Ohio State football: Why the targeting rule should be abolished

Ohio State has gotten screwed by targeting calls in some big games. Other teams have too. This rule has to be taken away and eliminated from the game.

Ohio State lost one of its most important players to a bogus targeting call in a playoff game. Last year against Clemson, Shaun Wade got tossed because of a terrible targeting call. It completely changed the fabric of the game and gave Clemson the momentum.

It also isn’t the only time a terrible targeting call has gone against the Buckeyes. Back in 2017 in a game against Maryland, Denzel Ward got called and ejected for targeting, despite not launching himself or leading with his helmet.

The call was so egregiously bad, and held up via replay, that not even the Big Ten Conference could say it was the right call. They came out and condemned the call afterwards and said that Ward should not have been called for the penalty and should have stayed in the game.

Targeting is a rule that was put in place for player safety. I completely understand that. Hits to the helmet should be eliminated and hits to a defenseless player should also be penalized. But targeting is not the correct way to do so.

The penalty is too subjectively officiated. Clearly something is wrong if both an official on the field and in the replay booth can say targeting occurred and then a conference come out and say that it did not. That kind of disconnect cannot happen on such a penal call.

Targeting penalizes players way too much. Not only is it a 15-yard penalty, but also an ejection. Players should not be ejected for such a subjective call. Keep the 15-yard penalty, but keep the player in the game unless it’s a completely dirty hit.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t look like a rule that is going away anytime soon. We thought after the terrible call against Wade that they might modify it. That didn’t happen. It looks like it’s going to be a rule that continues to be officiated incorrectly in crucial spots.

Ohio State and the rest of the NCAA will have to learn to adjust to bad officiating, no matter how much it dictates the outcome of a given game.