Brian Kelly rips targeting rule, officials hiding behind rule book
Yet again, the NCAA is under a lot of heat for its controversial targeting rule. The biggest issue that most people have with the rule is that nobody quite knows exactly what targeting is. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly is the latest prominent figure in college football to lay into the NCAA’s targeting rule.
In Saturday’s matchup between Notre Dame and Wisconsin, Irish safety Kyle Hamilton was “buried” on a punt return by multiple Wisconsin defenders. Kelly thought that the play should have been flagged, and he took a couple of steps onto the field to talk to officials. Officials then flagged Kelly for unsportsmanlike conduct. Kelly has now sounded off on the NCAA’s targeting rule.
“When two guys take a run at somebody, I guess that’s not targeting somebody,” Kelly said to reporters on Monday. “But if you try to stop someone from going into the end zone, that’s targeting. We just don’t have it right yet. Your eyes should tell you what’s going on in the game, but sometimes we hide behind the rule book. It’s just, it wasn’t officiated in the manner that I thought it should have been. So, they thought that because I went three feet out on the field that I should get a flag for them not officiating it correctly.”
The NCAA has gotten heat for the rule all season
It seems like every week there is a new controversial conversation ongoing that revolves around targeting. Kelly is just one person in a long line that have voiced frustrations over inconsistencies with the targeting rule.
FOX’s Joel Klatt sounded off on the targeting rule after a game between Louisville and Ole Miss earlier in the season. That game saw four players ejected in the first half alone for targeting.
“Reality is, targeting would get changed tomorrow if the suits weren’t afraid of litigation and appearance of backtracking on safety,” Klatt said. “However, if they were actually concerned with safety wouldn’t they adopt NFL game clock rules to lower volume of total snaps?
“The problem with targeting? It is officiated wildly inconsistent and yet carries the most punitive consequences! Must be addressed. We need to only eject in egregious and malicious occurrences. Targeting one (15 yards), targeting two (15 yards and ejection).”
When Auburn and Penn State faced off earlier in the season, Auburn linebacker Zakoby McClain was controversially ejected for targeting. Penn State went on to score just a few plays later to take a 28-20 lead. That was ultimately the final score.
Kelly is certainly not alone in having serious frustrations about the targeting rule.