Saw mentions about this in yesterday’s thread, so here it is:
For a targeting penalty, there needs to be an indicator of targeting, as opposed to uninitiated contact or when contact was unavoidable.
Although these are not all the indicators of targeting, here are four key ones defined by the NCAA rulebook:
- Launch — a player leaving his feet to attack an opponent by an upward and forward thrust of the body to make forcible contact in the head or neck area
- A crouch followed by an upward and forward thrust to attack with forcible contact at the head or neck area, even though one or both feet are still on the ground
- Leading with helmet, shoulder, forearm, fist, hand or elbow to attack with forcible contact at the head or neck area
- Lowering the head before attacking by initiating forcible contact with the crown of the helmet
And when dealing with a defenseless player — and when in question, the player is defenseless — there still needs to be at least one indicator of targeting. Some of the NCAA’s examples of a defenseless player include:
- A player in the act of or just after throwing a pass, and that includes “an offensive player in a passing posture with a focus downfield”
- A player attempted to catch a forward or backward pass, or a player who has completed the catch but hasn’t had time to protect himself or hasn’t clearly become the ball-carrier yet
- A kicker in the act of kicking or just after kicking the ball
- A player on the ground
- A player who receives a blind-side block
- A player with the ball who is already in the grasp of an opponent and whose forward progress has been stopped
- A quarterback any time after a change of possession
- A ball-carrier purposely sliding feet first
Bold, italicized emphasis added. If the call on Jackson was worth a flag for review, and the player wasn’t defenseless and actually lowered his own head to make contact with Jackson, why wasn’t this at least reviewed?
I’m beginning to get the impression that the “feeling” we had during the game that the officials were attempting to affect the game was, well:
And not a discouraging word from those two clowns in the broadcast booth. Contrast that with their bleating about wanting Georgia’s entire secondary to be called for targeting. FTMF.
Just because a flag is thrown by some peeps in stripes, doesn’t mean a violation of the rules/penalty has been called, once they converse and figure out WTF they’re really doing, they’ll let us know, stay tuned…more stupidity at 6….#HBTFD!!
The targeting rule is awful. It’s inconsistently called (and not because referees are human).
I think it’s time to remove the ejection from the game and make it a targeting 1 and 2 (you get 2, you’re out). The only review happens for the 2nd one because of the ejection. No more booth-initiated targeting calls.
If you say Jackson and Aguero were guilty of targeting (neither of which I agree), this one on Arian Smith fits the description as well.
I’m with you EE. You don’t eject a player for flagrant facemask, which in itself can be very dangerous. So why would you have an ejection for a first time targeting, which can be subjective in different eyes. Penalize the first one, review the second. Well said Sir. This needs to be changed.
I’m not smart enough to come up with that. I’ve heard others say the 2 foul solution.
Can’t wait for the first time a questionable targeting penalty gets called on a Hamburger in DKR and the crowd throws garbage on the field to get them to reverse the call.
The only flaw in your argument is that targeting will never be called on the cow people in DKR, any more than it would be called on a bammer in BDS
Originally the targeting was to get the “earhole” shots out of the game and players who were defenseless (up in the air/just receiving the ball/sliding), but the interpretation has wholly swallowed the rule at this point to make the defender completely responsible for all helmet-to-helmet contact. The idiocy is that the ball carrier is not static – he’s dynamic too – and the defender does not have total control over his body/motion/movement either. I’m frankly a little surprised that the defensive-minded coaches (ahem, Kirby) aren’t coming out and saying it either has to be called on both sides or we need to narrow the rule….
This is all about CTE and the plaintiff’s bar. The NCAA can’t back off the rule or a lawyer would have a case so wide open to drive a truck through.
I don’t know if a targeting 1 and 2 would stop it, but it’s clear the conferences have told the officials on the field and in the replay booth to err on the side of throw the flag or initiate a review if you have any thought.
Except when a Georgia player is the recipient of the targeting.
^^^This. The don’t eject for horse collar tackles…not sure if those are even reviewable. Facemask isn’t. They’ve had an impact on players and coaching techniques to get rid of pure head-hunting but they need to pull the lawyers into the room and talk about intent, severity and offensive player’s contribution to causing the contact to find a way to mitigate the severity of the penalty while protecting the integrity of the game and health of the children.
Hahahahaha….can’t believe I included their caring about the kids. It’s their wallets from lawsuits they’re defending.
I checked in on the Texas fans via a few message boards and they all feel like the SEC refs screwed THEM with missed holds all night. This sport makes me SMDH.
That photo where the Texas lineman is practically stripping Christen Miller should shut them up. That play should have been a safety as a result.
I’m still angry that the SEC has said nothing about the conduct or ineptness of the officials, nor are they apparently subject to any repercussions. They clearly don’t understand the rules as written & need more training. The 2nd half really began to feel personal with every 50-50 decision going against GA, even with absolute video evidence showing otherwise. Etiennes obvious TD & Miller being held are clearly visible. Miller’s hold was visible from space & the only people who couldn’t see it were the officials being paid to watch for it. I rarely speak out about officiating online but this game seemed egregiously one sided and its not the first time. The SEC officiating overall has been poor to dreadful for a long time. The refs literally took over the UT-Bama game with 25 penalties called, most in the 2nd half. The only saving grace was it was equally bad in both directions. CFB generates too much money to rely on part time officials to determine outcomes of games with the stakes being this high.
Targeting is like holding. You can call it 20 times a game. Unfortunately they only saw us.
At this point, its all up to Brooks to get some attention brought to the issue.
As for me moving forward,
Beat Flarduh.
And before I forget.
FTMF
and
piss on Matthew McConnaughey