Ohio State’s terrible targeting call didn’t change the rule

Remember when everyone thought that the terrible targeting call Ohio State got against them during the Clemson game was going to change how that rule is written? It did, but not in the way it should have.

Targeting is a rule I have hated since it was implemented. It’s an extremely subjective interpretation that has real consequences on games. What’s worse is that officials on the field and the booth often get the call wrong. That happened with Ohio State’s Denzel Ward against Maryland a couple of years ago.

The call on Shaun Wade in last year’s semifinal against Clemson was perhaps the worst one I’ve seen get called. A lot of people came out and said that was the wrong call. It seemed like this was the straw to finally change the rule and have some tiers of the penalty.

It was speculated that there would perhaps be two tiers of targeting. A first-tier would still be a 15-yard penalty, but would not result in an ejection. That would be for more accidental high contact, with a level two being more severe and still resulting in an ejection.

That would have been too sensible for the NCAA to do, and we know they don’t do anything sensible. Instead, there was only a slight change to the rule. You are still ejected if you commit targeting, but you can now stay on the bench instead of having to go to the locker room.

This is a very small change that doesn’t really address the key part of the issue. It still doesn’t address the fact that the play is officiated very differently by different crews. They still over punish a player for not being able to change his body at the last possible split-second.

Ohio State lost one of the best members of its secondary on a targeting call against Clemson that day. Other teams will continue to lose players as well because the NCAA refuses to address issues that matter.