NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay calls out Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff over NCAA comments

Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff recently made comments suggesting college football, as a whole, should break away from the NCAA and be its own entity. While he may have the support of other FBS commissioners across the country, not everybody is thrilled with the idea — especially NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay.

McAulay called out Kliavkoff for a specific comment when it came to rule enforcement in college football. He said the NCAA has not made and enforced rules in the sport since 1984 and has been “dictated” by conferences for years.

He is tired of Kliavkoff and other commissioners hiding behind the NCAA and is actually in favor of the conferences having public responsibility.

“Wow! How does a Conference Commissioner make such an absurd statement?,” McAulay said in a tweet. “The NCAA hasn’t ‘run’ college football since 1984. Rulemaking and rule enforcement by the NCAA are already dictated the A5 conferences and have been for years.

“They’ve hidden behind the “NCAA” and made them the bogeyman to shift blame whenever it suits them. That being said, if Kliavkoff wants to formalize the structure such that the Conferences can no longer hide in the shadows in those areas, I’m all for it.”

McAulay spent 20 years as an NFL referee after attending LSU in college. Since then, he has worked with NBC as their rules analyst, chiming in whenever replays and possible controversial moments occur during Sunday Night Football.

George Kliavkoff against NCAA governing college football

Kliavkoff is in favor of breaking away from the NCAA and letting college football be its own entity. He said the conferences themselves should be in control, making their own set of rules as college football progresses.

“We have to be realistic about the fact that football is a unique animal among the rest of the college sports and that there are conferences that should be more aligned and should be more in control of the future of high-level college football,” Kliavkoff told Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic on Friday.

Kliavkoff says he is not alone either. The leader of the Pac-12 has talked with “several” other FBS commissioners who support the idea of breaking away from the NCAA as well. According to him, everyone wants to have a separate organization run the 10 FBS conferences.

“I’ve had conversations with several of the FBS commissioners, and I’ve been surprised by the unanimous support for the idea among the folks that I’ve spoken to about taking football rule-making and football rule enforcement out of the NCAA and investing it in an organization that is run by the 10 (FBS) conferences.”