I was watching Arkansas/Georgia, and there was a play where the Arkansas receiver was tackled on the one thanks to a facemask. The personal foul was called, and the penalty for a pretty blatant infraction was half the distance.

That doesn't seem right to me. I think a personal foul should always result in a more severe penalty than something like holding or offsides, but that's not the case as you get close to the goal line. I don't think you should give a team a touchdown in such a scenario, but there should something more than 18 inches. Maybe an extra down.

it's an automatic first down, too, innit

td11 wrote:it's an automatic first down, too, innit

Right, but in this case, there was already a first down. Essentially, there was an infraction, a serious one, but no real penalty. I'm just thinking a personal foul, especially one that carries a serious risk of injury, should always have a significant penalty attached to it.

Maybe a player who gets two personal fouls in one game is tossed out, something like that.