NCAA drawing criticism over multiple targeting ejections

Monday night’s Louisville vs. Ole Miss game has put the targeting rule on full display. The penalty has drawn criticism over the years, but it has reached its peak in Week 1 of the 2021 college football season.

As of publishing time, four players, two from each team, have been ejected for targeting:

• Ole Miss’ Mark Robinson
• Ole Miss’ Lakia Henry
• Louisville’s Monty Montgomery
• Louisville’s Tavarius Peterson

With stop-and-go nature of reviewing targeting calls, plenty of voices around the sport have been able to express their opinions on the penalty on social media.

“Reality is, targeting would get changed tomorrow if the suits weren’t afraid of litigation and appearance of backtracking on safety,” FOX personality Joel Klatt tweeted. “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?” Klatt went on to say. “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 1 (15 yards), Targeting 2 (15 yards & ejection).”

While the penalty slows down the pace of the game, it also forces defensive players to miss the rest of the game. In some situations, the case could be made that offensive players need to protect themselves. The other point of contention is how the targeting penalty is officiated.

Targeting makes me want to freaking scream,” ESPN analyst and former Georgia linebacker David Pollack wrote on Twitter. “Defenders cannot account for offensive players ducking or lowering their bodies before the defenders hit them! Impossible!”

Monday night is only the tipping point for the targeting penalty. A number of players have been ejected from games in the opening weekend of the season, including Miami defensive back Bubba Bolden and Penn State linebacker Ellis Brooks.

“What we’ve seen in Week 1 is the biggest ‘targeting’ nightmare since the auto disqualification was instituted in 2013,” former NFL referee turned rules analyst Terry McAulay said. “Two reasons: No. 1. The inconsistencies I’ve noted over the past four days. No. 2. The excessive number of players disqualified whose actions didn’t rise to the level that deserves disqualification.”

The Chick-fil-A kickoff game still has another half of football to be played. Louisville and Ole Miss have already combined for four targeting calls. How many more could come?