Ohio State Football: Why targeting rule needs to go

The Ohio State football team has a unique relationship with the targeting rule that college football put into effect years ago. It screwed them in 2019 after Trevor Lawrence ducked into a hit by Shaun Wade that took him out of the game. That wasn’t the only terrible call by the refs that kept Ohio State from winning that game.

In 2020, Clemson linebacker James Skalski was ejected for targeting when he hit Justin Fields on a scramble in the rematch. Skalski was Clemson’s best defensive player at the time and the Buckeyes would go on to win that game handily.

In last year’s Peach Bowl, Marvin Harrison Jr. took a violent shot to his head in the back of the endzone against Georgia and it was not ruled targeting. Despite that, Harrison Jr. was knocked out of the game with a concussion and Ohio State lost the game by one.

Needless to say, targeting has been a big part of the Ohio State football program’s story over the last few years. It shouldn’t be. Targeting needs to go, or at least needs to be modified. I’ve been banging this drum for years now. It’s too penal of a penalty.

I understand they are trying to protect players but an ejection is too far with this penalty. If it’s a truly vicious hit with an intent to injure, then keep the ejection in place. If there is no intent, just keep it a 15-yard penalty and move on. That’s the correct way to enforce this penalty.

I know I’m probably not going to win this fight. Even so, it’s a fight that I think is worthy of my time. Ohio State isn’t the only program getting screwed by this misguided rule. But they have been at the mercy of it on college football’s highest stage too many times.