Not "Targeting"?

With about eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter an LSU defender hit an Alabama pass receiver after the catch in a play which clearly illustrated the utter insanity and stupidity of the college “targeting” rule. The receiver was on his knees and in the grasp of another LSU defender, the whistle had blown, and the LSU player hit the receiver with what was blatantly and obviously a helmet-to-helmet blow. It was called a “late hit.”

The announcers, who despise the “targeting” rule as much as I do, were as shocked as much as I was. They were actually calling for the rule to be invoked and the player ejected and, for the first time since the rule was announced, so was I. The hit was a cheap shot, a demonstration of the frustration of a team that was losing badly, and it was dirty football.

If the officials did not invoke the “targeting” rule on that play, then they cannot justifiably invoke it in any instance in any game, ever. If that hit was not “targeting,” then targeting does not exist.