re: Mark May on SportsCenter...

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I don't think you can compare ticky tack holding vs ticky tack taunting. Holding during game play can be hard to determine...

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Why? Holding doesn't even require determining intent, it's a strictly physical action. You see a jersey being plucked, then a ref would be in their rights saying that someone on the O-line has clearly kept the defender from advancing by grasping with hands or arms. But refs definitely don't call each and every one of these. They call the egregious ones.

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Taunting on the other hand is easy to determine whether it's split second or otherwise.

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I guess it is if you're going by the dictionary definition of taunting. The refs are going by the NCAA definition. The two are different, which I think a lot of people are having trouble understanding. The NCAA spells out specific examples and then provides for incredibly broad interpretation. Reminds me of Potter Stewart's definition of pornography: "You know it when you see it?" Essentially, the absolutely most subjective way of determining something?

Seriously, what if a ref decides that sneering at or giving an opponent the evil eye is taunting? The letter of the rule would allow a ref to call it this way and negate a TD.