If it’s college football season, it must also be targeting season, and the Louisville Cardinals have lost defensive back Benjamin Perry for the remainder of the game against Georgia Tech after being penalized for targeting.
Perry, a redshirt sophomore, was involved in a tackle on Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King when he and another Cardinal defender converged on King as he entered into a slide.
While there was some helmet-to-helmet contact, it hardly seemed to be an aggressive enough tackle to warrant a targeting call, not to mention the lateness of King’s slide (if you can actually call it a slide).
You be the judge on this one.
#Louisville DB Benjamin Perry was flagged & ejected for targeting for this hit pic.twitter.com/Kjv1j26jB8
— Video from: @TSV__1 (@TSV__1) September 1, 2023
College football Twitter didn’t waste any time expressing their displeasure with the call, regardless of whether they had a dog in this fight or not, particularly since this was the games second targeting review within the first quarter.
There were the metered and sane responses, such as Mr. Russo and former Cardinal Scott Radcliff.
I have more patience and understanding with the targeting rule than the vast majority of people who watch college football.
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) September 2, 2023
That said, the targeting on a QB who goes into a slide right as defenders are closing in is just not fair.
There HAS to be a targeting 1 and targeting 2 rule added asap! One is a penalty and the other IF ITS FLAGRANT then it’s an ejection. STOP taking these kid’s opportunities away from them when they only have a few chances to showcase their talent.
— Scott Radcliff (@Scottyrad89) September 2, 2023
And then we had more of the typical Twitterverse unhinged reactions.
They really need to reduce Targeting penalties to have to sit out a quarter at most. The current method blows.
— Eddie (@eddiec118) September 2, 2023
Targeting is the worst called penalty in All of sports! And 98.632% of the time IT ISN’T ACTUALLY TARGETING!!!
— Robert Powell 🌵🏴☠️ (@RPTexan) September 2, 2023
The targeting rule is ridiculously applied, you literally can stop the game on every play almost. Good lord, football is so watered down now. We should just play flag football. Good grief. If you don’t want to get hit then don’t play.
— Wes Powell (@wespowell78) September 2, 2023
Ahh, Twitter…err..X…oh whatever. This platform never disappoints in moments like this regardless.
The big gripe that seems to be the common thread is not the unnecessary number of targeting calls or even the ridiculous amount of time it seems to take to review, re-review, and take another look at them. It’s the unfair and inappropriate punishment of disqualifying a player for the rest of the game, or even into the next game if the foul occurs in the second half.
There has to be a middle ground where the punishment fits the crime, especially if no crime has actually been committed.
With the reorganization and realignment of conferences, the targeting rule needs to be addressed and applied equally across the entire sport.
(Is it possible to call targeting on Elon Musk? Asking for 450 million tweeps.
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