NCAAF - Will a top 25 (AP) ranked team's pre-game handshake go bad?

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Suspend date reached

Background:

Background: College football teams are planning to start the season off on a courteous note.

As part of a sportsmanship initiative, the American Football Coaches Association and NCAA are encouraging schools to arrange teamwide handshakes on the field before kickoff.

Grant Teaff, executive director of the AFCA and former Baylor coach, says college football players and teams are in a pressure-packed environment and that encouraging respect and sportsmanship is important.

"It is symbolic," Teaff told USA Today. "But it is, we think, a very important initiative."

Coaches are required to shake before and after games, but having players do it in an organized way is new. The handshake is only planned for the first week of games, and is not mandatory, though Teaff says all schools have been asked to participate.

"I'd be surprised if the high, high majority of our teams do not participate in this," Teaff said, according to USA Today.

Teaff said the AFCA and the NCAA would talk further to see if they should make the pregame handshake routine, though he expressed uncertainty over the feasibility of it.

"I know basketball shakes hands after games, but football has a lot larger numbers and it's kind of burdensome and cumbersome. .. to do that," Teaff said, according to the newspaper.

Coaches, NCAA back new effort -Full Story

TO SETTLE AS YES - 1) "Go bad" will be defined as either team being assessed a penalty (e.g. unsportsmanlike conduct or similar - on the opening kickoff, as a result of something happening prior to the start of the game - does not have to occur at the exact time of the handshake; and 2) either team playing in the game must be ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game; 3) occurs during the regular season.

Settlement details:As reported by a major mainstream news source.
"Goes bad" is defined as a penalty assessed for any unsportsmanlike or similar action prior to the opening kickoff.