Targeting rule: Around 100 players will be ejected this year

Saunders

Saunders

Heisman Trophy Winner
The targeting rule almost certainly will affect a game with national championship implications this season. The numbers say it must. Last year, 17 players in the Big 12 were flagged for such hits. Of those, Anderson said, five calls would have been overturned and the players would have been allowed to stay in the game. Since the Big 12 has the fewest members of any major conference, it stands to reason the other leagues will have as many or more targeting calls. So more than 100 players likely will get tossed from games next season for breaking a rule that isn't clearly defined and certainly won't be administered uniformly.
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I think this is the natural (over)reaction to the ESPN Highlight culture that swept college football the last decade or so. Everyone likes being on TV, so those big hits became more and more the rage. The NCAA is reacting to that by trying to ramp down on the massive hits, and in typical NCAA fashion they're going to overreact and mire the game in unclear rules.

Clowney's hit in the Michigan game would get him tossed, as would Kenny Bell's block against Wisconsin. Clowney because he led with his helmet and Bell because he "launched" himself.

Clowney could have turned his head aside, which is what the officials are saying they want you to do, and that would likely be safer for both him and the RB. But that play happened SO FAST that I can see why he hit the guy the way he did. The after-the-fact second-guessing of players' actions is what's going to suck about this rule. From snap to tackle that play took what? Three seconds? From the instant Clowney burst through the line until he hit the RB was less than a second. When you beat your guy and have a clear path to the ballcarrier, you don't have time to line up your hit in a textbook fashion. You just hit him.

Bell's block would get him tossed not only because the guy was "defenseless" in the officials' definition (which is stupid) but also because Bell gathered himself before the hit and launched himself into the other guy. He also hit the guy around the head/shoulders area, and they're really on about that kind of hit now. Only problem is, that block was a textbook form block, the kind of block that, in the absence of these new rules, Husker coaches would be using as teaching film for years to come. Bell had to "launch" himself because the guy weighed near or the same as Bell, and was running pell-mell down the field. Bell would have gotten blasted himself had he not delivered the blow.

These are major, fundamental changes to the game. The intent is noble - player protection - but the method is, as is usual for the NCAA, ham-handed.

 
knapplc said:
I think this is the natural (over)reaction to the ESPN Highlight culture that swept college football the last decade or so. Everyone likes being on TV, so those big hits became more and more the rage. The NCAA is reacting to that by trying to ramp down on the massive hits, and in typical NCAA fashion they're going to overreact and mire the game in unclear rules.

Clowney's hit in the Michigan game would get him tossed, as would Kenny Bell's block against Wisconsin. Clowney because he led with his helmet and Bell because he "launched" himself.

Clowney could have turned his head aside, which is what the officials are saying they want you to do, and that would likely be safer for both him and the RB. But that play happened SO FAST that I can see why he hit the guy the way he did. The after-the-fact second-guessing of players' actions is what's going to suck about this rule. From snap to tackle that play took what? Three seconds? From the instant Clowney burst through the line until he hit the RB was less than a second. When you beat your guy and have a clear path to the ballcarrier, you don't have time to line up your hit in a textbook fashion. You just hit him.

Bell's block would get him tossed not only because the guy was "defenseless" in the officials' definition (which is stupid) but also because Bell gathered himself before the hit and launched himself into the other guy. He also hit the guy around the head/shoulders area, and they're really on about that kind of hit now. Only problem is, that block was a textbook form block, the kind of block that, in the absence of these new rules, Husker coaches would be using as teaching film for years to come. Bell had to "launch" himself because the guy weighed near or the same as Bell, and was running pell-mell down the field. Bell would have gotten blasted himself had he not delivered the blow.

These are major, fundamental changes to the game. The intent is noble - player protection - but the method is, as is usual for the NCAA, ham-handed.
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Saying that he launched himself is still even a stretch. By technicality, yes, he did, but the way that we generally use the term doesn't really apply to his hit. He never left the ground or broke stride. He "gathered" himself would be a more accurate description in my eyes, and is what football players are taught to do.

He also led with his shoulder, and hit the guy in the shoulder. I'm just glad Gus Johnson called total B.S. on that when it happened live and the head of officiating was trying to justify it.

 
Kenny clearly launched himself. Did he leave his feet? No, but that's due more to impact than anything else.


 
Those are some of the most egregious examples, but they're not the sole definition of launching.

 
Launching with the helmet is what needs to leave the game. There's nothing wrong with what Kenny Bell did. The guy has to keep his head on a swivel. There is no way that Kenny could have done that different and made an effective, safe block.

 
Well, one things is for sure. Get ready for ALOT more catastrophic knee and lower leg injuries to offensive players, and possibly even more concussions than normal for defensive players with leg/knees hitting head and jamming necks.

 
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