AUSTIN, Texas — As a former Texas graduate assistant, the owner of a master’s degree in education from the university and now as the head coach of the Longhorns, Tom Herman knows what the ‘Horns down’ means. When people throw the inverted Hook ‘Em Horns hand sign at a Longhorn — a gesture that’s been the center of a tremendous amount of discussion prior to the Dr. Pepper Big 12 Football Championship between Texas and Oklahoma — Herman also knows it comes with the territory.

“We’ve been disrespected for as long as that hand signal has been around,” Herman said following Thursday’s practice ahead of the game at AT&T Stadium.

“We’re kinda used to it.”

Regardless of whether or not the Sooners perform the gesture, Herman expects the Longhorns to conduct themselves in a professional manner while playing for the program’s first conference championship since 2009.

“We handled ourselves with class, many, many, many times when we were faced with opportunities when other teams weren’t handling themselves with class,” Herman said.

Thursday was the first time for Herman to weigh in on the ‘Horns down,’ a topic that’s drawn the ire of folks on both sides of the Red River. The week leading up the game has been one where Longhorns and Sooners have seemingly been in agreement about the Big 12’s mishandling of the issue, which started with Texas defensive lineman Breckyn Hager being issued a public reprimand for his comments about the Oklahoma defense following a Texas 24-10 win over Iowa State on Nov. 17.

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley said on Monday the Sooners were looking for clarification from the Big 12 as far as whether or not the hand gesture would result in a penalty. On his coaches show Tuesday evening, Riley said the Sooners were told they couldn’t throw the ‘Horns Down’ on Saturday.

Josh Helmer of 1400 AM (KREF) in Norman reported on Twitter that the news Riley got made the hand gesture off limits on Saturday with the Big 12 title on the line.

"Yeah, we can't do it.," Riley said, according to Helmer.

Riley’s interpretation of the dialogue from the conference prompted the Big 12 to post a link to the conference rules regarding sportsmanship on the league’s official Twitter account. The post on Twitter was accompanied by the following: “If in the judgement of the on-field officials, any action by game participants deemed an ‘Unsportsmanlike Act’ is subject to penalty in accordance with college football rules.”

The ‘Horns down’ issue didn’t become one until a Nov. 3 game at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium between Texas and West Virginia. Wide receiver David Sills V was hit with a 15-yard penalty for flashing the ‘Horns Down’ after scoring a touchdown, which also happened to quarterback Will Grier when he showed the sign to the Texas student section following the game-winning 2-point conversion.

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen said during his postgame press conference that the Mountaineers asked the officiating crew prior to the game if the hand gesture would result in a penalty. Holgorsen indicated the information received from the officials didn’t jibe with what was called on the field.

“Here’s what I'm disappointed about: We communicated with the refs if that thing was going to get called,” Holgorsen said. “I guess there was miscommunication.

“We did ask, yeah,” he added. “I guess there was some miscommunication. That's been brought up in our coaches meetings and stuff. I think they should take a hard, fast stance on it, mandate we can do it or not do it. I don't know where we stand on that.”

As far as where Herman stands on the issue, he’s had bigger fish to fry. Namely, he’s been more focused on getting his players ready to face Oklahoma as opposed to what the Sooners might say or do on the field.

“I didn’t even know until late in the day,” Herman said of when he learned of the ‘Horns down’ controversy. “I didn’t even know we were wearing orange until today, so it’s irrelevant.”