LSU wide receiver Derrick Dillon got thrown out of the Tigers’ game at Florida on Saturday for targeting. Targeting calls on offensive players are rare, but they’re well within the bounds of the NCAA’s controversial (and often misunderstood) rule.
Here’s why an LSU receiver got ejected on this questionable targeting penalty
It’s an iffy call, but the rulebook encourages it.
The play that got Dillon tossed was a block:
Dillon came from the blind side of Florida defensive back CJ Henderson and made contact with him up high, near his head. The NCAA rulebook says that “forcible contract” to the head or neck of a “defenseless” opponent is targeting. (Also targeting: a hit with the crown of the helmet, but that’s not in play here.) If a play is on the borderline, the NCAA advises officials to err on the side of calling targeting.
“Players who receive blind-side blocks” are considered defenseless in the rulebook, and it does look like Dillon hits Henderson around the head. Does he “target” Henderson’s head, or is the contact merely incidental? I’d argue it’s incidental, and that makes this a questionable ruling because maybe he doesn’t “target” the head.
But the word “incidental” isn’t actually in the rulebook, which instructs the refs to call targeting if something’s “in question,” and this one’s reasonably in question.
It stinks that Dillon’s out of the game for what doesn’t look like a malicious hit. But within the confines of this rule, the targeting call at least makes sense.
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