framed this differently — and what each side left out.