SEC Commissioner Mike Slive has fined Florida’s Urban Meyer $30,000 for his remarks made Wednesday about officials.

First, a reluctant hat tip to Slive for holding Florida to the same standards as the rest of the league—though, as many have pointed out, he really had no choice unless he wanted this whole thing to spin completely out of his control.

Secondly, is this what we’ve come to in the SEC? The commissioner fining a coach $30,000 for saying that the SEC should do a better job protecting its quarterbacks? Yes, that’s what we’ve come to. I was quick to point out Meyer’s comments Wednesday because, frankly, Slive had—to this point—exhibited a clear double-standard with how he implemented the league’s policies. But the bottom line is that a coach being fined for saying what Meyer said is complete nonsense. The fault doesn’t lie with Slive holding Meyer accountable with the new rule. If he hadn’t, there would have been a lot of outraged Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi State fans, and rightfully so. The fault lies with the fact that there was a new rule to start with.