With rule changes in college football (or any sport), there are going to be hits and misses. I think most people would agree that the two-point conversion and instant replay additions through the years have been hits, while the halo rule wasn't so much. It appears as if the new targeting rule may be a miss as well, at least temporarily.
Former Vice President of Officiating for the National Football League Mike Pereira wrote the following on the new rule in a recent column:
"Now, because of the offseason change to make the targeting penalty an automatic ejection, the bull's-eye will clearly shift to the NCAA after several targeting calls were made.
I had great reservations when I heard about this change. The two things I was most concerned about — the consistency of the calls and severity of an ejection if, in fact, it wasn't merited — both came into play on Saturday in the Rice-Texas A&M and Nicholls State-Oregon games.
The targeting rule is as follows:
• No player shall target and initiate contact vs. opponent with the crown of his helmet.
• No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent."
Based on the language used, I think the rule could be a positive in the long-run if it's applied consistently. However, if like strike zones in baseball often times depend on the home-plate umpire, the same is true of targeting calls in college football, then we're going to have a serious problem on our hands. A 15-yard penalty is one thing. An ejection for the rest of one game and possibly the start of the next is quite another.
The potential problems with this new rule were no more evident than in the Northwestern/California game on Saturday night. With the game tied 27-27 in the 4th quarter and Northwestern backed inside their own 10-yard line, Cal defensive end Chris McCain hit Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter just after he threw the ball in what appeared to be a fairly clean hit. If the two players' helmets touched at all, it was very slight and definitely unintentional. However, not only was McCain flagged for the hit, he was ejected, and after review, the ejection was upheld. Not only did one of Cal's best defensive players have to miss the remainder of the 4th quarter of this game, he'll have to miss the first half of Cal's upcoming game with Portland State. I personally felt I was drunk or dreaming when I saw the ruling on the field. The replay can be seen at this link:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/25/california-golden-bears
Humorously enough, word just broke via the Associated Press that McCain won't be suspended for the first half of Cal's next game due to "a failure of the instant replay process."
In other words, even though the officials "confirmed" the ejection via replay, they never actually replayed the call, and McCain should never have been ejected in the first place. Considering he's a leader on defense and the game was tied at 27 a piece when the call was made, it could very well have had a significant impact on the game's outcome.
Like I said, perhaps in the long-run, referees will get on the same page with this new rule, it'll be applied consistently, and be a positive. However, given what happened in the Cal game (and others), we're a long ways from that point, and it will truly be a shame if during the refs' adjusting period, more teams are potentially cost victories.
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/mike-pereira-blog-targeting-rule-could-be-a-real-problem-083113
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9629037/pac-12-rescinds-targeting-ban-cal-chris-mccain?ex_cid=espnapi_public
Former Vice President of Officiating for the National Football League Mike Pereira wrote the following on the new rule in a recent column:
"Now, because of the offseason change to make the targeting penalty an automatic ejection, the bull's-eye will clearly shift to the NCAA after several targeting calls were made.
I had great reservations when I heard about this change. The two things I was most concerned about — the consistency of the calls and severity of an ejection if, in fact, it wasn't merited — both came into play on Saturday in the Rice-Texas A&M and Nicholls State-Oregon games.
The targeting rule is as follows:
• No player shall target and initiate contact vs. opponent with the crown of his helmet.
• No player shall target and initiate contact to the head or neck area of a defenseless opponent."
Based on the language used, I think the rule could be a positive in the long-run if it's applied consistently. However, if like strike zones in baseball often times depend on the home-plate umpire, the same is true of targeting calls in college football, then we're going to have a serious problem on our hands. A 15-yard penalty is one thing. An ejection for the rest of one game and possibly the start of the next is quite another.
The potential problems with this new rule were no more evident than in the Northwestern/California game on Saturday night. With the game tied 27-27 in the 4th quarter and Northwestern backed inside their own 10-yard line, Cal defensive end Chris McCain hit Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter just after he threw the ball in what appeared to be a fairly clean hit. If the two players' helmets touched at all, it was very slight and definitely unintentional. However, not only was McCain flagged for the hit, he was ejected, and after review, the ejection was upheld. Not only did one of Cal's best defensive players have to miss the remainder of the 4th quarter of this game, he'll have to miss the first half of Cal's upcoming game with Portland State. I personally felt I was drunk or dreaming when I saw the ruling on the field. The replay can be seen at this link:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/25/california-golden-bears
Humorously enough, word just broke via the Associated Press that McCain won't be suspended for the first half of Cal's next game due to "a failure of the instant replay process."
In other words, even though the officials "confirmed" the ejection via replay, they never actually replayed the call, and McCain should never have been ejected in the first place. Considering he's a leader on defense and the game was tied at 27 a piece when the call was made, it could very well have had a significant impact on the game's outcome.
Like I said, perhaps in the long-run, referees will get on the same page with this new rule, it'll be applied consistently, and be a positive. However, given what happened in the Cal game (and others), we're a long ways from that point, and it will truly be a shame if during the refs' adjusting period, more teams are potentially cost victories.
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/mike-pereira-blog-targeting-rule-could-be-a-real-problem-083113
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9629037/pac-12-rescinds-targeting-ban-cal-chris-mccain?ex_cid=espnapi_public
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